Man-made underground passage in Ballyanly

Discovered in 1976 during building construction; investigated by J.P. McCarthy (1977, 144-51). Two stone-built chambers at right angles to each other and connected by creepway. Chamber 1: subrectangular (L 4.4m; Wth 0.8m; max. H 1.2m; long axis E-W); floor slopes downwards towards W; end walls rounded; lintelled entrance to creepway at W end of N wall. Chamber 2: subrectangular (L 4.9m; Wth 0.8m; H 1.5m; long axis N-S); air vent in rounded N end. Both chambers roofed with lintels; access gained through roof of chamber 1 where only two lintels remain. Investigator suggests that original entrance was at E end of chamber 1 as ground slopes up towards surface. Finds included slag, furnace bottoms, iron ring, animal tooth and human skeletal remains. Chamber 1 had been backfilled to cover the skeletal remains and this fill contained most of the finds. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009