Souterrain, Curraghmore, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Souterrain, Curraghmore, Co. Kerry

Beneath the townland of Curraghmore in County Kerry, there is a souterrain, an artificial underground passage or chamber constructed, in most Irish cases, during the early medieval period.

These structures were built by hand, typically from drystone walling and large roofing lintels, and are found in considerable numbers across the island, though their precise purposes remain a matter of discussion among archaeologists. Refuge, storage, and ventilation for above-ground structures have all been proposed, and the answer likely varied from site to site. What makes each individual souterrain worth noting is precisely its particularity, its local geology, its relationship to a ringfort or settlement, the people who dug it and used it.

The souterrain at Curraghmore is a recorded monument, meaning it has been formally identified and catalogued as part of the archaeological heritage of the county. Kerry has a dense landscape of such features, shaped by centuries of early Christian and pre-Norman settlement, and the region around Curraghmore would have formed part of that broader pattern of rural life in the first millennium and into the medieval period. Beyond the fact of its existence and location, the specific details of this particular structure, its dimensions, construction technique, condition, and archaeological context, are not yet in the public domain.

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