TreeAlive
‹ Sites and Monuments Record, Ireland

Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Walterstown, County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Walterstown, 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
Walterstown
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.44148, -7.36586
SMR number
WM033-005----

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)

Get directions ↗

This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

This monument was inspected in 1976 and described as a ringfort situated on a small natural hillock which is surrounded by low-lying marshy land. Old field boundaries running roughly E-W can be seen to the S of the ringfort and a deep drain running N-S is located to the E. Monument consists of a roughly circular area (diam. 31.5m N-S; 34m E-W) enclosed by an earth and stone bank with external fosse and a low outer bank. The banks and fosse are best preserved from S-W. The fosse is barely visible at E where the bank is well preserved. The internal bank is not visible at N. The remains of an original causewayed stone-lined entrance (Wth 2.2m) can be seen at S. Adjoining the W side of the ringfort are the remains of a roughly crescent-shaped area defined by a slight scarp. It is not clear if this crescent-shaped area is the remains of an original feature or the remains of an old field drain, a number of which are visible to the N and W of the monument. The embankment of the ringfort is defaced at N where there is a large depression running along the edge. Further damage to the bank has been caused by livestock poaching. A shallow depression (L. c. 22.5m; Wth. 5.2m; D 1.45m) running along the inner face of the bank from the entrance gap to the E may be the remains of a collapsed souterrain (WM003-005001-)' (SMR file).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 02 July 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
See your own family's places on a living map