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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Griffinstown, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Griffinstown, 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
Griffinstown
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.46716, -7.14134
SMR number
WM027-063----

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 a gentle SE-facing slope near the summit of a hill, in pasture, with good views to NE, SE and SW. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a large suboval-shaped earthwork. Monument described in 1971 as a very large, D-shaped area (dims. 57.5m NNE-SSW; approx. 75m WNW-ESE) enclosed by a substantial earthen bank, an intervening fosse with traces of an outer bank. The inner bank is very high and steep and has several disturbance gaps and a large portion has been quarried away at SSE. The intervening fosse is wide, deep and steep-sided. There is a very slight and fragmentary earthen outer bank visible from NE-E-SE. The original entrance is not recognisable, although there is a gap (Wth at top 6.1m; basal Wth 1.6m) at NNE and a wide gap (Wth at top 9m; basal Wth 4.2m) at S which may be indicative, although there is no visible trace of a causeway at either location. The interior has a sharp SE-facing slope. Monument is visible today as a large oval-shaped tree-lined earthwork 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
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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