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By Sean Moriarty

A well-known local historian has questioned a recent article which named the tunnel on the Moll’s Gap road as the Newfoundland Bay Tunnel.

Published by the Killarney Advertiser last week, the article referred to a Kerry County Council press release which named the tunnel as Newfoundland Bay Tunnel.

However, local historian Damien Switzer disputes the name.

He accepts that the bay in Upper Lake, just below where the tunnel sits on the Moll’s Gap Road, is called Newfoundland Bay.

“Any local fisherman will tell you that but the tunnel has no official OSI name nor is it named on any map going back to when the tunnel was built and I have them all, I collect them,” he told the Killarney Advertiser. “Admittedly you got your information from an official source but this is rewriting history and that cannot happen on my watch.”

The disputed statement was issued to advertise a proposed road closure for road works, works that have now be postponed following the closure of the Kilgarvan to Loo Bridge road following a recent landslide during Storm Ciara.

‘The purpose of the road closure is to allow repair works to be completed on a section of partially collapsed retaining wall on the N71 in the townland of Gortroe which is located approximately 100m south of Newfoundland Bay Tunnel. The road is narrow at this location so a road closure will be required to complete the works safely’, the statement read.

Mr Switzer added that the Council official is most definitely one hundred percent wrong.

“It's not Gortroe, it's Gortderraree. Last time I checked, Gortroe was in Fossa and yes the bay on the Upper Lake is called Newfoundland. The famous engineer Alex Nimmo is responsible for its creation, he also built the suspension bridge in Kenmare.”

The historian went into fascinating detail to reveal, what he believes, is the correct name for the tunnel.

“The tunnel was on the Prince of Wales route, blasted from Cromaglaun Mountain, which the old Irish used call it. They referred to the tunnel as 'through Cromaglaun’,” he said.

“Anyway, local lore aside, the official provable name that has featured in numerous books for about 200 years is ‘The Heading’. From Westminster to Derrynane it was known as 'The Heading', and it also gained notoriety and was made famous by a local robber called Martin Mahony who used to hide there.”