What is recorded here

Sweat Ho was a small drystone chamber in County Cavan where smoke and heat moved through hidden flues before escaping into the air. Its low doorway and corbelled roof suggested a place for bodily transformation rather than ordinary shelter. The circular well nearby watered the ritual or the living, while the vanished roof and buried stones now hide the exact shape of that heat.

Not marked on OS 1836 or 1876 eds. Largely destroyed. Only the foundations are identifiable today. Described by Richardson (1939, 35) as a small subcircular drystone-built structure (int. dims. c. 1.9m x c. 1.5m). The corbelled roof was closed by a single slab and at a height of c 0.8m and set within the walls there were a series of aperatures which were presumably flues for the smoke. The doorway was c. 0.5m high and c. 0.7m wide. A circular well (diam. 3m), enclosed by a low drystone wall, lies 12m to SW. Site is densely overgrown with vegetation. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1995). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 December 2008

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