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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Enclosure - large enclosure

Killarecastle, County Westmeath, Ireland

The record

Townland
Killarecastle
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.49071, -7.60292
SMR number
WM024-044----

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

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (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 in fairly low-lying, rough pasture with moderate views in all directions. A cist (WM024-045----) lies c. 125m to SE. Monument described in 1971 and 1977 as a large, oval-shaped area enclosed by a well-preserved bank, a short section of an intervening fosse and outer bank. The inner earth and stone bank is high and steep on the exterior but rises only slightly above the interior. A short portion of shallow fosse is visible at S and there is a low outer bank beyond this which cuts across the fosse and into the base of the enclosure bank. It is unclear if this is an original feature. There are vague traces of a possible structure adjoining the exterior of the scarp at SW.
The interior rises gently from the perimeter to the centre and is divided by internal banks. There are rocky outcrops and cultivation ridges in the S and W quadrants. In the E quadrant, inside the bank, is a potential house site, however this is ill-defined and inconclusive. The N quadrant has linear banks running N-S towards the centre. Outline of monument and internal divisions clearly visible on oblique aerial photographs taken 12/09/1966 (CUCAP AOY091/092/099).

See attached plan of enclosure surveyed and drawn by the ASI

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

Date of upload: 12 August 2019

CUCAP - Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photographs. Unit for Landscape Modelling, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. See:https://www.cambridgeairphotos.com

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
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