What is recorded here

Fairy fort in Gorteen is a 32-metre stone ring on a south-east slope, marked by a causewayed entrance and a field wall that cuts through its outer bank. It is the kind of place where human hands and fairy story become hard to separate, because the stones still shape a complete circle while the land around has changed. Whoever built it made a boundary you could walk into, not merely a hole dug for roots or stones. The name does not dismiss that fact; it records that the shape still behaves like a threshold.

Situated on SE facing slope of rising ground in upland area. Raised circular area (diam 32m N-S) enclosed by poorly preserved bank (Wth 1.5m; ext. H 1.7m), wide flat bottomed fosse (Wth 3.5m; ext. D 0.7m) and external bank (Wth 1m; ext. H 0.4m) of mainly stone construction. Causewayed entrance (Wth 3.8m) at SW. Stone wall intersects external bank at S where it acts as part of a field boundary. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.