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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Enclosure

Gorteen (Coolavin By.), County Sligo, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Enclosure, Gorteen, County Sligo, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Gorteen (Coolavin By.)
County
Sligo
Country
Ireland
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.98790, -8.50030
SMR number
SL044-040----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David 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)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, on a S-facing slope overlooking a small valley. A U-shaped area (20m E-W; c. 25m N-S) open to S, defined to W by a line of upcast field clearance debris, NW-NE by a curving S-facing stony scarp cut into the rising ground, and E-SE by a low stony rise (Wth c. 3.5m; int. H 0.6m; ext. H c. 0.4m). The curving S-facing scarp (H 1.65m) has a broadly slumped irregular slope with an uneven surface broken by boulders, rocks and the roots of hawthorn bushes. From NE-E it grades into a low stony rise without clearly defined edges. It incorporates loose stones and boulders that are probably the result of field clearance activity and is obscured on its outer edge by dumped farm machinery. The perimeter of the enclosure is densely covered with hawthorn bushes and brambles. According to the landowner, the interior which is level but sunken relative to exterior ground level, was used as a feeding place for cattle and the resulting poached surface and build-up of debris was removed and banked up on the W side of the enclosure. The enclosure is known locally as a 'fort'. A farm track skirts its W side.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005).

Date of upload: 18 January 2008

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
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