Caves, An Bhinn Bhán, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Settlement Sites

Caves, An Bhinn Bhán, Co. Kerry

Inside a stone enclosure on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, two narrow underground passages meet at right angles, their entrances now visible only because their roofing stones have fallen in.

These are souterrains, a type of man-made underground structure associated with early medieval settlement in Ireland, typically thought to have served as places of refuge, storage, or both. What makes this particular pair quietly puzzling is that no one is entirely certain whether they were originally connected. An accumulation of fill between them leaves the question open.

Both passages sit at the centre of a caher, a drystone ringfort of the kind found throughout Kerry and the wider west of Ireland. The first passage runs roughly north-northeast to south-southwest and measures 3.18 metres long, 0.7 metres wide, and 0.7 metres high, its walls built of roughly coursed drystone that has partially collapsed at the northern end. It is at that same northern end where the second passage begins, extending northwest to southeast for 3.75 metres, slightly wider and a little lower than the first, and now partly filled with collapsed stone. The dimensions alone tell you something: these were not spaces in which anyone stood upright. Whoever used them moved through on hands and knees, perhaps pulling a door or stone slab behind them. The archaeological survey of the Iveragh Peninsula compiled by A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan, published by Cork University Press in 1996, provides the record from which the structural details are drawn.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Caves, An Bhinn Bhán, Co. Kerry. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement