Rock-Cut Souterrain at Brackcloon, Castletown Bere, Co. CorkAuthor(s): Sean P. O RiordainSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Jul., 1934), pp. 78-80Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25532333 .

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78 The Irish Naturalists' Journal. [Vol. V.

ROCKwCUT SOUTERRAIN AT BRACKCLOON, CASTLETOWN BE&E, CO. CORK.

; By Sean P. 0 Biobdain, M.A.

(Irish Antiquities Division,":National Museum of Ireland.)

(Plate 5.) The souterrain which it is here proposed to describe was

first brought to public notice by a report of its discovery in the

daily pressW and in consequence of this report the writer examined and reported on the discovery on behalf of the National

Museum, Dublin. ^ The townland of BrackcloonC2) (6-inch O.M., Co. Cork, No.

127) is a small one?with an area of about 198 acres?lying on the southern shore of the peninsula which divides Bantry Bay and the estuary of Kenmare Biver. The mean elevation of the townland is about 280 feet above Ordnance Datum, being bounded on the south by the high cliffs which are found along

most of this coast, while to the north the elevation increases to the mountainous area which is the characteristic landscape of the district.

"The souterrain lies near the centre of the townland on a

rocky eminence which dips towards the north. The structure was discovered by the owner of the farm, Edward Sullivan, on December 29, 1931.' He was engaged in constructing a fence wfoesn the nature of the ground where he worked attracted his

attention, and on digging he found that a cutting existed in the rock. He followed this cutting for a distance of about 27 feet and then came upon the souterrain itself. .Reference to the

plan will show that he thus entered that portion of the structure marked E. The curiosity of the discoverer having been thus

aroused, he continued work, and, unfortunately, on the writer's

arrival it was found that' verbal evidence had to be accepted on

many points on which the excavation had already been carried out.

We shall now proceed to a general description of * the

souterrain, dealing with the different compartments in turn as lettered on the Plan: A. . . . E. *

The' chamber A is 4' 6" and 3' 6" broad/ It is peculiar by reason of the fact that there is no' rock roof over it, the chamber

being a mere shaft in the rock with three openings1*;3) giving access to the chambers on the west, south and east respectively/4) When discovered these doors were stopped up with slabs which leaned

against the rock face from "the side of chamber A, and the whole chamber was filled up with earth and stones. A recess in the

(!) Irish Press, 4th January, 1932. . , (2) BraGkcloon=:breac-chluainJ spotted plain (or watershed).

(3) Tte&e and all similar openings in the structure we shall refer to as

" doors

" for convenience.

(4) It may he suggested thai A served the purpose

of a spoil-pit as noted in the Curraghcrowly souterrain (Antiguaries Journal, X (1930), p. 246), and the finding of rock spoil on the floor of A would make this theory

profcahle. On the other hand the openings from B, 0 and D into A

strike'"ohe'ras"hein^ remarkably well-cut for openings into a spoil-pit.

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.Plated.

Floor pUn i II

k

at! *^%f Br&ckcLoQn, (fHv

Co, \l

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/ r ^ / I ^ \ P **

Scale oi Feet . ^Jjl ^

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L__j_j P. 78.

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July, 1934.] The Irish Naturalists' Journal. 79

rock floor near the door that gives access to chamber C may be

noted, and while the use of this feature is not clear it may be

suggested that it was intended to support the slab which blocked the doorway. Although at some period after the construction of chamber A it was filled up and its doors could no longer be seen, yet those doors were very well cut, the head of each being of the shape of a shallow arc of a circle. Fig. 1 on the accom

panying Plan shows the shape of the door tfrom chamber A to chamber C, and gives also an idea of the other two similar

openings to chambers B and D respectively. The floor of chamber A is 72" below the surface of the ground.

Chamber B will be seen to increase in length towards the west, where it is about 7' long. Its breadth is 3' 8" and height 30". Over the N.W. corner the rock roof is pierced by a roughly circular opening about 21" in diameter. It will be seen from the plan that this opening is not directly over the corner of the floor but rather farther out, the walls being cut back towards it. The opening is covered above by a slab, the whole being hidden

by the soil. From B we enter chamber C by a small door which narrows

slightly from B to C, it being 18" wide at the western and 13" wide at the eastern side. The height of C is 30", and its floor is 6" lower than that of B, while it slopes gradually up to the

height of the floor of D. The drain which runs from D, therefore, could not carry off water from C unless a higher clay floor had been constructed for the purpose of raising the, level of C. That some filling may have been placed here for this purpose is indicated by the rinding of an irregular slab in this chamber. In C was found also a large quantity of carbonised material such as would remain after the burning of a fire., The eastern wall of C is recessed back at the south side to the door entering D. This door is 13" wide at the western and 14" wide at the eastern side.

D is the largest chamber of those in the souterrain, beinig 9' long and its breadth varies from 4' to 3' 2". The height of the chamber is 35".

From D we enter E by means of a door 18" wide out in a wall of rock which is only 4" thick. This door narrows. towards the bottom to the drain which runs through it; Fig. 2 on Plan show's this feature.

The area E is formed by the juncture of the approach from the steps and the approach from the cutting to the north. . This a'rea had no rock roof, and when the souterrain was discovered

E was filled with earth, causing it to be necessary for the discoverers to tunnel through to reach the.door to D. They then noticed that this space was not roofed, and, before my arrival,

had collapsed the overlying soil. For the purposes of examination and measurement we again cleared this out, and in. doing so noticed a large amount of. charcoal in the material which came from it. This led to the discovery of the remains of a fire in the soil over E. at" a depth of:from 16" to 11" from the surface.

(Traces of the fire could be seen at these depths around the

edges of the hole.)

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80 The Irish Naturalists' Journal. [Vol. V.

The steps which approach from the east are 31-" wide at the entrance but narrow towards E. It is of interest to note that the dividing rock wall between the steps and the area marked E is cut to a thickness of only 2" at the western end.

The area E is an angle formed at the end of the cutting that was first noticed. E is rock-roofed, while the cutting itself was roofed with slabs for a distance of about 7', thus forming a small chamber. Outside this point the cutting was stopped by a filling of earth and stones. The cutting thus filled continues for a distance of about 27'. At the northern end it is 25" deep and 24" wide, while the flagged portion is about 5' 6" deep, the flags having been laid at a depth of about 20" on a ledge cut in the rock. The largest of the slabs used in roofing the southern portion of the cutting was 52" long by 29" bro>ad.

At the bottom of the cutting is the drain to which reference has already been made. This drain runs from a short distance outside the door leading from B to C, through the area E and

along the bottom of the cutting. Where the drain ran under the filling of the cutting it was covered by stones laid across it to prevent the earth above from falling into it. In parts of its course the drain was not cut in the rock but was formed by placing stones so that they inclined together in the form of an inverted V, leaving a space beneath for the flow of the water.

The rock in which the souterrain is cut is shale bedded almost

upright, with a slight inclination to the south. Advantage of the bedding was taken in the case of A and E, the walls of which incline with the slope of the layers of rock to the south. That the cutting was done by pointed tools may be seen from the

marks on the roof and walls of the souterrain. Two slabs recovered

from A have irregular circular depressions (about 2?" diameter) as would be caused by the rotation of some implement upon them.

Erom E come two circular and rather flat pebbles (one 3}", the other 1^" in diameter), such as would be picked up on the seashore. At first I thought that, because of the rocky nature of the coast, such pebbles would not be available locally, but on searching I found a small strand on which with difficulty I was able to procure similar and almost equally regularly-shaped

pebbles. It is, however, of interest to mention this find in view of the fact that such water-rolled pebbles were also picked up in the Curragherowly souterrain. A third stone, water-rolled but

irregular, was also found. Beyond these stones and the burnt material no other objects of interest were discovered.

There was no indication that the souterrain had been enclosed

by or connected with an earthwork.

" In mimicry, an insect resembles another, the model, which possesses

some special defence, such as a sting, an unpleasant taste or smell, etc., and advertises its powers by conspicuous warning colours. The mimic

therefore becomes itself conspicuous. In protective resemblance, on the

contrary, an insect resembles something, such as earth or bark, of no interest

to its enemies, and in resembling it becomes concealed."?Prof. E.. B.

Poulton, .F.R.S.

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