Discover Alone, back to main map

Man-made underground passage in Ballykilty

Man-made underground passage

What is recorded here

A narrow stone chamber and clay-cut cell lie hidden beneath a Ballykilty hillside, waiting for someone brave enough to crawl into their darkness. The creephole leads from a rectangular room into a rounded vault, suggesting a deliberate descent rather than a random collapse. McCarthy wondered whether a faded field fence marked a lost ringfort, but the passage itself remains stubbornly separate, preserving a purpose no longer spoken aloud.
In pasture, on hillside, discovered during ploughing in 1975. Investigated and described by J.P. McCarthy (1977, 164-5). Stone-built rectangular chamber (L 2.45m; Wth 0.65m; H 0.7m); long axis NE-SW; roofed with capstones. Lintelled creephole at W end leading to circular clay-cut cell (L 0.7m; Wth 0.8m; H 0.6m) now blocked with soil. Appears to be unassociated but McCarthy suggests that 'curved portion [of] field fence immediately [to] E may indicate former existence of ringfort'. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East and South Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1994). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

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

Add to this placeAdd a picture Comment or add a tip

Explore 1,118,481 places