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Man-made underground passage in Furzypark (dunkellin By.)

Man-made underground passage

What is recorded here

Twenty-eight metres of dark stone lay hidden inside a Galway rath until a bulldozer bit through the roof in 1976. The sudden exposure revealed two chambers joined like a clumsy letter L, their drystone walls still standing after centuries of forgetting. People may have crawled through that narrow darkness to hide, worship or simply escape the rain, but the earth swallowed the truth before anyone could ask it.
Within a rath (GA114-073----). During the course of land reclamation in 1976 a bulldozer removed a roof lintel from this Man-made underground passage; it was subsequently investigated by Prof. E. Rynne (pers. comm.). The two-chambered drystone-built Man-made underground passage (L c. 28.5m) was well preserved and roughly L-shaped in plan. The 1st chamber (L c. 19m; Wth 1.9m; H 1.5m) runs NW-SE. Access was gained to it near its NW end. The 2nd chamber (L 9.5m) extended from the N end of the E side-wall and ran ENE-WSW. Alcoves were evident at NW end of the 1st chamber at the NE end of the 2nd one. The Man-made underground passage has been filled in and a slight depression now marks its location. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 18 December 2017

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

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