Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Identified as Site A during archaeological monitoring associated with the development of Limerick Racecourse (Licence No. 98E0252). Excavated under licence no. 98Eo252 by Edmond O’Donovan (O’Donovan 1998) when it was described as followng; ‘ a dense black staining immediately under the topsoil. A cutting measuring 4.2m north-south by 2.5m was opened on the spread. Four small extensions to the cutting were added to define the extent of the activity on the eastern, western and southern sides. Excavation revealed a roughly circular pit measuring 2.5m in diameter cut into the boulder clay. The pit was shallow and had an uneven base. A shallow trench was present along the northern edge of the feature. The trench was between 0.8m/0.4m wide and 0.15m deep. The remainder of the pit gently sloped in from the edges. The pit was filled with compact boulder clay, including occasional patches of burnt clay and charcoal. The pit fill was sealed by a dense charcoal spread and was located at the south side of the pit. The charcoal staining covered a roughly rectangular area, measuring 1.10m north/south, 1m east/west and was 0.6m deep. Traces of in situ burning was evident. No finds were associated with the site (0’Donovan 1998, 2, (www.excavations.ie; O'Donovan 2000, 134).

Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick

Date upload: 29 June 2020

References

O’Donovan, E. 2002 Archaeological Monitoring and Excavation of Greenmount Racecourse, Limerick. Unpublished report (Licence No.98E0252), submitted by Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd. on behalf of Limerick Racetrack Company to Dúchas the Heritage Service.

O’Donovan, E. 2000 Greenmount and Logavinshire. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1998: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 134. Bray. Wordwell.