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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Souterrain

Ballynahown, County Clare, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Souterrain, Ballynahown, County Clare, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Ballynahown
County
Clare
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
53.07309, -9.33284
SMR number
CL004-027008-

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

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1753 map "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1753 · Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (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

Just W of centre in a cashel (CL004-027003-). Described by Westropp (1905, 351) as, ‘… a souterrain, 27 feet [c. 8.23m] from the western terrace, measuring 18 feet 8 inches [c. 5.69m], north-east and south-west. And 5 feet wide [c. 1.52m], lined with walls of small masonry, and roofed with great slabs, large and thin; one measures 7 and a half feet [c. 2.3m] by 5 feet 4 inches [c. 1.63m], by 10 inches to 12 inches [c. 0.25-0.3m]. Near the southern end, to the east, is a small side apartment, only 4 feet [c. 1.22m] by 3 feet [c. 0.91m] wide.’ The monument was later described by Cunningham (1980, 20) as ‘collapsed’.
The souterrain survives today as a partially unroofed passage (L 4.8m SSW-NNE; Wth 1.2-1.3m; H 0.7-0.8m) with a collapsed lintel at the SSW end, to the E of which is a narrow alcove (Wth 0.95m at front; Wth 0.55m at back; D 1.1-1.2m ENW-WSW). The passage is roofed by three lintels at the SSW end (L 0.95m; Wth 0.9m; H 0.7m), where the side walls meet to form a V-shape, which contains a small, square alcove and there is a second, smaller alcove (H 0.2m; Wth 0.2m; D 0.6m) at the S-end of the chamber.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Lynda McCormack

Date of upload: 17 October 2022

References

Cunningham, G. 1980 Burren journey West. Shannonside Mid-Western Regional Tourism Organisation.

Westropp, T. J. 1905 Prehistoric remains (Forts and Dolmens) along the borders of Burren, in the county of Clare. Part 1 – The Eastern Border. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 35, 205-29.

Westropp, T.J. 1905-08 Ancient remains near Lisdoonvarna. Journal of the Limerick Field Club 3, 39-53, 143-59.

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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