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Man-made underground passage in Kilteenbane

Man-made underground passage

What is recorded here

Kilteenbane holds a collapsed drystone chamber beside the Finglas river, where two narrow passages still force a person to creep through darkness. One lost roof opens the western chamber to the sky, while a hidden vent cuts northwest through the earth, suggesting the builders knew how much air and water such a place needed. The completed shape has disappeared, but the surviving stones still describe a deliberate underground room rather than a random hole.
Univallate rath KE037-041---- with Man-made underground passage (KE037-041001-) situated on fairly level ground c. 150m W of the Finglas river. A drystone-built Man-made underground passage runs roughly E-W along the inner edge of the bank at S, extending across the entrance area. It is at least 9m long and is comprised of 2 passages, linked by a low, narrow creepway which is orientated c. NW-SE. Access to the E half of the structure is blocked by collapse, but a low gap beneath one of the roof-slabs provides a limited view of the creepway and E passage. The W half of the structure lacks its roof and here the passage is a maximum of .75m high and averages .68m in width. The S wall inclines inwards but the N wall, where it survives intact, is vertical. A drystone-built drain or air-vent leads off in a NW direction from the curved W wall. At its entrance, the latter is .2m high and .46m wide but its length is not known. Another drystone-built passage opens off the side of a depression which is located about 6m to N of the other passages. It is .7m wide but is filled in to within .27m of the roof. It runs SSW for at least 3m and presumably links up with the other passages. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 479. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013

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What survives
Recorded monument

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