Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ringfort - rath
Higginstown (farbill By.), County Westmeath, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Higginstown (farbill By.)
- County
- Westmeath
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Hachured
- Latest-edition OS map
- Hachured
- Coordinates
- 53.52894, -7.13777
- SMR number
- WM020-083----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Situated in low-lying, gently undulating pasture, with views restricted where overlooked by higher ground. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a circular-shaped earthwork. Monument described in 1970-2 as a circular-shaped area (dims. 53m N-S; 51m E-W) enclosed by an inner bank, an intervening wide, deep fosse and an outer bank. The inner bank is reduced to a scarp at NE and a field boundary running NE-SW truncates the bank from ENE-SSE. The outer bank is only visible from SW-NW. An entrance gap (overall Wth 5.6m; basal Wth 2.2m) at S where a modified causeway (basal Wth 5m; top Wth 2m; H 0.65m) is also present. The inner bank has been modified into a large mound (L 8m; int. H 1.2m; ext. H 3m) at the E side of the entrance. There has been extensive quarrying for stone within the WNW half of the interior. A long irregular depression defined by a low bank which extends through the inner bank of the ringfort at NW may represent a dug out souterrain. Levelled ringfort is visible today as a circular-shaped cropmark 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
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Souterrainunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.