Man-made underground passage in Lackabane (muskerry East By.)

In pasture, on level ground on an E-facing slope. Donoughmore church and graveyard (CO050-102002-, CO050-102003-) are c. 330m to the N. This Man-made underground passage was discovered in 2007 after a heifer fell into a hole (diam. c. 0.9m) in the ground formed when the roof of the Man-made underground passage collapsed spontaneously. It consists of two earth-cut chambers joined by creepways. Chamber 1 (3.55m NNE-SSW; max. 1.54m NNW-SSE; min. H 1.28m) is roughly oval in plan. It narrows to 1.1m at the N end. Its roof is c. 1.09m below the present ground level. It has two creepways, one at SW and the other at NW. The SW creepway (Wth 0.45m; H 0.39m) slopes upward to the SW but is blocked by collapsed earth. A tape pushed into this creepway showed that it extended for at least 0.94m. It is likely that this is the original entrance to the Man-made underground passage. At a distance of 0.86m N of this creepway is a blocked-up construction shaft (Wth 0.6m; H 0.4m). At a distance of 1.1m further to the N is the second creepway (Wth 0.48m; H c. 0.4m) which leads in a NNW direction into chamber 2. Chamber 2 (3.87m NNW-SSE; max. 1.68m NNE-SSW; H 1.3m) is roughly rectangular in plan and narrows to 1.34m at the NNW end. A blocked-up construction shaft (Wth 0.5m) is visible 0.37m W of the creepway. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009