That description, modest as it sounds, is essentially all that can be confirmed about this site in Cloonygorman, Co. Cork, and therein lies its peculiar interest.

A souterrain is an underground passage or chamber, typically cut into earth or lined with stone, and associated in Ireland with early medieval settlement. They were used variously for storage, refuge, or as escape routes connected to nearby ringforts. The Cloonygorman example, if it is one, was noted by Myler in 1998 as a likely earth-cut souterrain, identifiable at the time by a 'hole in the ground near the northern ditch'. Earth-cut souterrains are among the less durable variety; without stone lining, they are more susceptible to collapse and concealment over time. By the time the site was assessed more recently, the overgrowth had thickened to the point where the entrance could no longer be located at all.

What remains, then, is an entry in the archaeological record for a place that has effectively disappeared back into the landscape. The valley floor, the river, the view towards Mullaghmesha, those persist. The souterrain itself, if it survives intact beneath the vegetation, waits without any particular invitation to be found.