House - early medieval, Kilmacanoge, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
House
On the lower eastern slopes of the Great Sugar Loaf mountain in County Wicklow, a gap in the ground marks the entrance to an underground passage that has been there since early medieval times.
The opening of the souterrain, an artificially constructed underground chamber or tunnel typically used in early medieval Ireland for storage, refuge, or both, is still visible today, a quiet punctuation mark in the hillside that most walkers would pass without a second glance.
Excavations carried out by Lucas in 1970 revealed the souterrain alongside what appear to have been associated hut sites, the traces of a small settlement on this lower mountain slope. The finds were modest but telling: potsherds, worked flint pebbles, a whetstone for sharpening blades, a quernstone used for grinding grain, and a spindle whorl, the small perforated disc that weighted a hand spindle during the spinning of thread. Together, these objects sketch the outline of a community engaged in the ordinary work of early medieval life, grinding, weaving, tool use, on the margins of one of Wicklow's most recognisable upland features. The artefacts are held in the collections of the National Museum of Ireland.

