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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Inscribed stone (present location)

Athlone And Bigmeadow, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Inscribed stone (present location), Athlone And Bigmeadow, 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
Athlone And Bigmeadow
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
Coordinates
53.42292, -7.94278
SMR number
WM029-042088-

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

On display in Athlone Castle Museum. One of two stones (WM029-042089-) (dims. H 0.35m, Wth 0.46m, D 0.15m) removed from gateway to St. Peter's Port (see also WM029-042089-). The inscription reads 'WILL O' WISP AND JACK THE PRINTER'. Will O' Wisp and Jack the Printer refer to two prominent men with whom a man named Booth was in dispute. They were William Sproule, a Quaker merchant, and John Potts, a printer and owner of Saunders' newspaper. Booth owned the property and was otherwise known as 'Copper Fisted Jack', who levied a toll on all produce brought through the port. Stones probably date from the 18th century.

Compiled by: Rachel Barrett and Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 31 October 2013

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 Inscribed stone (present location) in Westmeath All County Westmeath records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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