Souterrain in Ardsheelhane West

Not marked on the OS maps, this souterrain is located on top of a low rise in an area of rough pasture, c. 200m W of the Ardsheelhane river. Access is gained through a modern opening close to the W end of a lintelled passage with sides of earth. Aligned E-W, the passage measures at least 2.7m long, 1.6m high and .6m wide. The W end narrows in width and is blocked by collapse. At its E end an earth-tunnelled creepway, .75m high x .5m wide, leads into a subrectangular tunnelled chamber which measures 2.45m NE-SW x 1.7m wide. Its roof is 1m high and there is much collapsed earth on its floor. A .8m long area of drystone facing occurs in the SE wall of the chamber. A creepway, .4m high x .55m wide, leads from the SW end of the chamber into a second earth-tunnelled chamber whose longer axis is orientated E-W; this measures 2.3m long, 1.85m wide and 1.05m high. Adjacent to the creepway is an area of drystone facing, .8m long, similar to that in the adjoining end of the first chamber. These presumably represent blockings of the points from where the chambers were tunnelled out from the base of an adjoining construction shaft. 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. 846. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 29 July 2013