1988:56 - BALLYNEE, Spiddal, Meath

This site was accidentally discovered in December 1987 when a small cavity on a gravel knoll was noticed. Excavations carried out between July and September 1988 revealed two souterrains.

Souterrain 1, which is the earlier of the two, is almost 7m long, it is oriented east-west with the entrance at the eastern side. The parallel-sided passage is 3m long. It averages 0.8m in width, and from a height of 0.75m under capstone it increases to 1.25m at the entrance to the chamber. The corbelled, beehive shaped chamber measures 3m in diameter and 2m in height and is roofed with a capstone. Four capstones survive on the passage with at least one missing.

Apart from two pieces of iron which were in the lower layer of fill of the passage all the other finds were on the floor. The two diagnostic finds from the dating point of view were a fragment of a bronze mount and parts of a single-edged comb. These could date to around the 8th century AD. The other objects were pieces of iron, some of which might be parts of iron blades.

When Souterrain 2 was being constructed Souterrain 1 was damaged. At least one capstone was removed and in order to provide easy access, the relevant portion of the passage over which the passage of Souterrain 2 ran was filled with gravelly material (which could be obtained locally) and some stones. This did not prevent access to the chamber as the fill sloped downwards to it.

Souterrain 2 is a substantial structure and consists of a straight passage (the outer passage), aligned south-north and almost 16m in length, which leads into a transverse passage joining it at its mid point. A chamber is situated at each end of this inner passage. From the entrance, at the south, the floor slopes downwards gently and soon the passage reaches its average height of 1.2m. It sloped downwards to the junction with the transverse passage and there is a step at a point 2.6m up from the inner end which avoids a pronounced slope. The lower part of the souterrain was first constructed up to this step area. The step itself is 0.7m in height.

The outer part of the passage was damaged. A number of the capstones were removed and in the entrance area parts of the side walls, especially on the right as one enters, were removed. The transverse passage, measuring 7.5m in length, averages 1.4m in height and 1m width. At each end there is a beehive shaped chamber 3m in diameter. The right hand chamber is 2.3m in height while the left is 2.6m in height. Each is roofed with a central capstone. Structurally the passages and chambers are similar. The basal row of walling contains the highest stones, averaging 0.6m in height. The chamber roofs are corbelled but the walls of the passages are vertical and roofed over with capstones, fourteen in the transverse passage and eleven in the outer passage. These were placed close to each other but between stones 2 and 3 there is a considerable gap filled with a few boulders. One can estimate that the outer passage had about eighteen capstones in all.

As the transverse passage and both chambers are well preserved there was only a thin layer of silt like material over the surface, 50mm thick except for the edges where it was 100mm- 150mm thick.

Finds consist of poorly preserved pieces of iron (one of which may be a knife) and what may be part of the stem of a bronze pin. There were also a couple of pieces of quern stone, and part of a grind stone was built into the right hand side of the wall 3m in from the entrance.

External excavations
An area 7m wide and 16m long was excavated along the outer part of the passage of Souterrain 1, from Capstone 2 outwards, and beyond it to the south for 4m. As the surrounding soil is gravelly and when back filled knits easily, it was not possible to determine definitely the extent of the pit. The only other features that came to light were a couple of small pits of indeterminate date.