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Lisnagallaun/Lios na nGallán: This trivallate rath, marked on both editions of the OS maps, was levelled in the early 1980s and no visible surface trace remains. The site afforded distant views in all directions. In 1906, Cooke described the site and investigated its stone-built souterrain (1906, 4-5). The following report is based on Cooke's account of the site.
The rath, with defaced banks, had an internal diameter of 100 feet (30.5m). The distance between the crest of the outermost bank and the crest of the middle bank was 20 feet (6.1m), and the intervening fosse was 9 feet (2.7m) deep. The middle bank was 15 feet (4.6m) wide, while the inner fosse was 11 feet (3.35m) deep. The innermost bank, 24 feet (7.3m) from the crest of the second, was 13 feet 6 inches (4.1m) wide.
Access to the souterrain (KE065-054001-) was gained through an opening in the SW sector of the innermost bank. Digging in the interior of the site revealed a second opening. The souterrain comprised three passages with two interconnecting creepways. The walls corbelled inward slightly to a roof formed of lintels. The first passage, entered at the centre of the rath, ran SW for a distance of 14 feet 6 inches (4.4m) and averaged 3 feet (.91m) wide and 5 feet (1.5m) high. The second passage, with curved end-walls, was aligned at right angles to the first. It measured 10 feet (3m) long, 3 feet 6 inches (1.2m) wide and 5 feet 6 inches (1.65m) high. The third passage, aligned similarly to the first, measured 11 feet (3.35m) long, 3 feet 9 inches (1.1m) wide and 5 feet 6 inches (1.65m) high. The creepways averaged 2 feet (.61m) high x 1 foot 6 inches (.46m) wide 2 x feet (.61m) long, and were each formed of two single jambs and a lintel.
The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 691. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Date of upload: 29 July 2013
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