Man-made underground passage in Straid (straid Ed)

Located c. 18m W of an 18th century C of I church, and c. 10m W of the wall of Clonmany graveyard (DG010-011001-), believed to be the early ecclesiastical site of Culmaine (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 377). A large hole (approx. diam. 2m) in the front garden of a modern bungalow leads down into a small roughly oval shaped, drystone-built chamber (int. diam. 1.67m E-W; 2.74m N-S; approx. max. H 3m). The roof of this chamber was originally corbelled but is now largely collapsed and the rubble partly fills the interior of the chamber. A small square-shaped opening (Wth. 0.65m; H 0.5m; L 0.6m) at the base of the chamber wall at SSE is a creepway leading into a stone-lined passage (L 4.6m; max. Wth 1.4m; H 1.34m) with natural clay floor orientated on a SSE-NNW axis. The walls of the passage incline inwards slightly towards the top and support a roof of stone lintels. At the SSE end of the passage, there is another square-shaped creepway (Wth. 0.58m; H 0.55m; L 0.39m) leading into a second stone-lined passage (L 5.3m; max. Wth. 1.25m; H 1.15m) which is blocked at the SSE end with rubble from the collapsed roof. Compiled by: Paddy O'Donovan Date of upload: 28 August 2008