2008:845 - Haggardstown, Louth

The previously unknown souterrains were identified during the reduction of the level of natural subsoil at a construction site which resulted in the breaching of a corbelled stone chamber. This chamber was the southern extent of one of two souterrains at that location. Re-deposited subsoil was stripped across the site and revealed the much-denuded remains of two souterrains and the backfilled hollow from a central chamber.
The remains of Souterrain A consisted of the severely truncated, robbed and partially disturbed construction trench of a wide souterrain. The excavated structural remains consisted of a probable entrance, passage and elongated chamber/passage. The entrance was located to the north and was fragmentary (3m long by 1.5m wide survived). The passage would have taken a right-angled turn to the west from this and survived for a length of 5m, it then took a right-angled turn to the south for 19.5m where it expanded from 1.5m to 3m in width and became a passage/chamber. The bottom course of drystone work survived for most of the structure with larger portions of wall evident to the south where it had been buried deeper. The walling survived up to 1m high in places. There were no backfilled capstones along the passageways and the souterrain appeared to have been deliberately backfilled.
Souterrain B was very narrow in comparison to Souterrain A (it formed a passageway between the walls of less than 1m) and, as excavated, followed a steep slope to the bottom intact chamber. The upper section was very disturbed and at the location close to where the entrance would have been it only survived to one course high. As the passage sloped down it was better preserved, reflecting the fact that it was buried deeper. It followed a gentle curve from north-east to south-west before turning south. Approximately 14.5m along the passageway a step was built into the passage, dropping the floor and roof depth into the surviving passage/chamber for a further 8.5m. The space was very tight and a stone-built air vent was recorded at roof level on the west wall. The walls were of corbelled construction and flat slabs formed the roof. Unlike Souterrain A, it had not been deliberately decapped and backfilled.
A large central hollow (15m by 14m) was located between the souterrains and appeared to respect the line of both. It had been deliberately backfilled. A gap in the western wall of the Souterrain B may indicate the location of a passage that may have led into a chamber, which may have been built into this hollow but has been robbed out. The backfill contained post-medieval finds.
Finds from the site included sherds of souterrain ware, a copper-alloy stick-pin and perforated stone weight.