Souterrain

The National Monuments Service's description

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007

Excavated in 1980 (Manning 1986) as part of a group of monuments (see also LH017-054001-, LH017-054002-, LH017-054003-, LH017-054005- and LH017-054006-). The souterrain consisted of a drystone-built passage (L 24m overall), extending E (7m) then turning at right angles to N (4m), then running E (13m). At the E end the passage terminated in a drop-hole, which gave access to a second passage (L 5.5m, Wth 1m, H 1m) at a lower level extending S and terminating in a beehive chamber (diam. 3m, H 2m). In the middle of the N wall of the third section of the first passage, a creep gave access to a subcircular chamber (diam. 1.2m, H 1m). The original entrance to the souterrain was of drop-hole construction with two drystone steps leading downslope from it. Most of the upper passage had been delintelled in antiquity, but traces of a trap construction were noted during excavation of the second section of Passage 1. Four finds were recovered from the floor of the first section of the upper passage: an iron stick-pin, iron needle, bronze stick-pin and a halfpenny of Henry VIII. These finds are not contemporary and the excavator notes that the coin suggests that the souterrain was accessible as late as the sixteenth century. (PRIA C 1986, 135-81)