That detail, passed down through local knowledge rather than excavation report, is almost all that survives about one of the more intriguing underground features in the county. The structure is a souterrain, a type of man-made underground passage built during the early medieval period in Ireland, typically constructed from dry stone and used variously for storage, refuge, or as an escape route from a nearby settlement or ringfort. What makes this one unusual is not just its branching layout, which suggests a more complex arrangement than the simple single-corridor souterrains found elsewhere, but its relationship to the landscape around it: one section lies within the graveyard itself, and a second element sits to the south-west of the church.

Beyond the bare fact of its three-directional plan, the historical record offers little. No excavation appears to have been carried out, and the site is described as inaccessible. The association with a church and graveyard is not uncommon in Cork; early ecclesiastical settlements were often established at or near older features, and souterrains are regularly found in their vicinity. Whether the tunnel predates the religious site or was incorporated into it at some later point is unknown. The local account of its discovery, presumably at some moment when the ground was disturbed, has preserved what formal archaeology has not yet confirmed.