TreeAlive
‹ Sites and Monuments Record, Ireland

Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Souterrain

Newtownbalregan, County Louth, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Souterrain, Newtownbalregan, County Louth, 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
Newtownbalregan
County
Louth
Country
Ireland
Coordinates
54.01954, -6.44218
SMR number
LH007-174002-

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 1636 map "Vltoniae Orientalis Pars" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1636 · Vltoniae Orientalis Pars (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1799 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Get directions ↗

This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

Excavated in advance of the construction of the M1 Dundalk Western Bypass (Excavation Licence No. 03E0115). Located c. 5m SW of a ringfort ditch (LH007-142001-).'The souterrain consisted of: six galleries; two rectangular and corbelled chambers, both with external air vents; three lighting alcoves (one stone-lined); one entrance grille/door (Gallery 1); one large internal door with jambs and locking arrangement (Gallery 2); and one drop-hole (Chamber 1). Included as a capstone near the entrance to Gallery 3 was a large, reused piece of highly decorated megalithic art. The souterrain was built using two building materials: quarried stone for Galleries 1-5 and Chamber 1, but rougher 'field stone' for Gallery 6 (which was entered via the drop-hole from Chamber 1) and the large Chamber 2'. The total L of the passages was 46m, 33m of which was intact. (Bayley 2006, 343)

Reference:

Bayley, D. (2006) 'Newtownbalregan Ringfort with souterrain' in I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2003: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 343 (No. 1286). Bray. Wordwell

Compiled by: Claire Breen

Date of upload: 8 December 2011

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
All Souterrain in Louth All County Louth records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
See your own family's places on a living map