Cave in Coolmagort

This Man-made underground passage, marked ‘Cave’ on the OS maps, was discovered in 1838 by workmen building a field boundary across a slight rise in Dunloe Castle demesne, a short distance W of the River Loe. A total of seven ogham stones were incorporated into its structure. Atkinson and Romilly Allen visited it individually several decades later, and recorded that the accessible section of its passage was c. 5.7m in overall length and averaged l.3m in height (1866, 523-4; 1892, 166-70). Access was gained through an opening at S, where the passage was 7 feet (2.15m) wide. From here it curved to NE, decreasing in width to 3 feet 3 inches (1m). The walls were of drystone construction and inclined slightly to reduce the passage width at roof level. It was roofed by nine slabs, six of which bore ogham inscriptions. One of the larger ogham stones had cracked in antiquity and was supported by a seventh, which stood upright in the Man-made underground passage passage. A number of bones and skulls, some of which were reputedly human, were found in the Man-made underground passage. In 1940 the ogham stones were removed from the site by the OPW, and were erected close to a public roadway nearby. The Man-made underground passage was subsequently filled back and no surface trace remains. The ogham stones are described in order of Atkinson’s enumeration of them while they were in situ (see Fig. 130). The heights given are those at their present location. (A) This stone stands 1.2m high, and is up to .3m in width and .11m in thickness. It stood upside down in the Man-made underground passage passage supporting (2), which served as a lintel. Macalister (1945, 193) read the inscription as: CUNACENA (1) This stands 2.1m high, and is up to .52m in width and .2m in thickness. The well-preserved inscription on the dexter angle reads: DEGOS MAQI MOCOI TOICAKI The S is inscribed on the broad face of the stone and is obviously a rectified omission (Macalister 1945, 193). A number of the consonant scores do not reach the angle, and the forfid K is used. A small, encircled, equal-armed cross occurs on that face of the stone which was uppermost when it served as a lintel in the Man-made underground passage (Graves 1886, 605). (2) This stone measures 2.65m high, up to .46m in width and .2m in thickness. It had fractured towards the centre when in situ and was supported by an upright stone beneath (A). The inscription is well-preserved and is carved along both edges. It reads: MAQI-RITEAS MAQI MAQI-DDUMILEAS MUCOI TOICACI A pocked rectangular space on the left side of the sinister angle was interpreted by Macalister as indicating the removal of an erroneous character (1945, 193). (3) This stone measures 1.48m high, up to .3m in width and .15m in thickness. The well-preserved inscription is carved along both edges and across the top. Macalister (1945, 193) read it as: MAQI-TTAL MAQI VORGOS MAQI MUCOI TOICAC (4) This stone stands 1.3m high, and is up to .45m in width and .lm in thickness. Prior to its use as a lintel its inscribed face was damaged, resulting in the loss of all vowel-notches and scores on this surface. The remaining scores along the edge and top of the stone represent the letters MC, GE, M, Q, D and E, according to Macalister (1945, 195). Neither the second M nor the E, which is apparently represented by the forfid symbol, are now clearly visible. (5) This stone measures 1.3m high, and up to .23m in both width and thickness. The inscription was carved along both edges and across the top, but the latter was broken off in antiquity. Macalister (1945, 196) read it as: NIOTTVRECC MAQI [. .]GNI (6) This stone stands .86m high, and is up to .29m in width and .10m in thickness. It was used as a packing stone above (4) and (5) in the Man-made underground passage. The top is broken and the angle of the dexter edge was chipped off in antiquity. Macalister (1945, 197) read the remainder of the inscription as: MAQI-DECEDA MAQ[.... Cork University Press (1996), no. 863.