Ringfort, Shinglis, Co. Westmeath

Co. Westmeath |

Ringforts

Ringfort, Shinglis, Co. Westmeath

Something quietly odd is going on in a pasture field in Shinglis townland, County Westmeath.

What appears to be an ancient ringfort, the kind of roughly circular earthwork enclosure built in early medieval Ireland as a farmstead or place of shelter, has over the centuries shifted its shape on paper and in the ground. On the 1837 Ordnance Survey Fair Plan, it was recorded simply as a circular fort, about 25 metres across. By the time the 1913 six-inch OS map was drawn, the same enclosure was depicted as a diamond. And when surveyors visited in 1971, they found a lozenge-shaped area measuring roughly 41 metres northeast to southwest and 26 metres northwest to southeast, enclosed by a low bank that had in places been reduced to little more than a scarp, with faint traces of a fosse, the ditch that typically runs outside the bank of such earthworks, still visible at its foot. No clear entrance survives, only a few vague disturbance gaps in the bank.

The most likely explanation for this shifting geometry is deliberate human intervention. The enclosure appears to have been remodelled at some point as an estate feature, probably in connection with Shinglis House, which sits roughly 950 metres to the north in the same townland. This was a practice found elsewhere in Ireland, where landlords incorporated prehistoric or early medieval earthworks into designed landscapes, giving them a new decorative or symbolic function while gradually erasing their original character. The interior, which slopes gently to the west-southwest, has been planted with trees, further blurring whatever archaeology might remain beneath. Adding another layer to the site, a crannóg, an artificial island settlement typically built in a lake or marsh, lies about 100 metres to the southeast, suggesting that this corner of Westmeath was, at some earlier point, a place of some local significance.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Ringfort, Shinglis, Co. Westmeath. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement