Souterrain in Killarney

In gently undulating terrain. There is an enclosure (KK028-007----) c. 150m to the E. Associated with a ringfort (KK028-006001-), this souterrain was discovered within a ringfort when it was been levelled in 1961. The souterrain occupies the E sector of the enclosure. It curves slightly but is generally aligned ENE-WSW. The entrance, at the internal face of the bank, was apparently marked by a roughly shaped upright pillar stone (H 1.15m; diam. c. 0.5m) (Prendergast, unpublished NMI report, April 1962). Prendergast (ibid.), describes it as following, ‘Access to it was got not through a formal entrance but through a hole in the roof which was exposed when the bank was cleared away. A great quantity of debris had fallen in and almost blocked the passage; it was only possible to gain access and take measurements by lying on one’s back. The souterrain penetrated steeply into the ground but in no place was the floor reached because of the debris. The passage was curved in ground-plan, it was about 1m. in width. Some distance in it was narrowed by nearly a half by stepping in from both sides. The dry-stone walls were vertical and corbelled very slightly inward towards the roof where the width was about 80cm. The roof was lintelled with flags placed side by side. At a very short distance beyond the narrowing of the passage a piece of dry-stone walled “curtained” off the passage leaving only a small square opening below (50cm square). It was impossible to clear this opening but it seems to have been blocked and not to have been structurally closed here. All the walling was of dry-stone with rather uneven flags and not very expertly built or finished’.    Compiled by: Jean Farrelly