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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Gorteen (fartullagh By.), County Westmeath, Ireland

The record

Townland
Gorteen (fartullagh By.)
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured, Whelans Fort
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured, Whelans Fort
Coordinates
53.47852, -7.34676
SMR number
WM026-056----

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

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (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

Situated on a low rise in undulating pasture. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a roughly oval-shaped earthwork, annotated ‘Whelan’s Fort’. Monument occupied by a grove of trees on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map. Monument described in 1971 as an oval-shaped area (dims. 40m NW-SE; 36.3m NE-SW) enclosed by an earth and stone bank and an external fosse. The bank is substantial and is best preserved from SW-WSW-W and there are slight disturbance gaps at W and NNW. It is much disturbed at SW where a large stone juts out of the exterior. A large stone is visible on the inner face of the bank at E and another at ESE and there are remains of an internal stone facing along the base from NE-E. A wide shallow fosse is visible from SW-S-E-ENE and there is a large quarry hole just outside it at NW. The entrance gap (Wth at top approx. 5.4m; basal Wth 2.3m) is at E which is defined by a large stone on the inner corner of the N side. The interior has a general ESE-facing slope with some large stone outcrops. A house site (WM026-056001-) is located in the W quadrant.

See attached profile of monument surveyed and drawn by the ASI.

Compiled by Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien.

Date of upload: 02 October 2019

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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