What is recorded here

King John’s Castle in Carlingford hides a ten-metre underground chamber, discovered in 2016 and preserved behind its own stone walls. The narrow passage, no taller than a crouching person, bends southeast then southwest before disappearing beneath the gatehouse. It may have served as a escape route, a storage vault, or a forgotten jail. The absence of a roof suggests the chamber was abandoned or deliberately sealed. What remains is a shadow behind stone, waiting for someone to imagine its purpose.

A section of a Man-made underground passage passage was discovered inside King John’s Castle (LH004-042002-) during 2016 just W of the cross-wall. It consists of a NE-SW passage (L c. 10m) which was entered by a sloping unroofed passage (L 3m) at the NE and might have been cut at its SW end by the walls of the gatehouse. Close to its SW end a passage ran SE (L c. 2.5m) and then SW (L c. 3.5m). This section of passage (Wth 1.2m; H c. 0.9-1.3m) was of drystone walls corbelling in at the top but lacking any roof-stones. Another passage might have continued SE from the turn. The Man-made underground passage will be preserved in situ but will be inaccessible. (Halpin 2017) Date of upload: 23 April, 2018

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