Enclosure in Gorteen (coolavin By.)

In pasture, straddling a break of slope at the top of the S-facing slope of an E-W ridge. It is not shown on the 1838 edition of the OS 6-inch map but is indicated on the 1942-3 edition by a shallow arc of hachures E-SSW, in the NW corner of a field. A roughly square area (33.7m N-S; c. 30m E-W) bordered on the S side by a high S-facing scarp (H c. 2m) cut into the ridge slope, and on W and N sides by straight field boundaries. On the E side there are no evident remains of an enclosing element. The scarp is mostly straight but curves slightly at the SE corner where it has been partially dug away. The scarp and field boundaries are engulfed in brambles and thorn bushes. The interior slopes gently down to S following the ridge slope. There is a possibility that this may be the remains of an enclosure but the surviving remains and the map evidence are not sufficient to warrant classifying it as such. Compiled by: Archaeological Survey Unit, UCC with revisions by Patrick F. O'Donovan and Paul Walsh Date of upload: 20 June 2011