Divelling Places of Prehistoric Man 37 



sank a shaft from above about 5 feet deep, by which we were able 

 to trace the flue a further 12 feet or so, when the bend again 

 obstructed our view, At this point we sank another shaft, about 

 6 feet deep. The flue extended further, but the mass of fallen 

 rock or soil from the heights above prevented our tracing this 

 remarkable object to the end. We follow^ed it 26 feet, until it 

 penetrated under the mass of fallen lubbish, when we could follow 

 it no further. I have called it a flue for want of a better name. 

 It may have been a flue, but careful investigation showed no sign 

 of soot in it or in the small chamber it leads from. I am therefore 

 inclined to think flue is not a correct idea ; ventilator it most likely 

 was, an idea strongly confirmed in examination of a number of 

 other souterrains nearly all of which have a clear plan of 

 ventilation. 



Leaving the small chamber and ventilator, we pursued our 

 investigation of chambers C, D, E, F and G. It will be observed 

 that access to chamber C is by a trap doorway in the floor of 

 the end of chamber A, and that we may describe chambers 

 C to G as the underground storey, which at any time could 

 be shut off and hidden from view of invaders by throwing a slab 

 of stone over the trap and covering it with soil. By this means 

 chambers C to G w^ould be entirely obliterated from even 

 the suspicion of existence on the part of unwelcome visitors 

 unfamiliar with the place. This is by no means an unique example 

 as exactly the same idea i^ pursued in the souterrains at Boghead, 

 Muckamore, and at Ballygrainey, Craigavad,and also at Rathmullan, 

 Co. Down. 



I would also call special attention to the rising floor in 

 chamber A. This seems characteristic of almost all complete 

 souterrains of what I may, for want of a better name, call for the 

 present the County Antrim design, although included in this are 

 examples in Co. Derry and in North Down ; of this I shall deal 

 further later. I use the term " Co. Antrim design " to distinguish 

 the familiar type found in Co. Antrim, from the much more 

 refined and evidently later examples found in the district centred 

 in Lecale, Co. Down. 



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