Gortoorlan

Gortoorlan is a townland in the Parish of Tomregan, Barony of Tullyhaw, County Cavan, Ireland.

The townland name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic placename "Gort Urlainn" which means ‘The Field of the Spear-Shaft’. An alternative meaning which has been suggested is ‘Field of the Forecourt’. The oldest surviving mention of the name is in the Fiants of Queen Elizabeth I (4813) dated 19 January 1586 where it is spelled 'Gortoulleran'. The 1609 Ulster Plantation map spells the name as ‘Gortooleran’.

It is bounded on the north and east by Mucklagh townland, on the south by Doon & Derryginny townlands and on the west by Snugborough townland. Its chief geographical features are some mountain streams, a pond on its border with Snugborough and Slieve Rushen mountain, on whose southern slope it lies, reaching an altitude of 900 feet above sea-level.

Gortoorlan is traversed by the Bawnboy Road and Preaching House Lane.

The townland covers 210 statute acres.

The owner of the townland in 1586 was Tirlagh McGovern, son of Cormack McGovern and grandson of Edmund McGovern, who received a pardon in the Fiants of Queen Elizabeth I (4813) dated 19 January 1586. It formed part of the Manor of Calva which was granted to Walter Talbot in 1610 as part of the Plantation of Ulster. The Hearth Money Rolls of 1664 list the occupiers of Gortoorlan as James Dix, Christopher Hopson and Knoghor McConor.

The Tithe Applotment Books for 1827 list the following tithepayers in the townland- Sturdy, Kelly, Lawrence, Donahy

The Ordnance Survey Name Books for 1836 give the following description of the townland- "Gort úrlainn, 'field of the shaft'. North-east of parish. Property of Montgomery. Rent 16 shillings to £1 per arable acre. 50 acres of mountain. Soil gravelly on limestone. No road. Produces oats, flax and potatoes. Poor farmers. A fort towards the south."

Griffith's Valuation of 1857 lists the landlords of the townland as the Annesley Estate and Netterfield & the tenants as Montgomery, Donohoe, Griffin, Kelly, Cochrane, McKenna, Bradshaw, Faris, McCaffrey, McNally, Armstrong and Kane.

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