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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Ballinla, County Westmeath, Ireland

The record

Townland
Ballinla
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.48700, -7.17288
SMR number
WM027-037----

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 on gentle E-facing slope, in undulating pasture, with extensive views to N, E and SE. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as an oval-shaped earthwork. Bivallate enclosure described in 1971 as an oval-shaped area (dims. 35m NW-SE; 30m NE-SW) enclosed by an inner bank, an intervening fosse and an outer bank. The substantial inner bank is badly eroded by livestock at SE, WSW and NW. A deep U-shaped intervening fosse and an outer bank are visible from SE-S-W-N. A gap (Wth at top 6.7m; basal Wth 3.5m) in the inner bank at ENE presumably represents the entrance. The interior has a gentle ENE-facing slope. There is a large quarry hole outside the monument at NW, which is also depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map. According to a subsequent field report from 1977, the monument has recently been defaced by bulldozing and large gaps have been cut in the bank at E and W. Some sandy soil has been dumped into the fosse at N and into an old quarry hole at NW. The interior has mostly been bulldozed and only a small segment in the N and S sectors remain undisturbed. Levelled monument is barely visible today as an oval-shaped cropmark on Digital Globe aerial photography.

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

Date of upload: 06 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
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