Cromwells Lines

Marked on the 1841 and 1909 editions of the OS 6-inch map, as a circular trivallate enclosure (int. diam. c. 25m. Max. diam. c. 80m). Now ploughed out. Vague outline visible in grass colouring, possibly a ringfort. This site is described as a battlefield within townland, described in the History of Queens County as 'Rising over a hill, called Slieve Bawn, and near Kilteale, may be found remarkably high entrenchments, with concentric fosses and dykes, now overgrown with hawthorns and briars. Those entrenchments are thought to have been erected by Colonel Hewson and Reynolds, when they besieged Dunamase in 1650. The trenches are fully 8 ft. below the upper part of the the ditches.' (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, 272). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007

Cromwells Lines is a circular trivallate enclosure, likely an early-medieval ringfort, marked on 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps. Its name may derive from a local tradition or association with the Cromwellian period, though no specific folklore is recorded.