Man-made underground passage in Bective

Located towards the top of a N-facing slope which is at the N tip of a S-N spur between as S-N section of the Clady River c. 40m to the W and a S-N section of the River Boyne c. 65m to the E. This is a Z-shaped Man-made underground passage that had been recently discovered c. 1850 (Wilde 1850, 114-5) and was described in detail by Orpen (1890-1). A roofless entrance passage (L 3.2m) sloping steeply downwards to the N and then E (L c. 5.8m) led through a drop-hole (D c. 1m) into a lintelled passage that continued E (L c. 2.9m) to the southern (int. diam. c. 2.65m) of two chambers connected by a short SSE-NNW passage (L c. 2.6m). The north corbelled chamber (int. diam. c. 2.9m) was undamaged. The two unroofed outer passages are still visible but the rest of the Man-made underground passage is sealed. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 14 January 2015