Souterrain

The National Monuments Service's description

Cathair Nua: Cashel KE052-256---- was situated on the lower S slopes of Mount Eagle overlooking Dingle Bay. On the 1st edition of the OS map it is shown as a circular enclosure with 3 huts in the interior, and in the OSM it was described as a stone fort with clochauns in such ruinous condition that their plan could not be determined. Du Noyer (1858, 6-7) later described the cashel as 'about 75 feet (22.8m) in diameter, consisting of a circular stone-wall 8 feet (2.4m) thick, the exterior of which inclines from the base upwards and appears to have terminated in a parapet'.

The souterrain was roughly T-shaped in plan and was comprised of 2 oval chambers set at right angles to one another and linked by a short creepway. The entrance occured at the SW end of chamber 1 and opened onto the interior of the main hut at its NE side. Chamber 1 was aligned SW-NE and measured 3.8m x 1.37m x 1.5m high. The creep way was 1m long x .5m wide x .5m high. The 2nd chamber measured 3.65m long x 1.3m wide x 1.58m high. There was a cupboard recess at the SE end of chamber 2.

The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 675. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 7 August 2013