Mound in Clonlost

Situated at E end of a prominent hill with good views of Sion Hill and Lisnabin. Clonlost church (WM020-038----) and graveyard (WM020-038001-) located 260m to SE. Depicted as ‘Moat of Cornasop’ on 1837 Ordnance Survey Fair Plan map, but not depicted as an antiquity on any editions of the OS six-inch maps (SMR File). Poorly preserved mound on top of hillock which has been partially quarried away, with stones lying scattered all over surface of hillock. A large tree stands on top of the possible monument. Present remains consist of a poorly defined sub-trapezoidal shaped mound (20m NE-SW; 10m NW-SE; H 0.3m) with loose stones scattered around the top of the mound. The poor condition of the monument makes classification uncertain. It has been suggested that this could be the possible remains of a partially destroyed barrow (SMR File). Alternatively this may be a landscape feature associated with Clonlost House located 360m to SSE (SMR File 04/03/1998). This feature is depicted as a grove of trees on the landscape demesne lands of Clonlost House on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map. The cartographic evidence would suggest that this mound is a landscape feature of post medieval date rather than a prehistoric burial mound. Monument surveyed in 2015 and described by McGuinness (2015, 46-7) as following: ‘Small but complex site including a small cairn atop an unusual earthwork which comprises an irregularly oval-shaped, flattened area created by scarping upper surface of a glacial hillock, the scarp being clearest on E and S sides; a mature sycamore grows near centre of site. Cairn comprises a sub-circular pile of stones (Diam. 3.4m N-S x 2.6M E-W; H. 0.58m on E side) partly covered in soil and grass; it is unclear whether it is the result of field clearance or an ancient feature, although the monument is marked ‘Moat of Cornasop’ on OS Fair Plan from 1830s according to SMR file, which is suggestive of a carn or cairn. Where highest and best defined at E, 5.10m to E of cairn, scarp reaches a height of 0.68m; overall height of monument from top of cairn to base of scarp at E is 1.34m. At W end, scarp seems to reach a point, like one half of an eye, 14.40m to W of cairn; this may represent a lower step, the W edge of the upper step possibly extending only 6.5m to W of cairn, just W of the sycamore, although this ‘edge’ could well be an effect produced by the partly-exposed curving roots of the sycamore. If genuine, this upper scarp or step (L. 16.7m E-W) is roughly centred on the cairn but it is markedly sub-circular in shape. Whether or not the upper step is genuine, the overall monument is approximately eye-shaped, its maximum length from base of scarp at E to base of scarp at W being 28.2m; the maximum width from N to S, running through the cairn at broader E end of earthwork, is 16.1m. Midway along S side of scarp it dips in as a V-shaped notch 2.4m in depth and 5.9m across at the mouth, but it is unclear whether this is intentional or due to erosion. Monument is located on summit of prominent hillock (kame?) overlooking a stream flowing SW-NE, with excellent views all round bar the SW, where there is a small deciduous wood. A large kettle-hole lake lies c. 200m to N; a smaller example lies SE of this. Immediately SW of pointed W end of scarped area is a crescent shaped scoop or hollow with high back wall and low bank at its mouth on the downhill side; a second such hollow lies 7.3m to SE of scarped area, its mouth with low bank opening to SE. Such hollows are common on sloping ground in the Westmeath landscape, occasionally near other barrows (e.g. WM013-016----; WM027-020----), and appear to be ‘dead-ice hollows’ of glacial origin. About 250m to SE is a ruined medieval church (WM020-038---) in a burial ground (WM020-038001-); drawing on extensive comparative evidence, Leo Swan (1988, 26) attributed an early medieval date to the site on the grounds that the curve of the roadway to N, E and SE of the burial ground appears to preserve the line of a diagnostic curvilinear vallum (WM020-038002-) surrounding the site, which comes within c. 100m of the barrow. Understandably the identification of this monument as a barrow, even a heavily denuded one, has been treated with scepticism by more than one ASI fieldworker, the earliest account concluding that ‘This may be the site of a destroyed barrow, but in its present state it is impossible to say with certainty’ [SMR file], while the more recent account (4/3/98) is more decisive: I very much doubt that this is A barrow. It may simply represent a landscape feature associated with the house that was nearby; alternatively it may be a platform for a windmill associated with late medieval settlement in the area. [SMR file] To an extent the present writer shares these other archaeologists’ doubts over the status of this monument, but its striking location atop a glacial hillock beside two dead-ice hollows, and its creation by shaping that hillock, are both features seen among the range of barrows to be seen in Westmeath; and, if the cairn is ancient, its eccentric position on the scarped area or lower platform compares with the positioning of the upper mound on some of the stepped-barrows of Westmeath (McGuinness 2013, 12). It seems reasonable to accept it as a possible barrow, even if it must for the moment remain unclassified’. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by David McGuinness. Date of upload: 6 February 2016