Cave

The National Monuments Service's description

On a S-facing limestone escarpment which forms a vertical rockface (H 30m) and within a large field system (CL004-027001-). The cave entrance is high up on the cliff face (H 4m) and has extensive views but is difficult to find. The cave is identified as ‘Robber’s Den’ and is one of eight caves within this escarpment (Anderson and McCarthy 1991).

Robber’s Den cave was first explored in 1935 by an English caving group and its importance was confirmed in 1963 when members of the Chelsea Speleological Society carried out an excavation which identified human and animal bones (Pick and Bartlett 1936; Mantle 1963). In 1989, members of the Cork Speleological Group discovered an entrance to an additional third chamber. Human bones and two stone rings were found on the floor of the third chamber and this lead to the excavation of the second and third chambers by archaeologists from UCC (Cremin 1991, 8; Anderson and McCarthy 1991).

The cave comprises a linear entrance chamber (L 5m NE-SW) from which a narrow gap in the NE extent leads to a lower (D 2m) rectangular second chamber (L 3.5m; Wth 1.5m). The second chamber slopes from W to E and a crevice (Wth 0.5m; L 3m) in the N wall leads to the lower third chamber which is prone to intermittent flooding. The floor of the third chamber is covered in rocks which have collapsed from the roof and sides of the cave and have reduced the height of the chamber (H 1m). The disturbed bones of an adult female were found in the third chamber in 1989 (Anderson and McCarthy 1991, 11) and were dated to the Late Bronze Age/Iron Age transition. The bones of a second individual were dated to the Medieval period (Dowd 2015, 45).

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Lynda McCormack

Date of upload: 14 June 2022

References

Dowd, M. 2015 The archaeology of caves in Ireland. Oxford. Oxbow Books.

Pick, S.J. and Bartlett, P.W. 1936 Cave explorations in Clare. The Irish Naturalists Journal 6, 64-86.

Mantle, R. 1963 My Irish Diary. Chelsea Speleological Society Newsletter 6, 1-5.

Anderson, E. and McCarthy, M. 1991 Report on an Excavation at Robber’s Den Cave Ballynahown, Co. Clare. Unpublished excavation report, Department of Archaeology University College Cork.

Cremin, B. 1991 Extension of Robber’s Den Cave, Co. Clare. Irish Speleology 14, 8-9.