Bigwood

23 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Bigwood, from 3,971 m² (0.4 ha, 0.98 acres) to 257,987 m² (25.8 ha, 63.75 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 25 neighbouring parcels touch it.

No zone of a development plan covers Bigwood in the national zoning. Outside zoned towns and villages, the county development plan's rural policies apply to each application.

Source: Tailte Éireann and the Department of Housing (MyPlan), national zoning, CC BY 4.0.

No planning application touches the townland of Bigwood in the national file, which goes back to 2010.

Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: Hill Of Mael And The Rock Of Curry 000681

Recorded monuments

• WM001-035 Cross - Wayside cross
  Description

  This cross was recorded by the OS in 1873 as 'part of an old cross, stands near the roadside about 18 inches (0.45m) high the bottom portion is destroyed. I. H. S. cut on face of cross' (OS Name Book 1873, 33). Drawn by Du Noyer in the 19th century (George Victor Du Noyer, “fragment of small calvary cross on side of bye road Td. Of Bigwood close to Balrath Td. Co. W. Meath. Sheet 1/3,” Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, accessed January 22, 2020, http://rsai.locloudhosting.net/items/show/23481.) and described in 1928 as 'The head and base of a plain cross 1ft. 9in. (0.53m) across the arms, having a solid ring 14in. (0.35m) in diameter. It is situated near a house on the south side of a lane leading from near Foyran church (WM001-042----) to Whitegate, and is almost a mile west of the former' (Crawford 1928, 57, no. 1). Described in 1980 as 'the cross is in a fragmentary condition, only the head (H 0.51m; Wth 0.5m) of the cross and its base remain. The cross has a solid ring head and short arms (L 0.1m; H 0..15m) and a slightly longer top (H 0.12m). The shaft has broken off just below the ring and is now missing. The ring and cross are well made and have bevelled edges. One face has suffered some damage around the edges and pieces of the ends of the arms are broken off. There is no sign of any carving or decoration on the cross. The base is a subrectangular stone (0.52m x 0.44m) with a rectangular socket (0.19m x 0.31m x 0.1m) cut into its flat upper surface. The socket is quite shallow and it is much larger than the cross, the shaft might have tapered from the base to the head. The socket is placed in the N side of a small low mound of earth and stones at the foot of a small thorn tree. This is situated in a wide roadside bank and on the S side of the modern roadway just NW of the castle site (WM001-036----) in a small valley W of Foyran Church (WM001-042----)' (SMR file). Medieval castle (WM001-036----) 80m to SE of the wayside cross. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 23 June 2010

• WM001-036 Castle - unclassified
  Description

  Situated atop natural hillock with good views in all directions. Foyran church (WM001-042----) located 1km to ENE and wayside cross (WM001-035----) located 73m to WNW. No castle depicted in this townland on the 1657 Down Survey maps (NLI, MS 723-4). Poorly preserved castle ruins standing on top of gravel ridge. The fragmentary remains of the castle along with the overgrown nature of the site makes examination and interpretation of the site very difficult. All that remains are the poorly preserved fragment of a mortared wall built against the face of a low natural ‘cliff’ on the S side of a small, steep sided flat topped oval-shaped hillock ( dims. 29m N-S x 46m E-W). A modern roadway runs along the foot of the hill from NE-N-NNW and the side of the hill has been quarried into along here. There are faint remains of an earthen bank running along the upper edge of the hill from E to NE and from NNW-NW. The castle wall (T 0.9m) only rises c. 50cms above the edge of the hill on the S and there is a small pile of stones there also, it is not possible to make out the plan of the castle on the surface of the hill. There are traces of a low bank running N-S to the NE of centre; and a small pile of stones just N of centre. A relatively level area just S of the hill outside the surviving wall and outlined elsewhere by relatively modern field walls and the remains of a partly ruined farmyard could have been an enclosure (dims. 21m N-S x 22m E-W) or bawn associated with the castle. A modern field fence runs along the foot of the hill on the W. There is an extensive gravel quarry on both sides of the roadway NE of the site. Two fine dressed stone corbels from the medieval castle have been re-used on the top of the gatepost leading into the farmyard to the SE of castle wall. Area to the N & NW of the castle hill is now part of a quarry visible on Digital Globe aerial photographs taken November 2011. The farmyard described above located to the S and SE of the castle appears to have been levelled and are not visible on Digital Globe aerial photographs. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 November 2016

• WM001-037 Ringfort - unclassified
  Description

  Situated on NNE face of low hillock, on well drained pasture-land. No surface remains visible of levelled monument visible as a crop-mark on Digital Globe aerial photographs taken November 2011. Depicted as an irregular-shaped platform on 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map and as an irregular shaped field on the revised 1911 ed. OS 25-inch map. The field was reclaimed in the 1960s when the enclosing element of the monument was probably levelled. The enclosing element of the levelled earthwork (Dims. 60m NNE-SSW; 40m WNW-ESE) survives upstanding only from N-E-SE where it forms a field boundary hedge, elsewhere a low scarp (0.8m) is visible which represents the outline of the levelled earthwork. The interior of the possible ringfort slopes from SW-NE. Compiled by: Frank Coyne & Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 18 November 2016

• WM003-008 Ringfort - cashel
  Description

  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 standing inside a large possible trivallate hillfort (WM003-008001-) with two pre-1700 field walls (WM003-008002-) radiating out from the cashel. Small circular hilltop cashel consisting of a circular-shaped area (approx. diam. 16-18m) enclosed by a ruinous drystone wall (Wth 1.5m) set on a very low earthen bank with entrance feature (Wth 1.5m) at SE defined by the wall footings of two stone walls (L 19m) running parallel to each other forming an ‘avenue’ (Wth 7m) which connects the inner enclosure to a larger outer enclosing element. The larger enclosure (approx. diam. 60m E-W) is defined by a poorly preserved drystone wall standing on top of an earthen bank (overall Wth 6-8m). The stone facing of this wall has been robbed out from E-S, in other places the wall merges with the natural rock outcrop forming the enclosing element of the monument. A small cairn located inside the centre of the inner enclosure was probably constructed as a trigonometrical station marking the spot height of 795 ft. by the Ordnance Survey in 19th century. The cashel appears to be standing inside a multivallate hillfort the surface of which slopes gradually from N-S. The remains of two old field walls possibly of post-1700 date radiate out from the inner enclosure at NNE and NNW. The larger outer enclosing contours of the hillfort are clearly visible on Digital Globe aerial photograph taken November 2011 and on an aerial photograph taken in 1964 (CUCAP AJO061) (http://www.cambridgeairphotos.com/location/ajo061/). Recently described in the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland as following; ‘Circular contour fort with a total site footprint of approximately 0.3ha positioned at the summit of The Hill of Mael with panoramic views from the summit and low-lying terrain to the W. Univallate for the entire circuit with no obvious entrance features recorded. A number of unrecorded features within the interior of the fort are visible in most aerial photographs. These comprise a central circular enclosure and two linear features leading SE from it to meet the enclosing elements of the contour fort. These are likely to be of archaeological significance and may be contemporary with the fort. The ramparts survive well throughout. The interior is under pasture. First map depiction in second edition Ordnance Survey mapping’ (https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/). See attached plan of cashel surveyed and drawn by the Archaeological Survey of Ireland. Compiled and revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 23 November 2017

• WM003-008001 Hillfort
  Description

  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 (overall diam. 370m E-W) with possible prehistoric field system (WM003-008002-) running across the hill and St Brigid's holy well (WM003-008003-) located below S summit of hilltop (Adams 1957, 45). The enclosing elements of the hillfort appear to represent a mixture of natural geological features which have been scarped and an earthen bank and fosse which is best visible at E where it forms a boundary with the modern forestry plantation. A band of rock outcrop on the W side of the hilltop appears to form a natural enclosing element. The enclosing features of the hillfort appear to follow the natural contours of the hill which is defined by rock outcropping best visible on SW and W face of hill. On this side of the hilltop at least two bands of rock outcrop can be seen running around the hill from SW-W only. These bands of natural rock outcrop following the contour of the hill may have been scarped and possibly represent the enclosing elements of the hillfort which would give the monument a trivallate appearance. A ditch and bank of the outermost enclosing feature is visible from W to NW on Digital Globe aerial photograph taken November 2011. The remains of meandering drystone field walls possibly of prehistoric date radiate out from the inner enclosure at NNE and NNW. The larger outer enclosing contours of the hillfort are clearly visible on Digital Globe aerial photograph taken November 2011 and on an aerial photograph taken in 1964 (CUCAP AJO061) (http://www.cambridgeairphotos.com/location/ajo061/). Recently described in the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland as following; ‘Circular contour fort with a total site footprint of approximately 0.3ha positioned at the summit of The Hill of Mael with panoramic views from the summit and low-lying terrain to the W. Univallate for the entire circuit with no obvious entrance features recorded. A number of unrecorded features within the interior of the fort are visible in most aerial photographs. These comprise a central circular enclosure and two linear features leading SE from it to meet the enclosing elements of the contour fort. These are likely to be of archaeological significance and may be contemporary with the fort. The ramparts survive well throughout. The interior is under pasture. First map depiction in second edition Ordnance Survey mapping.’ (http://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/records/IR1007.html) Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 23 November 2017

• WM003-008002 Field system
  Description

  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. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 23 November 2017

• WM003-008003 Ritual site - holy well
  Description

  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 (overall diam. 370m E-W) with possible prehistoric field system (WM003-008002-) running across the hill and St Brigid's holy well (WM003-008003-) located below S summit of hilltop (Adams 1957, 45). Unable to locate holy well on the summit of the hill which was described in 1957 as 'the impressive Hill of Mael around the summit of which can be seen the embankment of a hillfort and which has St. Brigid's Well, reputed never to dry up (an it certainly kept running throughout the dry summer of 1955) just below it summit on the south side' (ibid.). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 24 January 2020

Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).

No address of the register names Bigwood with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Westmeath.

Name

Bigwood

Area

1,777,466 m² (177.75 ha, 439.22 acres)

Civil parish

Lickbla, and its townlands

Barony

Fore

Electoral division

Knockarrow, the unit of the census

Neighbouring townlands

Ardnagross, Balrath, Carlanstown, Curry, Foyran, Lickbla, Littlewood, Raheen Beg, Raheen More, Robinstown

Placenames

Bigwood on logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland

Townlands, civil parishes, baronies and electoral divisions, National Statutory Boundaries, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. A townland is the smallest land division of Ireland, and the unit of a rural address; old registers such as the 1901 and 1911 censuses file it under its civil parish and barony.