What is recorded here

Two earthen rings still circle Gurteen, the outer broken into field boundaries but the inner rising nearly three metres above the ditch. The fort sits on a gentle north-facing slope with unobstructed views in every direction, large enough for a household yet simple enough to hide inside ordinary farmland. Its eastern gap has no causeway, suggesting entry was never meant to be grand. People may have lived there, herded there or simply avoided the trouble of explaining why the ground rises in two lines.

Internal diam. 24.5m N-S, 22.5m E-W A well-preserved bivallate rath situated on a gentle N facing slope with good open views in all directions. The outer bank has been removed along the E and SE sectors and a field bank now lies just outside its former line. Elsewhere the bank is c. 1m high externally, 1.5m wide and c. 2m high above the base of the fosse. It is revetted with drystone masonry in places and now functions as a field boundary. The inner bank rises 2.75m above the fosse and 2m above the interior. There is a 4.5m wide gap through the bank at E, but no trace of a corresponding causeway across the fosse. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 458. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.