Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated close to head (W end) of a small marshy basin below the Capnagower Road directly opposite ‘Burke House’. The fulacht fia lies at the foot of a NE-facing slope and there is a small spring c. 15m to NW that feeds into the basin. A number of small clumps of bog myrtle grow around flanks of the basin, one clump immediately SE of the monument. Another probable fulacht fia (MA085-049----) and an enclosure (MA085-054----) lie on the opposite side of the basin c. 125m to ENE and c. 165m to E, respectively.

The fulacht fia comprises a very large, somewhat lunate but natural-looking mound (NNW–SSE 13.6m, WSW–ENE c. 9m, H c. 2m max. on the east- ern side) partly overlain by tillage ridges along south-western side. Apart from one or two large (c.0.2m) stones that protrude from the sod close to its summit, its surface consists of a spongy covering of grass and moss that is completely mantled in bracken during the summer months. A small area of heat-fractured stone (dia. c. 0.4m) was noted at the south-south-eastern end of the mound summit on 12 October 1992. The cutting of drains on eastern side and along northern foot of the mound in 1993–4 also revealed scatters of burnt stone in the drain faces.

These exposures hint that the whole mound may be a very large fulacht fia. However, the con- cave face of the mound faces SW, i.e. upslope and away from the peat basin and there is no visible stream or water source directly uphill from the mound.

The above description is derived from: New Survey of Clare Island. Volume 5: Archaeology. Edited by Paul Gosling, Conleth Manning and John Waddell. (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. 2007). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated.

Date of upload: 29 November 2018

References

Gosling, P., Manning, C. and Waddell, J. (eds.) 2007 New Survey of Clare Island, Volume 5: Archaeology. Dublin, Royal Irish Academy.