What is recorded here

Twenty-four metres of dressed stone twist beneath the Liscahane ringfort, bending through sharp angles and a low creepway before opening into chambers vented to the sky. Built in the sixth century after disturbing an older Bronze Age burial, the passage still holds the smell of wet earth and the weight of deliberate design. Whoever dug it did not scramble stones; they measured turns, set lintels and carried a drain northward through solid ground. The absence of a visible chamber suggests the building itself was the point, a hidden gallery made to be walked, remembered and perhaps forgotten until O Donnabháin uncovered it.

In centre of ringfort (8468). Excavated by B. O Donnabháin over three seasons from 1982-4. Large stone-built gallery (L 24.55m) roofed with stone lintels; two 90 turns and one U-shaped turn divide the gallery into four sections; there are no chambers per se. Section 1: entrance passage (L 4.8m; Wth 0.45m - 0.6m), immediately below modern ground level. U-shaped creepway (Wth 0.5m; H 0.5m) connected sections 1 and 2. Section 2: (L 6.15m) sloped steeply downwards. A 90 turn separated segments 2 and 3. Section 3: (L 5.9m; Wth 1.25m; H 1.4m) level; stone-built air-vent at roof level. Another 90 turn separated sections 3 and 4. Section 4: (L 7.65m; Wth 1.3m; H 1.35m-1.45m), also level; air-vent at roof level; stone-lined drain runs 11m from end of chamber, exiting outside site to N. Construction trench averaged 2.2m wide and up to 3.5m below modern ground level; charcoal from trench yielded radiocarbon dates that centre on 6th century AD. Two lintels, both from section 2, were ogham inscribed (7976, 7977). Early Bronze Age burial (7899) disturbed by construction of Man-made underground passage (pers. comm. B. O Donnabháin). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

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