Shannon Cave
cave in United Kingdom
Shannon Cave is an active stream passage cave which straddles the border of County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland and County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland.
At 130 metres (430 ft) vertical depth, it stands joint sixth with Poulnagree in County Clare in the deepest caves on the island of Ireland. The cave is recorded at 5.4 kilometres (3.4 mi) in length (making it the sixth-longest on the island of Ireland), but exploration is ongoing and further passage is expected to be found.
Description
The cave consists in the main of a large mainstream passage running to a terminal sump. The water flowing in the cave has been dye traced to Shannon Pot, two kilometres to the west of the terminal sump, which is the traditional source of the River Shannon. Inlets to the main passage are numerous. Some, such as the large "Mistake Passage" have been pushed only a short distance. Since the cave is undergoing active exploration, there remain many issues to be sorted out and the sinks for many of these inlets remains unclear. The stream passage itself is of considerable proportions in parts, but also contains many higher level fossil passages which have been deserted by the stream. The cave contains numerous calcite formations, with large amounts of helictites in places.
“Shannon Cave” enters the record as cave in United Kingdom. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Shannon, Cave and cave can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Shannon Cave” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Shannon, Cave and cave provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7488840. Authority coordinates are 54.241, -7.848. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shannon Cave”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shannon Cave primary sources, Shannon Cave archive and Shannon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shannon Cave”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shannon Cave” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.