Souterrain

The National Monuments Service's description

This souterrain, marked 'Cave' on the OS maps, is situated in rough pasture on the lower NE slopes of Drung Hill. It consists of a short passage and two rectangular chambers which are set at right angles to one another and linked by a fairly long creepway. The walls of the passage and chambers are constructed of random drystone coursing, and are roofed with lintels. The W facing entrance to the souterrain measures .55m x .75m, and gives access to a passage which extends E for 1.7m; it is 8m high and .8m wide. A short creepway, .4m x .6m, in its E end-wall leads into the N end of a 3.1m long chamber, aligned N-S; it measures 1.4m high and .95m wide at the base. A lintelled creepway, .5m high and .5m wide, extends from its S end-wall to a point midway along the N side-wall of the second chamber. The sides of the 1.1m long creepway are formed of upright slabs. The second chamber is orientated E-W and is 3.5m long, 1m wide at base and 1.1m high. A point of entry from the surface occurs at its W end.

The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 864. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 29 July 2013