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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Coyne, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Coyne, 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
Coyne
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Dotted outline
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.47721, -7.51697
SMR number
WM025-082----

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 top of a rise, in gently undulating pasture, with good views in all directions. Ringfort (WM025-083----) lies c. 12m to E and a souterrain (WM025-151----) lies c. 30m to SSE which was uncovered during the construction of a public road (Glasscock 1974, 230). Ringfort described in 1971 as a large subcircular-shaped area (dims. c. 40-43m) enclosed by a substantial earth and stone bank (Wth at top c. 2m; overall Wth 4-5m) bank, an intervening fosse and an outer bank with causewayed entrance gap at ENE. There is a wide and deep external fosse (max. Wth 5m; D 3.5-5m) defined by steep sides which is visible from WNW-N-E-S-SSW. The external face of the fosse has the remains of modern-looking drystone facing in places. A modern roadside wall abuts the base of the bank from SSW-W-WNW and obscures the fosse around this western arc. There are traces of a very slight outer bank of earth and stone, which has been removed at S due to quarrying and is truncated by the public road around the western arc. The interior has a gentle NE-facing slope and is bisected by a low, linear earth and stone bank running NNW-SSE. There is a gap in the partition bank off-centre to NNW. Two house sites (WM025-082001-/002-) are visible within the interior. The base of a stone wall running roughly NW-SE intersects the outer edge of the fosse at ESE and conjoins this monument to a nearby ngfort (WM025-083----). Monument is visible as a roughly circular-shaped earthwork on oblique aerial photographs (CUCAP AJQ089/AOY101/102/BDK028) taken 09/07/1964, 12/07/1966 and 14/07/1970 respectively.

See attached plan and profile of monument surveyed and drawn by the ASI.

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

Date of upload: 12 September 2019

References

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

Glasscock, R.E. 1974 Two Raths in Coyne. Journal of the Old Athlone Society 4, 230-1.

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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