Souterrain in Moneylea

Discovered when a tractor wheel went through the roof of one of the chambers during silage baleing. It is situated in the middle of a west facing field of pasture with Shehy Mt dominating the western horizon. It appears to be in isolation with no other recorded monuments or potential sites close by. It was all earth-cut, cut out of orange boulder clay with outcropping bedrock not far away to the northeast. The collapse gave access to a roughly rectangular earth-cut chamber measuring c3m E-W, by c2.5m N-S. It was just over 1m in height and 0.6m below the ground surface. The western side of this chamber had an oval creepway (0.45 W; 0.5m H; c.0.8m L) leading into a second chamber. 0.6m to the south of the creepway were the remains of a probable construction passage, now blocked in with three courses of dry-stone walling. This opening would have measured 1.9m W and 0.5m H. The second chamber was not accessed because of the narrowness of the entrance and it was partially flooded. It had a domed roof and extended to the west for c4m and was c.3m wide. No other exits were visible from it, On the south side of the first chamber there was evidence for another possible creepway. This was almost totally concealed under collapse material. Compiled by: Tony Miller Date of upload: 4 October 2018