What is recorded here

Two thin stone lips still frame a narrow hole inside the Lisduff rath, marking a hidden passage that may have crawled toward a larger chamber now broken open in the bank. The exposed chamber holds heavy overlapping slabs above curving walls of rough stone, with one wall made of smaller thin pieces, as though its builders changed tools or patience midway. Local story says another better-made chamber and a smaller one still wait beyond the blocked openings, perhaps never finished, never forgotten, and still breathing underneath the grass.

Located within the SW quadrant of a rath (MA080-018----). In the interior of the rath to SW of centre, there is a surface hole or void (0.3m x 0.15m) flanked at surface level by what appear to be two in situ lintels. This is probably part of a Man-made underground passage, and more than likely connects with the remains of a chamber of drystone construction which is located 10m to SW, exposed in the external face of the bank. A large upright boulder on the top of the bank directly above marks the location. The chamber is subcircular in plan (max. dim. c. 2m; H 0.8m) and is built into the bank at a height of c. 0.75m above exterior ground level. It is now open to the S where a section (L 1.2m E–W) of the S wall of the chamber has collapsed. A large, prostrate slab, probably a displaced lintel, now partly fills this gap. The curving W, N and E walls of the chamber remain intact and support two massive, overlapping lintel slabs. The E and W walls are constructed of 5-7 courses of rather large, rough horizontally laid stones, but the N wall is built of c. 10 courses of noticeably smaller, thinner slabs. There are two close-set openings leading from the chamber, one at the E end of the N wall, and one at the N end of the E wall. The opening (Wth 0.45m; current H 0.23m) in the N wall appears to lead to a creepway extending to N, now blocked with earth (this may link up with the cavity, mentioned above, located towards the centre of the rath). The opening (Wth c. 0.35m; H 0.15m) in the E wall extends to ESE, and is also blocked with soil. According to local information, the latter opening leads into a rectangular or square chamber, of better construction that the exposed chamber, which in turn is connected via a short creepway to a third, smaller, chamber. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 26 November 2021

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