Rathbennett

52 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Rathbennett, from 221 m² to 177,487 m² (17.75 ha, 43.86 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 34 neighbouring parcels touch it.

No zone of a development plan covers Rathbennett 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.

• 19 Dec 2019N/a

  for conversion and extension to existing stone outbuilding for the use as guest/short term rental accommodation including a 34.1 sqm extension to existing stone outbuilding to form a link to existing dwelling, construct new stables, installation of additional new soil polishing filter for existing treatment system

  Permission, 1 home · Westmeath County Council, 196351

• 19 Jul 2019N/a

  conversion of existing stone outbuilding to liveable space, including a 34.1sqm extension to existing stone outbuilding, to form a link to existing dwelling, construction of new stables, equestrian sand arena, new soil polishing filter and all ancillary site services

  Permission · Westmeath County Council, 196198

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

Designated sites

• Special Area of Conservation: Lough Owel SAC 000688
• Special Protection Area: Lough Owel SPA 004047
• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: Lough Owel 000688

Recorded monuments

• WM011-020 Ringfort - rath
  Description

  The monument was surveyed in 1980 and described as following; ‘This is a roughly circular earthwork bounded by an uneven scarp, now much defaced with a wide shallow fosse at its foot from north to east the fosse is represented by a fairly flat ledge, beyond which the ground falls away naturally. From east to south to west to north there is a wide low outer bank of earth beyond the fosse. The interior is quite uneven with rises & a general slope from the centre towards the SE. The interior measures approx. 29m NW-SE by approx. 27m NE-SW. Sited on the lower slope of a NE facing rise’ (SMR File 15/10/1980). Outline of monument clearly visible on aerial photograph taken in 1966 (CUCAP APE035/036) which shows the monument standing inside a larger rectangular enclosure or field. The outline of this monument is clearly visible on Digital Globe aerial photograph taken November 2011. Monument revisited in 1981 and described as following; ‘Site noted from St. Joseph (CUCAP APE036) and G. S. [Geological Survey] Air photographs in 1976. The site appears to be a destroyed ringfort. On the northern sloping face of a steepish hill. The site appears to be circular, or perhaps slightly oval (int. diam. 32.5m N-S; 32m E-W). The raised interior in enclosed by a fosse, with traces of an outer bank to the S, E & W. On the northern side the fosse and outer bank have been interfered with by old field fences which appear to have respected the site. These have since been removed, and have dug into the side of the platform on which the site is dug. There is no trace of an entrance or of any internal features on the site such as traces of house platforms or traces of a souterrain. The interior rises approx. 50cm from the fosse on the S, E and W, gently sloping into disturbed field boundary. The fosse is 3.5m-4m wide. The outer bank rises 50cm from fosse on the E, up to 70cm from the fosse on the S and W. The outer bank is approx. 3m wide all around, and is up to 30cm above the surrounding ground on S and W, level on E. Destroyed on N and NE. Possible slight traces of an outer fosse (Wth 3.5m) on W only, cutting the site off from the western end of the terace on which it is sited’ (SMR File 30/03/1981). Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 6 October 2015

• WM011-056 Barrow - mound barrow
  Description

  Surveyed in 2012 and described by McGuinness (2012, 32-3) as following: ‘Monument currently presents as a markedly oval to sub-rectangular mound (8m N-S x 11m E-W) with long axis running E-W, ranging from 1.65-1.9m in height with steep sides and flat top; from cattle erosion, it appears to be composed mostly of soil with some stone (but see summary of excavation below). Although it looks similar to the single view published by R.A.S. Macalister and Ruby Murray (1931-2, PL. XII), its oblong shape would be unusual for an Early Bronze Age burial mound and Macalister gives his own measurements as 34ft 8in. (c. 10.6m) N-S and 37ft 10in. (c. 11.5m) E-W, suggesting that the elongated N and/or S sides of the tumulus have been trimmed by several metres since the early 1930s. Monument has been extensively damaged around edges by cattle in recent times, and this may partly account for its unusual shape, although it had apparently already been altered by Macalister and Murray's time—probably when an Ordnance Survey bench-mark was established on it: To the south and east there is an appearance suggesting a late spreading of the material, and it is highly probable that the summit was lowered by casting down some of the component stones and earth upon those sides, when the mound was adapted for the purposes of the survey. on the north sides the tumulus abuts on the boundary ditch and hedge of the field, and its sides are steeper and have a more original appearance (1931-2, 308). The mound was excavated by Macalister and Murray with five labourers in a single day in 1931, and although 'restored' afterwards, there are no indications that they did anything but dig down from the upper surface, their trench being c. 3m in diameter. Underneath the 'superficial sods and grass, they found the mound to consist 'chiefly of small field stones ... [with] much earth between them'; in this matrix they found a cow's tooth and a single quartz pebble. About 0.76m below the summit they found three slabs resting on one another, underneath which was the capstone of a N-S oriented rectangular cist (0.63m x 0.36m). The E and W walls of the cist extended beyond the end wall on the S side, forming an extension paved with a single, neatly fitting slab, beyond which—outside the extension—was another rectangular paving-slab as wide as the whole cist (Fig. 5A); nothing was found under these slabs. On their sides at the NE and SE corners of the cist were two Early Bronze Age Food Vessels of the bowl tradition, one tripartite, the other ribbed. Throughout the fill of the cist, and to some extent above the capstone, were tiny scattered fragments of an unburnt human skeleton. Also found were bones of rat and frog and two jet beads. On account of the small size of the cist, the character of the human bones and the presence of animal bones, the excavators argued that a defleshed and disarticulated skeleton was reburied here (Macalister and Murray 1931-2; Waddell 1990, 151-4, Fig. 117; Ó Ríordáin and Waddell 1993, 141-2, Figs 213-214). Mound is on flat hilltop, which begins to slope down quite steeply 37m to SSE, so that when site is approached from this side it is mostly invisible until the summit is reached. From the hilltop, Frewin Hill (WM011-133----) is visible to S. Lough Owel and Knockdrin (WM012-183----) to SE, and Lough Iron to W. Macalister and Murray (1931-2, 311) refer to a 'local belief that the monument belongs to the Táin Bó Cúalnge period or later'. A few fields downslope to W is the townland of Farra or Farrow, identified by Shaw (1921, 145) as the spot called 'Forrach', where Fiachra, brother of Niall of the Nine Hostages, died and was buried after being wounded on an expedition into Munster, according to the Book of Leinster (Wallace 1987, 25). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by David McGuinness. Date of upload: 22 April 2016

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 Rathbennett with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Westmeath.

Name

Rathbennett

Area

1,348,233 m² (134.82 ha, 333.16 acres)

Civil parish

Leny, and its townlands

Barony

Corkaree

Electoral division

Ballinalack, the unit of the census

Neighbouring townlands

Farrow, Kilpatrick, Leny, Mountmurray, Piercefield, Rathaniska

Placenames

Rathbennett 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.