Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

On the N side of a former river channel, in poorly drained pasture, c. 37m to E of the townland boundary with Ballyloughnaan and c. 70m to N of a stream marking the townland boundary with Monearla. Not depicted on OS historic mapping. Monument identified as a fulacht fiadh (Site B) during monitoring of topsoil stripping along the route of the N20/N21 Adare to Annacotty road scheme (Deevy 2001, 1). Monument excavated by Mary Deevy in 1999 and described as one of a pair of fulacht fiadh (Sites A and B) which were situated on either side of a dried-up river channel running E-W, possibly a tributary of the River Maigue (ibid).
The fulacht fiadh at Site B was a roughly circular-shaped mound (max. diam. 12m; D 0.73m) which had been very disturbed by water action on the S and SW sides where it had been exposed to fluctuating river levels (Deevy 2001, 4). A number of distinct phases of activity were identified on this site. The earliest were a number of subsoil-cut features, some of which may have been natural, while others were stake-holes in a linear arrangement aligned E-W at the N end of the site. These features were separated from the fulacht fiadh activity by a layer of peat and in some places by a layer of finely crushed shells.
A second phase of activity is represented by a deep, rectangular-shaped pit (2.7m x 0.8m; min. D 1m) which had been dug through the peat and the underlying subsoil (Deevy 2001, 5). The fill was a mixture of redeposited subsoil and peat, indicating that it had probably been backfilled shortly after it had been dug, during which time a small, polished stone axehead was deliberately placed within the fill (ibid).
A subrectangular-shaped stone well (1.8m x 1.2) had been cut through the fulacht fiadh mound, which appears to be on a natural spring (Deevy 2001, 8). It was of drystone construction, composed of large, rectangular-shaped blocks of limestone. This stone structure was surrounded on all sides by rounded cobblestones, which filled the cut excavated through the fulacht fiadh mound for the well (ibid). The spring flowed very strongly, filling the well and flowing out of a specially constructed stone drain towards the low ground between the two fulachta fiadh (Sites A and B).
No other artefacts or animal bone were recovered from this fulachta fiadh. No additional pits, which could have served as troughs, survived. It is possible that the trough had occupied the position of the natural spring and was destroyed during the insertion of the stone well, for which a large cut was excavated into the mound.

See attached location map taken from Deevy 2001

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 10 August 2020

References

Deevy, M. 2001 Excavations at Gorteen Td, Co. Limerick. N20/N21 Road Improvement Scheme. Unpublished report (Licence No. 99E0307), submitted by Archaeological Development Services Ltd. on behalf of Limerick City Council to the National Monuments Service, Dúchas.