Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Identified during archaeological monitoring associated with the N20/N21 Limerick Bypass road scheme. Excavated under licence no. 99E0524 by Catherine McLoughlin (McLoughlin 1999), the results were summarised as following; ‘Monitoring of topsoil-stripping along the line of the N20/N21 Limerick Bypass uncovered a spread of burnt stone within a charcoal-rich soil, in low-lying, boggy ground. Burnt stone was mixed through the topsoil, which contained numerous finds of modern pottery, glass, metal objects, animal bone and shell. Three stone beads were also recovered from the topsoil. The excavated material was a series of deposits primarily made up of burnt stone and charcoal-rich soil, measuring 30m north-south by 17m, with a depth of no more than 0.3m. One subsoil-cut feature lay to the south-west of the main spread of material, but as this was sealed under a thin layer of peat it was not related to the burnt spread. The burnt spread itself lay on top of this thin layer of peat. Limestone bedrock protruded through the whole area, and no other features were present’ (www.excavations.ie; McLoughlin 2000, 180).

Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick

Date upload: 26 June 2020

References

McLoughlin, C. 1999 Stratigraphical Report on Excavation of a possible Fulacht Fiadh in Rossbrien, Co. Limerick. Unpublished report (Licence No. 99E0524), submitted by Archaeological Development Services Ltd. on behalf of Limerick City Council to the National Monuments Service, Dúchas.

McLoughlin, C. 2000 Rossbrien. Possible fulacht fiadh. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1999: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 180, no. 534. Bray. Wordwell.