The M3 heritage trail

The M3 motorway continues to reveal new archaeological wonders as its broad corridor progresses relentlessly through Tara's Gabhra Valley. In the townland of Lismullin alone, in an attempt to steer a course to avoid a known barrow, souterrain, monastic site and the strategically-placed fortification of Rathlugh (recently subject to a preservation order), the motorway route has inadvertently impacted on several other previously unrecorded and equally significant archaeological remains. These include a ring-barrow, a complex of souterrains and, of course, an Iron Age temple.