What is recorded here

Donaghmore holds a tangled underground maze of five passages and a final gallery, buried beneath County Louth and closed because its lintels have failed. The chambers twist south, southwest and southeast before dropping through gaps in the stone into lower levels, suggesting people built a place meant to be navigated in darkness rather than seen from above. It may have served as a refuge, a workshop or a ceremonial path, but the absent purpose leaves the known shape even stranger.

Discovered during building construction. The Man-made underground passage consists of a passage (L 17.2m, Wth 1m, H 0.9m-1.5m) running N-S, with the original entrance at the N end. At the S end of the first passage is a second passage (L 14.6m, Wth 1.1m, H 1.2m) running SW. A third passage (L 6.7m, Wth 0.9m, H 1.2m) runs SE from the SW end of the second passage. A drop-hole formed by a gap in the lintels, 2.7m from the SE end of the third passage gives access to a fourth passage (L 3.9m, Wth 0.9m, H 1.4m) extending SW at an upper level. At the SW end of the fourth passage is a second drophole giving access to a fifth passage (L 19.7m, Wth 0.8m-1m, H 1.2m) extending SW at the lower level and terminating in the middle of the NE side of a gallery (L 10.7m, Wth 1.7m, H 1.7m) aligned NW-SE. (CLAJ 1959, 148-53) This is a national monument in the guardianship of the State (No. 526), but it is closed to the public for the foreseeable future, because of damaged lintels (Dundalk Democrat 11/04/2017). The above description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of revision: 12 April 2017

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