Barrow - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Surveyed in 2013 and described by McGuinness (2014, 54-5) as following: 'Less than 150m NNW of monument (WM030-023----) just described, is another feature which on the surface could be interpreted as a barrow. This greatly damaged monument is preserved only on N side of E-W running field fence, S side of monument apparently having been removed. Although remaining part of monument is by no means regular in appearance or easily classifiable, it appears to comprise an irregular-shaped mound incorporating blocks of limestone and rising to its highest point on E side. This mound appears to be delimited on E and W halves by a bank, but bank on the W side is on markedly higher ground than that on E, being not much lower than the mound itself. It is not certain that the western stretch of ‘bank’ is indeed a bank and it does not obviously join up with the much better defined eastern stretch; if it is accepted that the two banks join up to form one half of the perimeter of the monument, its maximum visible diameter from E to W is 46.5m. There appears to be a slight inner ditch associated with both E and W stretches of bank. On E side, where bank is much more low-lying than on W side, the central mound rises 1.95m above the ‘ditch’ on inside of bank. On E side, bank is 4m in width; on W side it is 2.6m in width. Although this is unclear, eastern stretch of bank appears to veer off to N, running towards the rushy, reedy area close by; if this is so, it would clearly not join up with the western stretch. The aerial photograph of the genuine barrow in Moyvoughly on the ASI website, which takes in the present monument, suggests that the impression of an outer ‘bank’ of unusual form, and by implication the monument as a whole, may be the accidental result of the intersection of snaking natural escarpments and man-made banks. Though possibly a barrow, this monument must be treated with serious doubt. Monument is located in undulating, partly drained pastureland. Immediately to N of monument is a narrow band of low-lying grassland adjoining a rushy area 23m to N of barrow that may formerly have been a lake; part of the ‘lakeshore’ appears to be delimited by a bank of uncertain origin. In this area of grassland just NW of barrow and between it and the ‘lake’ is a small oval or subrectangular earthwork possibly representing a hutsite'.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by David McGuinness.

Date of upload: 23 February 2015

References

McGuinness, D. 2014 The prehistoric burial mounds and related monuments of County Westmeath. Part II - Monuments in central Westmeath (Barony of Rathconrath and parts of baronies of Moygoish, Moycashel, and Moyashel & Magheradernon). Unpublished survey funded by Westmeath County Council in association with Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society.