What is recorded here

Gortnalea Fort is a well-preserved stone-faced earthen ring on the south slope of Slieve Dart, measuring thirty-two metres across and twenty-seven metres deep. A field wall now cuts through its north-west and south-east edges, yet a band of nettles outside the south-east bank still marks the ghost of an older ditch. Local memory whispers of a hidden chamber and underground passage within the circle, suggesting the fort may have served more than ordinary farm life.

On S-facing slope of Slieve Dart in grassland. Well-preserved subcircular rath (E-W 32.5m, N-S 27m) defined by a stone-faced earthen bank. Numerous gaps appear modern. A field wall cuts the monument at NW and SE. A band of nettles just outside SE section of the bank could represent the last vestiges of an external fosse. According to local information, there was a CBG (GA005-070001-) within the 'interior; a probable Man-made underground passage (GA005-070002-) is also associated (Neary 1914, 121, no. 66) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). Date of upload: 05 August 2010

Gortnalea Fort is a well-preserved subcircular ringfort, likely dating to the early medieval period, situated on the south-facing slope of Slieve Dart. Local tradition associates such sites with fairy lore, and it may have been considered a sacred or otherworldly place in folklore.

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