What is recorded here
Kelly's Cave is a sixteen-metre limestone passage in County Mayo where carved benches and a roof skylight suggest centuries of deliberate human occupation. Local tradition claims a fugitive named Kelly sheltered there after the 1798 Rebellion or survived the Penal era as a highwayman, while other accounts link the site to a medieval hermitage near Cong Abbey. These conflicting stories reveal how much of the cave still resists certainty, preserving only the shape of lives that disappeared into its dark chambers.
Stone-lined depression containing rubble, in W side of ringfort (MA110-051001-). Inaccessible at time of survey.
The above description has been derived from D. Lavelle (compiler), An Archaeological Survey of Ballinrobe and District including Lough Mask and Lough Carra. Lough Mask and Lough Carra Tourist Development Association (1994), No. 530.
Date of upload: 30 October 2013
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
Places near here
EnclosureEnclosure, large enclosure · 1031 yd
Standing StoneMonument · 1402 yd
Creagh Housegate lodge · 1.1 mi
Rat IslandIslet · 1.1 mi
CastleCastle, unclassified · 1.7 mi
Stare IslandIslet · 1.8 mi
European ashEuropean ash · 1.9 mi
Castle in ruinsCastle, unclassified · 2.0 mi
LabbadermotCave · 2.8 mi
SycamoreSycamore · 3.3 mi
Devenish RocksNamed rock · 4.1 mi