What is recorded here

Five slabs still bridge a narrow chamber beneath the cliff at Cahernanackree, though the longer passage and side rooms recorded in 1940 have vanished under stone collapse. The hidden room measures barely two metres across, small enough for one person to crouch and listen for echoes from the lost chambers. A stone mining hammer found there suggests people worked the rock itself, perhaps cutting roof slabs or opening new spaces. The sea cliff, ruined cashel and buried passage now form one broken threshold between a visible fortress and an underground life that disappeared.

Cahernanackree/Cathair na nAcraí: Situated close to the cliff-edge on the E side of Minard beach, directly opposite Minard Castle (KE054-063----), the very ruined remains of circular bivallate cashel KE054-064---- contain the foundation of a rectangular house (KE054-064001-) and a Man-made underground passage (KE054-064002-), but the various other structures previously noted are no longer discernible. Amongst the stone collapse to W of KE054-064001- is an accidental entrance to a Man-made underground passage chamber which measures 2.2m NW-SE x 1.5m NE-SW x .7m in height. The walls are of drystone construction and 5 slabs form the roof of the structure. Neither the original entrance nor the other chambers and passages which were visible in 1940 (UCC) are now accessible. A possible stone mining hammer was discovered in one of the chambers. Also visible at that time was a circular hut, about 1.8m in diameter, abutted by a triangular hut and 2 rectangular huts. A series of about 7 circular depressions, c. 1.8m in diameter, were also noted along the SW edge of the interior. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 535. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013 This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 4/1991).

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