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 LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid 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)
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
- Hut siteunder 1 mi
- Ecclesiastical siteunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Moated siteunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.