What is recorded here

Not indicated is a hidden underground chamber in County Louth, Ireland, where human hands shaped stone long before modern roads or fields passed above it. It lies beneath a quiet rise in Haynestown and Haggardstown, preserved because development moved away rather than breaking through what was already there. The chamber still waits beneath the soil, intact and unshown, a small dark room kept safe by chance.

Situated on a rise in a low-lying landscape. Remote sensing (05R0087) and archaeological testing (05E0963) over an extensive area (57 ha) in Haynestown and Haggardstown townlands identified a great number of potential archaeological monuments (McLoughlin 2008). The corbelled chamber of a Man-made underground passage was discovered during archaeological testing beneath 0.3m of topsoil. It was on the line of the enclosing fosse of rath (LH012-117001-) at N. Stones forming the top of a passage were identified c. 3m to the SE, and what may be a further section of the passage was identified c. 11m S of the chamber in stones running NW-SE. From the chamber itself backfilled trenches (Wth 3-4m) extended to the SW (L c. 10m) and NNW (L c. 15m), the latter terminating in a stone setting that is very likely to be the original entrance. The corbelled chamber was inaccessible and it is still preserved intact as the proposed development was re-located. (McLoughlin 2006, 8) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 27 October, 2017

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.