What is recorded here

Gorteen Mound stands in County Kildare as the circular shadow of a castle Richard Eustace must have built in 1608, complete with lime, stone, battlements and a strong oak gate. The mound still marks the place where that command landed, while a rectangular shadow in the field beside it hints at an older moated life beneath the grass.

According to a lease of 1608 Richard Eustace was required to 'build the said castle of Gurtinavackan substantially with lime and stoane, a story height above the vault, with a battlement, and a slate roof ... and make a stoane walle round about the towne and make a strong gate of oak timber and boords' (FitzGerald 1915-17, 161). It is shown on the 1907 OS 6-inch map as a circular mound, where the castle was built. There is a cropmark of a rectangular enclosure, probably a moated site, in an adjacent field to the S (KD040-030----). Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Richard Eustace was ordered in 1608 to rebuild Gorteen Mound (Gorteenvacan) as a stone castle with a vaulted chamber and battlements, reflecting English efforts to consolidate control in the region during the Plantation period. The site is remembered for its architectural specifications and its role in colonial administration.

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