Souterrain, Coumduff, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Souterrain, Coumduff, Co. Kerry

Beneath a field of level pastureland in Coumduff, about 350 metres west of the Owenascaul river, a small underground structure sits in partial collapse, its entrance blocked, its chamber accessible only through a hole in its own roof.

The structure is a souterrain, an underground passage and chamber built in drystone, a construction method that uses carefully fitted stones without mortar. Such features are typically associated with early medieval raths, the circular earthwork enclosures that served as farmsteads across Ireland roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, and this one is no exception.

The souterrain sits near the centre of a circular univallate rath, meaning a single-banked enclosure, which also contains the remains of a hut site. The underground section consists of a short passage, 2.5 metres long, half a metre high, and 1.5 metres wide, aligned roughly north-northeast to south-southwest, with both ends now blocked by collapsed material. At its south-southwestern end, a porthole slab, a stone slab with a deliberate hole cut through it to allow a person to squeeze from one section to another, formerly connected the passage to a D-shaped chamber measuring roughly 3.75 metres by 1.75 metres. The whole structure is built with what surveyors described as neat drystone work, roofed with large flat flags. The description comes from J. Cuppage's 1986 Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey, which documented the site as part of a broader inventory of the Corca Dhuibhne region.

The current state of the souterrain, with roof collapses defining what can and cannot be reached, gives a reasonable sense of how fragile these structures become over time without maintenance. The passage can only be entered through a breach in the collapsed roof, and the porthole entrance to the chamber is blocked entirely, with the chamber itself reachable, if at all, only through a separate gap at its southeast corner.

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