What is recorded here

The digger did not break through solid earth so much as lift a stone lid off a hidden room. That sudden opening in the new park may have revealed an old way of keeping warmth, shelter or secret things beneath a town that has since forgotten the shape of the entrance.

In Letterkenny, located within a town park bordered on the N side by St. Conall’s Hospital. This Man-made underground passage was uncovered in 1997 during the construction of the park. The accidental removal of a roof slab by a mechanical digger created a hole (0.8m by 0.77m) in the roof of an E–W chamber (max. Wth 1.38m; L c. 3.6m E-W; H 1.53m). The drystone walls, constructed of rough-cut stones, are vertical for about half their height, and above this, are gradually corbelled to support a roof of five stone lintels, one of which was removed by the digger. At its W end, the chamber narrows (Wth 0.64m) to a possible passageway but this was blocked with a fall of earth and stones and could not be examined. There is a recess (H 0.31m; Wth 0.42m; D 0.52m) in the E wall, and another (H 0.33m; Wth 0.45m; D 0.72m) in the S wall, close to the point where the chamber begins to narrow. (pers. comm. Judith McCarthy, Donegal County Museum). The Man-made underground passage was covered with soil, and there is no visible trace at ground level. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 14 September 2015

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.