Gortaveha

61 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Gortaveha, from 914 m² to 1,711,415 m² (171.14 ha, 422.9 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary. 22 neighbouring parcels touch it.

Download the townland as DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings, or as GeoJSON or KML.

No zone of a development plan covers Gortaveha in the national zoning. Outside zoned towns and villages, the county development plan's rural policies apply to each application.

Source: Tailte Éireann and the Department of Housing (MyPlan), national zoning, CC BY 4.0.

• 12 Dec 2025Conditional

  is sought for existing off grid domestic dwelling, consisting of timber cabin of floor area circa 42.5 m2 on elevated pile foundation comprising of one bedroom, sitting area, porch, food prep-area and compositing bathroom. The existing dwelling forms part of the circle way regenerative and sustainable living community, which through democratic organising, healthy organic food, and enriched social lives work and live as a sustainable community while minimising ecological impacts. Retention permission is sought for existing dwelling and all site works and services

  Retention, 1 home · Clare County Council, 25386

• 12 Dec 2025Conditional

  is sought for existing off grid domestic dwelling, consisting of timber cabin of floor area circa 19.5 m2 on pile foundation comprising of one space incorporating bedroom, sitting area. The existing dwelling forms part of the circle way regenerative and sustainable living community, which through democratic organising, healthy organic food and enriched social lives work and live as a sustainable community while minimising ecological impacts. Retention permission is sought for existing dwelling and all ancillary site works and services

  Retention, 1 home · Clare County Council, 25387

Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

• Special Protection Area: Slieve Aughty Mountains SPA 004168
• Natural Heritage Area: Slieve Aughty Bog NHA 001229

Recorded monuments

• CL012-002 Ritual site - holy well
  Description

  In a shallow depression at the foot of a N-facing slope, in tree-covered marshy ground surrounded by pasture. Indicated and labelled ‘Holy Well’ on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map. This holy well is enclosed by a modern D-shaped well-house with an almost straight W side (L 1.8m), and a steeply pitched roof (H 1.86m) with a flat top (Wth 0.53m). The structure is built of rough unworked flat sandstone slabs bonded with mortar (wall Wth 0.36m at N and S). In the W face of the structure are two low rectangular openings (H 0.41-0.45m; Wth 0.4-0.48m), their bases just above ground level and with a lintel over each (N lintel L 0.74m; T 0.1m; S lintel L 0.56m; T 0.1m). Each opening leads into a pentagonal alcove-like compartment (D 0.56-0.67m) containing two basins. The alcoves are lined by thin flagstones and separated from each other by a narrow stone wall (Wth 0.25m) which is open at the base where the well water is found. Kirby (2021) suggested that one basin may be for cures (eyes ailments and headaches), and the other for drinking water. Placed centrally in the external wall-face over the openings is a D-shaped stone (H 0.33m) with a flat base (L 0.3m). There is a cross (H 0.18m; Wth 0.11m) in the centre of this stone’s face, lined on either side by the engraved words ‘BLEST WELL’ set at a 45° angle on either side of the cross. Outside the structure’s W side is an elongated slab (L 1.5m; Wth 0.65m), and outside the S side are three flat slabs. The well is surrounded by small beech and willow trees, as well as a holly tree at the back (i.e., to the E). During an inspection in 1999 one old willow just to the N of the well had rags, strips of plastic, feathers and shoe laces hanging from its branches. According to Kirby (2021), two entries in the National Folklore Collection relate to this well: one recounts the story of a saint blessing the water here; the other entry mentions how the water was once used to cook potatoes, but when it would not boil the water was recognised as holy. According to a local woman spoken to in 1999, the holy well was referred to by some people as Hoarty’s Well (in reference to the previous landowner - see also Kirby, 2021) and was still visited by older people of the area. This informant stated that the stone superstructure was built over the well compartments as part of a local FÁS scheme in the mid-1990s. According to another account, it was constructed by a local mason from Flagmount (ibid.). The area of the well was fenced in in the late 1990s.   Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott   Date of upload: 2-10-2025

Architectural heritage

No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands in the townland of Gortaveha.

Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Buildings: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).

Radon

At the centre of the townland of Gortaveha, about 1 in 20 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

The 1:50,000 map rates the landslide susceptibility here as moderately high, moderately low, low, partly inferred. Parts of the land are water.

Terrain model

No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of the townland of Gortaveha.

Flooding

The Office of Public Works publishes its flood maps on floodinfo.ie.

Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency, and Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland, both under CC BY 4.0. LiDAR: contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland & the Office of Public Works) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

No address of the register names Gortaveha with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Clare.

Name

Gortaveha · Gort an Bheithe

Area

4,340,600 m² (434.06 ha, 1,072.59 acres)

Civil parish

Feakle, and its townlands

Barony

Tulla Upper

Electoral division

Killanena, the unit of the census

Census 2022

282 people lived in 102 households in the Killanena electoral division. 91% of households owned their home. 27% of homes were built since 2001. 14% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 8% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Derrybrien South (Co. Galway), Derrynaveagh, Derrywee West (Co. Galway), Inchamore (Co. Galway), Knockatunna, Knocknahannee, Reanahumana, Scalp, Slieveanore

Placenames

Gortaveha on logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland

Townlands, civil parishes, baronies and electoral divisions, National Statutory Boundaries, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. Census 2022, Small Area Population Statistics by electoral division, Central Statistics Office, CC BY 4.0. A townland is the smallest land division of Ireland, and the unit of a rural address. Old registers such as the 1901 and 1911 censuses file it under its civil parish and barony.