Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Identified during archaeological monitoring associated with the N20/N21 Limerick Bypass. Fulacht fia (LI013-171----) located 70m to N. Excavated under licence no. 99E0633 by Catherine McLoughlin (McLoughlin 1999), the results were summarised as following; ‘The site was a roughly circular spread of black soil and heat-shattered stone that measured 7.5m east-west by 8.5m and was c. 0.2m deep. Several pits were found beneath the burnt spread, as well as a trough and fire-pit. The trough was an oval cut into the subsoil and measured 2.6m north-south by 1.9m. The depth of the cut varied but at its maximum was 0.4m, and it was filled by burnt mound debris. The fire-pit was 0.5m to the east of the trough. It measured 1.7m east-west by 1.2m and had a maximum depth of 0.35m. The base of the cut was filled by an extremely charcoal-rich layer with some burnt stone. Twelve stake-holes ran between the trough and the fire-pit, which would have acted as a windbreak. Several other pits were found in the vicinity of the trough and fire-pit, none of which produced any artefacts. All these features were sealed beneath the burnt spread, which was cut by a later gully and several lazy-beds. The gully was linear and orientated east-west. No artefacts were recovered from the fill to suggest a date for its use’ (www.excavations.ie; McLoughlin 2000, 179).

Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick

Date upload: 26 June 2020

References

McLoughlin, C. 1999 Stratigraphical Report on the Excavation of a Fulacht Fiadh in Rathbane South Td., Co. Limerick. Unpublished report (Licence No. 99E0634), submitted by Archaeological Development Services Ltd. on behalf of Limerick County Council to the National Monuments Service, Dúchas.

McLoughlin, C. 2000 Rathbane South. Fulacht fiadh. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1999: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 179, no. 530. Bray. Wordwell.