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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Castle - ringwork

Bracknahevla, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Castle - ringwork, Bracknahevla, 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
Bracknahevla
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.45609, -7.59982
SMR number
WM024-155001-

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 gently sloping ground, overlooking low-lying, rough pasture to S and SW. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a circular-shaped earthwork associated with a castle (WM024-155----). This enclosing earthwork or ringwork could be the grass-covered wall footings of a collapsed bawn wall or could be the remains of an earlier enclosure which was refortified when a stone castle was constructed along the W side of the earthwork.
Monument described in 1979 as a circular-shaped area enclosed by a substantial bank of earth and stone. The remains of sod-covered wall footings associated with a stone castle are visible inside the enclosure. Rock outcrop is also visible within the interior. No clear entrance feature visible. The enclosure is surrounded by a complex of earthworks (WM024-155002-). To the S these banks form two trapezoidal-shaped enclosures. It is not clear whether these enclosures are contemporaneous with the ‘Castle’ site or later feature. To the WSW of the ringwork is a small rectangular-shaped house site. The ground between the house site & ringwork is uneven, with rocky outcrops & depressions. A complex of earthworks (WM024-155002-) are visible in the immediate vicinity.

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

Date of upload: 28 August 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 Castle - ringwork in Westmeath All County Westmeath records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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