Placename
Gaelic name: Goirtean
Name in Original Source: Goirtean
English meaning: Little corn-field
Placename feature: Arable land
Notes: Aerial imagery shows that the Goirtean was formerly much bigger, and predates the current dyke. It is a green area south of the township of Culduie. The most recent stone dyke can be seen as a dead-straight line right through the heart of this little arable patch, now under bracken. The old wall can still be seen marking part of the outline on its south-west edge, while both Allt Glac na h-Ioramaich and Allt Sloc na Beinne cut through its upper eastern slope. Duncan Murchison, 24th October 2012, gave information about this place and suggested that - as is alluded to in Osgood MacKenzie's One Hundred Years in the Highlands - this may have been an arable spot that was possibly only used in times of real scarcity. The name may be linked with the word gort, meaning scarcity, famine, hunger
W. J. Watson's notes:
Map name appears in: Does not appear on maps
Feature Co-ordinates: 57.39148,-5.797259
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