Man-made underground passage in Farrandreg

Discovered by construction workers and subsequently excavated (Excavation Licence No. 95E0109 ext.). Consisted of two upper chambers, one rectangular (L 4.4m; Wth 2.8m, H 1m) in shape and one oblong, and two lower chambers entered via a semi-circular drop hole. The walls were built with large irregular limestone blocks and corbelled towards the top. The lintels from the upper chambers had been robbed but those in the lower chambers were intact. The first lower chamber (L. 8.5m; Wth 1.3m, max. H 1.5m) was the terminal point of the air vent, from this was another semicircular drop-hole with four slots positioned over it suggesting it may have been part of a trap door entrance. This in drop-hole led into the second lower chamber (L 7.5m; max. Wth 2m; H 2.1m) which was partially cut from bedrock and opened substantially towards the west. Artefacts recovered included Man-made underground passage ware pottery, a fragment of a rotary quern, bone needles, a bone comb, stick pins, worked flint and animal bone. (Murphy, Deirdre 2000, 150-1) Reference: Murphy, Deirdre 2000 Farrandreg. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1998: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 150-51 (No. 463). Bray. Wordwell. Compiled by: Claire Breen Date of upload: 24 November 2011