Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

On the western outskirts of Ballina town, located close to the base of an E facing slope. This fulacht fia was discovered in 2019 during archaeological testing of a green-field site in advance of a proposed housing development; it was subsequently fully excavated (Crumlish 2019). There was no surface trace of the fulacht fia prior to the pre-development testing.
Excavation revealed that the fulacht fia consisted of a mound (10.65m N–S, 5.7-7.8m E–W; max. D 0.35m) of blackened soil, heat-shattered stones and charcoal. It was horse-shoe shaped in plan and opened to the E. It directly overlay natural subsoil of grey/cream clay. A trough (1.6m E–W; 0.95-1.0m N–S; D 0.3-0.5m) underlay the mound. It was subrectangular in plan, with steep sides and a relatively flat base. The lowermost layer of fill was of burnt mound material, above which was a mix of burnt mound material and re-deposited natural subsoil. A large, partly heat-shattered, boulder was found resting on the base of the trough, centrally located in the W half. Immediately to N of the trough there was a cluster of stakeholes. They occurred in two rows, orientated ENE/WSW, 0.2-0.4m apart; ten stakeholes in the S row, and seven in the N rows. The stakeholes (diam. 30-70mm; D 20-120mm) were oval, roughly circular or roughly triangular in plan, and were filled with dark brown organic material.
A roughly oval-shaped pit (1.8m E–W, 1.0-1.5m N–S; D 0.16-0.27m) was found 0.5m to W of the trough, beneath the centre of the burnt mound. It had steep sides at W and N, a gentler slope on the S and E sides, and a relatively flat base. It was filled entirely with burnt mound material. There were three stakeholes cut into its base, in a NNW/SSE line in the E half. No artefacts were recovered during the excavation. Another fulacht fia (MA030-098----), located 20m to S, was also excavated. (Crumlish 2019).

Attached images are uploaded courtesy of Richard Crumlish:

MA030-099----_01: Rectangular trough, with large boulder in its base, and cluster of stakeholes on its N side.
MA00-099----_02: Oval pit to W of the trough, with three stakeholes visible in its base.

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 13 August 2019

References

Crumlish, R. 2019 Preliminary report on the rescue excavation of two fulachta fiadh at Ardoughan townland, Ballina, Co. Mayo. Excavation Licence No. 19E0138. Planning Ref. No. P19/119. August 2019. Unpublished report submitted to NMS.