Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Souterrain
Cool West, County Kerry, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Cool West
- County
- Kerry
- Country
- Ireland
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 51.91123, -10.38491
- SMR number
- KE078-018001-
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 2 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Though described by Westropp as a 'fort' (1912, 298), the present remains are those of a ruined hut and a stone-built souterrain.
An opening to the souterrain is located in the N face of the revetted scarp, and gives access to a drystone passage which extends SW for a distance of 4.5m to a point beneath the hut KE078-018----. The passage measures .95m high and .95m wide and its walls corbel slightly towards the lintelled roof. Limpet shells and other debris, which apparently fell through from the floor of the hut into the passage below, yielded a radiocarbon date of 930±80 BP (Mitchell 1989, 41).
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. 1208. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Date of upload: 31 July 2013
Nearby in the register
- Hut siteunder 1 mi
- Promontory fort - coastalunder 1 mi
- Hut siteunder 1 mi
- House - early medievalunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.