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Man-made underground passage (Site of)

Man-made underground passage

What is recorded here

Nine feet square and roofed by massive flags, the hidden chamber waited beneath a Cork ringfort until Cremin and Murphy broke through in 1910. Six ogham stones, now preserved in UCC, once stood as pillars or lintels inside that dark room, marking a place where ordinary people may have spoken, hidden, or worshipped before forgetting the way out. The L-shaped depression still traces the forgotten route, inviting imagination into the chambers that swallowed the men who first entered them.
In NW quadrant of ringfort (CO072-078001-). Excavations in 1910 by Messrs. Cremin and Murphy revealed a chamber which was described by Lee (1911, 59) as 'nine feet square, roofed by large flag stone supported on massive uprights'. 'Entrances to a south-eastern chamber and also one to the north-east' were inaccessible (ibid.). In the same report further information is added by Mr. Cremin who noted that the chamber was '7 feet high. The roofing flags are 9 feet in the clear and about 18 inches wide, while the supporting pillars are 7 feet high by 12 inches wide and 9 inches thick' (ibid., 61-2). Man-made underground passage now indicated by L-shaped depression (D c. 1m) running for 6m NW-SE and then 3m NE. Six ogham stones found within (CO072-078003-, CO072-078004-, CO072-078005-, CO072-078006-, CO072-078007, -CO072-078008-); five used as roofing lintels, one as pillar; now in UCC. 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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What survives
Recorded monument

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