Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ringfort - rath
Gorteen (Tirawley By.), County Mayo, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Gorteen (Tirawley By.)
- County
- Mayo
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Hachured
- Coordinates
- 54.11190, -9.18662
- SMR number
- MA030-071----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1841 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Located in pasture, on a rise at the base of a gentle W-facing slope, and overlooked c. 250m to W by a ridge on top of which a possible rath (MA030-070----), now levelled, is sited.
Raised, broadly oval area (c. 25-30m NW-SE; c. 35-40m NE-SW) defined by an earthen scarp (H 3m; Wth slope 5-6m), which retains a low internal rim at E, and enclosed by two fosses with an intervening bank (Wth 5.6m; int. H 0.4-0.6m; ext. H 2.2m). The inner fosse (Wth 2.5m) is narrower than the outermost fosse (Wth 4m; ext. D 0.85m). The outermost fosse is well defined on N and S, with a low rise (Wth 1.8m) on its outer edge in parts, which may represent a counterscarp bank, or possibly a later field bank.
The E half of the interior is level but there is a marked slope down from centre to W−SW. At the ESE, a U-shaped depression (Wth 4-5m) cuts through the fosses and outer bank, extending as far as the inner scarp; it appears to be the result of relatively modern disturbance/quarrying.
The perimeter is ringed with hawthorn, blackthorn and brambles, and there is a dense thicket of blackthorn in E half of interior.
Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy
Date of upload: 5 June 2018
Nearby in the register
- Megalithic structureunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Souterrainunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.