What is recorded here

No visible fort exists at Gorteen, only a broad shallow oval sunk into green pasture, yet the land still holds the shape of a fort that people lived inside. The earth remembers the weight of walls, carts, feet and rain even when the stones and timber are gone. What is missing is not nothing; it is the part that required continual life to remain visible.

On a plateau, at the edge of a gentle SE-facing slope, in improved pasture. Depicted on the OS 25-inch map as a circular area (diam. c. 34m) defined by a broad single enclosing element which is defined on the exterior by a field boundary SW-N. According to Westropp (1914-16, 67), this monument was an ‘earthen fort’. It has been levelled and survives as the traceable remains of a roughly oval area (30m NW-SE; 34m NE-SW) defined by the very low traces of a levelled bank (int. H 0.25m; ext. H 0.75m; Wth at top 4m; overall Wth 13.2m). The monument appears to be truncated by a farm road (long-axis NW-SE) across the SW-sector. The interior is gently undulating with a distinct depression in the NE and SE sector. Ringforts (CL035-101---- and CL035-104) are located c. 168m and 190m to NNW and NNE, respectively. The following images have been uploaded: CL035-103----_01.jpg From NE. Cross sectional view of levelled bank at SE. CL035-103----_02.jpg From NW. General view of monument. CL035-103----_03.jpg From NE. General view of monument. Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 10 April 2018

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