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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Castledown, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Castledown, County Westmeath, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Castledown
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.52239, -7.22792
SMR number
WM020-066----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a prominent rise, in gently undulating pasture, with good views of the surrounding landscape. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a suboval-shaped earthwork. Monument described in 1970 as the remains of a much disturbed oval-shaped area (dims. 47m NW-SE; 47m NE-SW) which is almost completely levelled across the NE half. It is enclosed by a steep bank from SE-S-W-N which is almost reduced to a scarp. The perimeter is not defined from N-E-SE where the monument levelled. There are traces of an external fosse from SE-S-W and a modern version from W-N. Elsewhere the fosse is missing where the ground around the base of the bank has been badly defaced by quarrying. The original entrance is not recognisable. The interior has a gentle SW-facing slope. A modern bank and trench run SE-NW across the interior, curving to W. There is a large quarry hole within the W quadrant. Monument is clearly visible today as an oval-shaped earthwork on Digital Globe aerial photography.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 05 July 2019

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
All Ringfort - rath in Westmeath All County Westmeath records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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