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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Dunboden Demesne, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Dunboden Demesne, 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
Dunboden Demesne
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
53.45303, -7.34115
SMR number
WM026-091----

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 prominent rise, in woodland, surrounded by pasture on the demesne lands of Dunboden House. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a large oval-shaped earthwork. Monument described in 1971 as an oval-shaped area (dims. 45.3m N-S; 43.5m E-W) enclosed by an earthen bank, an intervening fosse and an outer bank. The inner bank is steep on the exterior where it is best preserved from SW-W-WNW and it is almost reduced to a scarp from WNW-N-E-S-SW. There is a wide U-shaped intervening fosse. The outer bank is visible from SW-WSW-W, where it is most substantial and from NW-N and from NE-ENE. Portions of the outer bank are disturbed at NE and from E-SE. A wide linear sunken trackway running NNW-SSE cuts across the NE quadrant of the monument and is defined along its upper edges by up-cast from its construction. The inner bank, intervening fosse and outer bank are disturbed by this trackway at N and SE. The original entrance is not recognisable. There is a modern gap in the inner bank at NW and a large slab lies on the bottom of the fosse outside it. The interior has a very slight ENE-facing slope and is much disturbed by tree roots and cattle. A house site (WM026-091001-) is visible in the centre with a second house site (WM026-091002-) in the NW quadrant.

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

Date of upload: 04 November 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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