Cave in Tormore

In a limestone scarp on the S slopes of Tormore Mountain in the Darty Mountains. The location, overlooking a small valley, is remote and naturally concealed. This limestone cave was used as a hideout by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the War of Independence and the Civil War. In September 1922, the National Army swept through North Sligo and captured the anti-Treaty IRA headquarters at Rahelly House. The IRA fled to the mountains. Up to thirty four men reached the safety of the cave and hid there for six weeks, escaping capture. In 2022 Dr. Marion Dowd (IT Sligo) directed a six-day research excavation (licence no. 22E0030) to investigate the nature of republican usage of the cave (Dowd et al. 2022). The results unexpectedly revealed four phases of use of the cave: 1920’s; early modern era (17th to 20th century); early medieval; prehistoric. The cave consists of a narrow passage (L 18m in length, Wth 1.2-2m in width; H 1.4m to 2.5m) which extends eastward into the bedrock. For the purposes of the excavation, the passage was divided into three areas: Area 1, level section near entrance (0-8m); Area 2, sloping middle section (8-13.5m); Area 3, cramped innermost reaches of cave (13.5-18m). The 1920s activities were concentrated in Area 1, which is the most spacious and only section where the floor is level. Excavations here involved removing superficial deposits to reveal -but not remove- features constructed during the revolutionary period. A U-shaped setting or kerb of low stones was found; the stones were set on edge and mortared into position against the cave walls along the length of the cave passage in Area 1, and across the end of Area 1 where the passage drops sharply into Area 2. Within the U-shaped setting, a mortar floor was uncovered, and an area of flagstone paving. Neatly constructed stone steps were uncovered leading from the cave entrance to the floor of Area 1; four were exposed, though others likely lie beneath an unexcavated area. A large boulder at the exterior edge of the cave entrance appeared to have been deliberately manoeuvred into position in order to conceal the natural opening. Artefacts recovered from Area 1 include fragments of two glazed red earthenware dishes, a black glazed-ware jar and a glass bottle, fragments of metal vessels and a clay pipe bowl. Two sods of turf and turf charcoal were found in a natural recess in the cave wall, perhaps intended as fuel for a fire or low-level lighting. Animal bones that probably relate to the 1920s occupation include rabbit, fish (cod) and chicken. In Area 2 bones from at least five sheep and goats were found lying on the surface of the sloping, boulder-strewn cave floor. The bones, a significant number of which showed butchery marks, represent entire carcasses with all body parts present, suggesting that the animals were butchered in the cave. Two radiocarbon samples produced dates for these activities between the late 17th and early 20th century, but probably pre-dating the 1920s occupation. Two animal bones, however, revealed use of the cave in the early medieval period: A large mammal rib (probably cattle) with five butchery marks returned a radiocarbon date in the 7th or 8th century, and an unmodified horse metapodial returned a 10th- or early 11th-century date. Finally, evidence of a prehistoric phase of activity in the cave comes from an assemblage of sixteen lithic artefacts, including core and flake debitage (15 chert, 1 flint) recovered from disturbed strata. The majority of the lithics are fragmentary and undiagnostic to a specific period in prehistory, but a possible rough-out for a butt-trimmed flake is tentatively identified as Late Mesolithic in date, and a fragment of a convex scraper is likely to be Neolithic or Bronze Age in date. (Dowd et al. 2022).