Souterrain

The National Monuments Service's description

In a cashel (SL007-020001-). A souterrain, indicated as ‘Cave’, is shown in the NW quadrant of the cashel on the 1913 OS 6-inch map. A 19th-century account (Milligan 1890-1, 576), however, describes ‘two pairs of crypts or souterrains each pair being detached from its neighbour.’ This suggests that there may be two souterrain here. Describing one pair of chambers (SL007-020002-), Milligan records that a narrow surface opening drops into a ‘passage which is about 12 feet [3.6m] in slant length. The first chamber is about 15 feet long [4.5m], 6 feet broad [1.8m], and 5 feet 9 inches high [1.75m]’. From this chamber, a sloping passage c. 2.4m long drops into the second chamber which is set at a lower level than the first. The second chamber measures ’16 feet long [4.9m], 9 feet broad [2.7m], and 6 feet high [1.8m]; the end of the chamber is curved and the roof arched’ and there is a ‘small funnel’, possibly a ventilation shaft. The chambers are of drystone construction. According to Milligan (ibid.), a second surface opening, some distance from the first, gives access to the second pair of chambers (SL007-020003-), which are almost identical in construction and layout to the other pair, but apparently not connected to them. The cashel was inspected in 1991, but dense overgrowth impeded access to the interior, and the souterrains could not be examined.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 25 April 2017

References

Milligan, S.F. 1890-91 Ancient forts in County Sligo. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 21, 574-82.