County: Down Site name: ‘BINDERS COVE’, Finnis
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 35:6 Licence number: AE/02/103
Author: Malachy Conway, ACS Ltd.
Site type: Souterrain
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 727324m, N 840003m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.292920, -6.044142
On foot of a grant of Scheduled Monument Consent in respect of works to facilitate public access to Finnis souterrain on behalf of Banbridge District Council, work was undertaken to remove excess soil from within the main passageway at a constriction close to the present entrance. Previous shoring and temporary supports at the constriction were also removed and replaced with drystone walling in keeping with both the character and the construction of the souterrain but marked in modern fashion to denote repair. Clearance of soil build-up from within the two side passages and at the end of the main passage did not reveal any archaeological material; however, two openings in the souterrain wall were revealed, suggesting floor-level cupboards, one in a side passage and the other toward the rear of the main passage, opposite a recorded cupboard above floor level. All repair work was undertaken by a registered stonemason, including patching work at various locations where stones had fallen or been removed from the walls.
During this clearance work further attention was paid to the internal study of the monument, and it was during this that curious roof apertures were noted in both side passageways above the entrance to the main passage. Externally, the present entrance to the monument was partially excavated to facilitate the construction of wooden steps into the souterrain entranceway, during which time the original extent of the passageway was found, several metres from the existing entrance. The nature of the cut at the end of the main passage, along with a large outcrop of rock, suggests that the souterrain may originally have had a stepped entrance.
Further work planned for spring 2003 will consist of a geophysical survey over and around the monument to ascertain whether any associated archaeological remains survive in the vicinity and to examine the possibility of the existence of a second souterrain in the field, alluded to by local information.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
