Souterrain, Cloonydonigan, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Souterrain, Cloonydonigan, Co. Kerry

There is nothing to see at this spot in Cloonydonigan, County Kerry, and that is precisely what makes it worth knowing about.

Somewhere beneath a field, just south of a boundary line, lies what may be a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage typically associated with early medieval ringforts, used variously for storage, refuge, or both. There are no visible remains. No entrance, no lintel, no telltale depression in the turf. The site exists in the record largely because, at some point during ploughing, the ground gave way.

The souterrain sits within a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead built predominantly between the sixth and tenth centuries. When the field above was being worked, the roof of the passage collapsed under the weight of the machinery, and it was at that moment the structure made itself known. The landowner's father, seizing what must have seemed a remarkable opportunity, crawled along the exposed tunnel for some distance before it presumably became too narrow, too unstable, or both to continue. That brief, impromptu exploration is the closest thing to a formal account of the interior that exists. Since then, the land has closed over it again, and the souterrain has returned to invisibility.

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