Field system in Bigwood, County Westmeath

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Situated on the summit of a hill known locally as 'The Hill of Mael' with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside in all directions. Cashel (WM003-008----) standing inside a large possible trivallate hillfort (WM003-008001-) with possible prehistoric meandering field system running across the hill. The remains of two meandering drystone field walls radiate out from the cashel (WM003-008---) at NNE and NNW. Field wall A (L 113m) runs off the NE face of cashel wall and runs from SW-NE. Field wall B (L 190m) runs off N face of cashel and is orientated on a SE-NW axis. A third meandering drystone field wall B (L 270m) runs SE-NW across the W facing slope of the hill with a fourth drystone field wall D (L 235m) located 250m to W which runs from SE-NW. The meandering field walls are clearly visible on Digital Globe aerial photograph taken November 2011 and are clearly different from the straight running post-1700 field walls visible on aerial photographs.

From the National Monuments Service (Archaeological Survey of Ireland) record WM003-008002

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Photo credits

Maker not stated on source page, irisharchaeology.org
Maker not stated on source page, en.wikipedia.org
Maker not stated on source page, global-geography.org
Maker not stated on source page, commons.wikimedia.org
Photographer not named in the source article, www.independent.ie
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Maker not stated on source page, heritageireland.ie
Maker not stated on source page, nigelborrington.com
Britishfinance, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

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