1993:122 - EMLAGH WEST, Kerry

The site was reported to the Office of Public Works by Kerry County Council when construction works on the settling tanks and control buildings relating to the Dingle Area Sewage Scheme exposed three souterrain chambers there. Investigation of the site began on 26th May and was completed on lst June.

The site is situated on the north-western shore of Dingle Bay in the townland of Emlagh West. The land in the area slopes gently down to the sea and affords good views of Dingle town.

Chamber 1:
This is the most westerly of the three chambers and was the first one exposed. The chamber is orientated east-north-east/west-south-west, and measures 2.23m long, 1.08m wide and 1.18m high. The chamber is sub-rectangular, having rounded corners. It is of very fine dry-stone construction, the walls being battered to allow the roof to be spanned by large stone lintels. The chamber was originally roofed by four large lintels, average dimensions 1.2m x 0.6m x 0.09m. However, two of these collapsed into the chamber when it was exposed. A large amount of loose soil had also fallen into the chamber and the removal of this revealed a creep leading from the chamber at its eastern end. The first lintel of this passage was very badly cracked and the passage was filled with compact soil and stone. The entrance to the creep measured 0.58m wide and 0.38m high.

Chamber 2:
This chamber was the second chamber exposed and is almost directly opposite the first chamber, 4.35m away. The chamber is orientated north-west/south-east and measures 3.85m long, 1.1m wide and 1.1m high. The chamber curves slightly so that it is slightly narrower in the middle, 0.97m. At the south-west end of the chamber there is a ledge or niche feature. It is 0.3m above ground level, 0.4m wide, 0.73m high and 0.4m deep. It is formed by the incurving of the side walls at this point, with the ledge being formed by having one stone block protruding from the face of the wall. The chamber was originally roofed by seven lintels, one of which has collapsed into the interior. Again loose soil had fallen into the chamber and removal of this revealed that no passage exited this chamber.

Chamber 3:
This chamber was the last one exposed and is of the same fine dry-stone construction as Chambers 1 and 2. It is orientated north-west/south-east. The chamber is 4.03m long, 1.17m wide and 1.4m in maximum height. The chamber was originally roofed by nine lintels, average dimensions 1.42m x 0.45m x 0.17m. Five of these are in situ, a sixth is broken in half and the other three have collapsed into the interior. Again a large amount of loose soil had also collapsed into the chamber and removal of this revealed a lintelled creep exiting the chamber at its north-west end, through the north-east side wall. This creep is orientated north-east/south-west and is 0.74m long. The entrance to the creep from Chamber 3 measures 0.52m wide and 0.42m high. The creep leads to a fourth previously unexposed chamber and where it enters this fourth chamber there is a porthole slab or arch feature. This arch is formed by a rectangular shaped slab of green sandstone which has had a semi-circular access hole or arch cut through it at ground level. The arch restricts access to the creep very effectively. The dimensions of the arch are 0.41m high. 0.4m wide at base, narrowing to 0.24m wide at the top. Access to the fourth chamber through this was impossible as it does not seem that any adult male could have come through this arch.

Trench A:
A trench was cut between Chambers 1 and 2 to try and ascertain the line of the creep exiting the eastern end of Chamber 1. Removal of as much as possible of the compact material from the creep itself had revealed that the second lintel of the creep had collapsed. The trench revealed one large slab 1.65m x 0.69m x 0.16m, which had probably served as a roof lintel. However, it was off the line of both Chamber 1 and the creep and appeared to have been moved previously. The area around and under this slab was filled with compact clay and stones which appear to have been the remains of dry-stone walling. It would seem that the creep and perhaps a small chamber here had completely collapsed prior to construction beginning on the site as the fill of the creep is too compact to have been a recent fall. The maximum extent of any structures here was 2.2m from the point where the creep exits the chamber.

Trench C:
A spoil heap had been spaced on top of the line of Chamber 4 and this was removed. A trench 1m wide and 1.3m long was dug across the line of the roof of Chamber 4 to a depth of 0.18m. At a depth of 0.12m a semi-circular dressed piece of red sandstone came to light. It measures 0.1m long, 0.04m in maximum width and 0.01mm thick. There are a number of scorings on its long straight side and it may have been used as a whetstone or pin sharpner.

At a depth of 0.18m a roofing lintel of the chamber was revealed and the black occupation layer was encountered resting directly on this lintel. Here the layer was 0.07m thick. This lintel was then lifted to allow access to Chamber 4.

Chamber 4:
The chamber is orientated north-east/south-west and measures 4.1m long, 0.56m wide at the entrance from Chamber 1, 1m wide in the middle, 0.58m wide at the back and 1.43m high. It is roofed with eight lintels, average dimensions 0.98m and 0.6m x 0.06m. At the north-east end of the chamber the side walls curve slightly and here there is a double ledge feature which in section would have a stepped appearance. The first ledge is 0.36m above ground level, 0.56m wide and 0.18m deep. The higher ledge is 0.42m above the lower, 0.44m wide and 0.17m deep. Just inside the entrance to this chamber from Chamber 3 there was a small circular mound, 0.28m in diameter, composed of stone chips and sea shells. The floor of the chamber was covered in large scallop shells and animal bones. There was no other passage exiting this chamber.

Discussion
The evidence from the site suggests that these are the remains of three separate souterrains as the digging of a number of further trenches at various points failed to reveal any further linkage between the extant chambers. Chamber 1 seems to have been linked by a creep to a now collapsed chamber, Chambers 3 and 4 are linked by a very fine lintelled creep and it would seem that Chamber 2 was never any more than a single chamber structure.

Chamber 3 was exposed directly under the line of a curved field bank which was shown on the 1848 Edition OS 6'' and 25'' maps. Portion of this wall remains at its west-north-west end where it is 1.55m wide at its base. The wall is constructed of an earthen core faced internally and externally in stone. At present the wall is 1.3m high.

Given the presence of the souterrain chambers and the black habitation layer inside the curve of this wall it would seem that this field boundary was originally portion of a ringfort bank.

An ogham stone was situated in a secondary position in this field (Cuppage, J. et al 1986, 223). If the ogham stone did function as a lintel in the souterrain, as has been reported, it was a secondary use of the stone and would indicate a construction date for the souterrain and possibly the ringfort some time after the 6th century AD.

The thickness of the habitation layer revealed around the site does not indicate a lengthy occupancy of the site but this picture may be affected by interference with the site at the time of its destruction and during the construction works on the sewage scheme. However, the large quantities of sea shells throughout the site suggest that the inhabitants of the fort were very dependent on the bounty of the sea, in particular shellfish, for their diet.

It is hoped to publish this site report in a forthcoming volume of the North Munster Antiquaries' Journal..Cuppage, Judith, et al, 1986 Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula (Ballyferriter) 223.

Ashe Memorial Hall, Tralee, Co. Kerry