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Sweat house is an uncertain sweat house located in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, situated upon bedrock of the Tyrone Group formed during the Visean period. This geological foundation comprises limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone interspersed with subordinate deposits of chert, coal and conglomerate. The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 10821.
Sweat houses, also known as sudatoria, were small stone-built structures designed for therapeutic bathing and sweating practices. They are found across Ireland and Scotland, particularly in areas with Celtic heritage, and are thought to date primarily from the medieval period onwards, though their origins may be earlier. The heating mechanism typically involved fire, with bathers exposed to intense heat within a confined chamber.
The Fermanagh landscape, situated on ancient carboniferous bedrock, provided the stone materials necessary for construction. The specific geology of this location, with its varied strata of limestone and other sedimentary rocks, would have offered suitable building stone for such a structure. Further archaeological investigation would be required to establish the precise date and original form of this uncertain example.
Sweat house is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 10821. View the official record →
Sweat house is an uncertain sweat house located in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, situated upon bedrock of the Tyrone Group formed during the Visean period. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 10821.
Sweat house dates from the uncertain period, and is classified as a sweat house. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Sweat house is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 10821.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Sweat house (0.6 km), Cross (5.6 km), Temple cill na cashna, killycawna, templemoyle. multiperiod church, graveyard, penal site & killeen (6.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Sweat house's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Sweat house stands on Tyrone Group, bedrock that formed in the Visean. The rock here is limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone, with subordinate chert, coal and conglomerate.