What is recorded here

Forty centuries of rain have not erased the twin banks and cutting ditch that circle Gortagarraun. The earth still holds its shape across thirty-six metres, framing a turlough that drinks the sky and returns it later. A field wall and quarry have bitten the edges, yet the fort remains vivid enough to stop a walking person mid-sentence.

In undulating grassland over looking a turlough to NW and bogland to S. Subcircular rath (E-W 36m), in fair condition, defined by two banks and an intervening fosse. The inner bank is present from NE through E to SE; elsewhere a scarp forms the enclosing element. The fosse and outer bank are best preserved from SW through W to N. A field wall cuts the monument at S, and only faint traces of the fosse survive to S of it. A quarry has encroached upon the enclosing elements at NE. (Neary 1914, 114, no. 101) 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

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