Souterrain, Killeen, Co. Westmeath

Co. Westmeath |

Settlement Sites

Souterrain, Killeen, Co. Westmeath

On a low rise in the rolling pasture of County Westmeath, a long curved hollow in the ground raises a question that nobody has yet fully answered.

Measuring seventeen metres in length, three metres wide, and sinking to a depth of around 1.4 metres, the depression follows a gentle arc just to the north of a ringfort, and it may be all that is visible of a souterrain, a type of underground stone-lined passage built during the early medieval period in Ireland, typically used for cold storage, refuge, or both. What makes the site quietly puzzling is precisely that uncertainty. The hollow is consistent with a souterrain whose roof has collapsed inward over centuries, leaving the channel exposed, but the identification remains tentative.

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Pete F
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