Site: Gowlane

Name:Gowlane CISP No:GOWLA
Place:Gowlane Grid Ref:Q 0 9200 (IR)   Map
Parish:Farranfore Stones:1
County:Kerry (Ciarraí) , Ireland Saint(s):none
Site Type:landscape setting

Site Notes

Dennehy/2001, 21--23: `the burial area was clearly differentiated from the surrounding terrain by both differential grass growth and trackways skirting and delineating the burial-ground. ... Both the ogham stone and the ceallúnach were located within a large earthen enclosure.

The complex at Gowlane is situated on the summit of a low hill commanding an extensive view of the surrounding terrain, locally overlooked by Scart Hill a little to the north-east. The site consists of a raised subcircular platform, enclosed by an inner ditch and bank. It would appear that the natural scarp of the hill was exploited in the construction of the enclosing element of the site, as the earthen bank was made up of material externally upcast during the excavation of the fosse. ... The denuded low-level remains of the external bank survive to a maximum basal width of 2.5m and height of 0.35m, and enclose a subcircular raised platform with a maximim diameter of 76m east-west and 82m north-south. The nature of the host enclosure is ambiguous and its internal fosse suggests some form of pre-historic context, possibly substantiated by the recent discovery of a standing stone, complete with rock art, just two fields away. However, the occurrence of the ogham stone and ceallúnach together suggests the possibility that the enclosure is ecclesiastical in nature. ... The wider context for the location of the Gowlane ceallúnach in proximity to a field boundary is also worthy of note, particularly since the line of the western field boundary also demarcates the townland boundary'.

References

Stones