2001:585 - STRANDSEND, Kerry

Kerry County Council are widening a stretch of the N70 near Deelis Bridge. They have purchased a strip of land 4m wide parallel to the existing road. Local information suggested that a souterrain, SMR 80:1, located further to the south-west, was marked incorrectly on the RMP map. The souterrain was recorded by the Iveragh Survey; it extended in part beneath the present Cahirsiveen–Killorglin roadway and was filled in for safety reasons by the County Council (O’Sullivan and Sheehan 1996, 235).

Three test-trenches were excavated on a section of the 4m-wide road-take. They measured 2m north–south by 9m, 2m by 1m, and 2m by 2m. No archaeological stratigraphy or artefacts were recorded in the test-trenches.

Some time later stone lintels were uncovered during the excavation of a trench for a pipe in the area to the north-east of the site of the test-trenches. The lintels formed the roofs of two parallel creepways. They were of a similar shape and design. They were 2.8m apart and aligned north–south. Creepway 1 was to the south-west. It measured 1m in height by 0.6m wide. Stone lintels spanned the roof. The upper 0.4m of the walls were revetted with stone. The basal section was earth-cut. The passage extended under the road for 2m. The termination seemed to be filled in. The northern end extended under the field boundary; it was not possible to measure how far. Creepway 2 was blocked to the south. It measured 0.75m high by 0.6m wide and extended for 1.6m to the north. The northern termination was earthen.

It is likely that these creepways form part of a souterrain, either a previously unrecorded souterrain or SMR 80:1. Testing of future widening of the N70 to the south-west may clarify the location of SMR 80:1.

Reference
O’Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. 1996 The Iveragh Peninsula. An archaeological survey of south Kerry. Cork University Press.

3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry