Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Located at the bottom of an E-facing slope and on the N side of what had been a small pond. Archaeological centre-line testing (04E1054) by D. Bayley (2005) at Testing Area 3 of Contract 5 of the M3 motorway (excavations.ie 2004:1223) identified a spread of broken and burnt stone that was fully resolved (E003168) by D. Gallagher in November 2006 as Chapelbride 5 (excavations.ie 2006:1531). The spread of broken and burnt stone (dims 11m x 10m; T 0.1-0.15m) overlay two subrectangular troughs (dims 2.25m x 1m; D 0.16m: dims 2.5m x 1m; D 0.16m) that were placed c. 2m apart and were filled with the same dark grey, silty clay with frequent charcoal inclusions and heat-affected stones. The mound also overlay a linear channel (L 2m; Wth 0.6m; D 0.15m) c. 3m to the S and another linear channel (L 8.5m; Wth 1.75m; D 0.18m) c. 1m to the N of the troughs and both channels had some burnt stone material in their fills. (Gallagher and Ginn 2008, 2-3)

About 7m N of the burnt mound a subrectangular cut feature (dims 1.99m x 1.6m; D 0.4m) with four fills, all containing some broken and burnt stone was also probably a trough. Samples of alder and ash from these layers produced C14 dates of 1612-1433 (Beta 2471137) and 1687-1496 cal. BC (Beta 2471139), placing it in the Middle Bronze Age. Nearby is a circular, flat-bottomed trough (diam. 1.7m; D 0.3m) with burnt stone in its fill, and it is probable that the burnt mound extended over these originally. Three similar pits (dims 1.15m x 1m; D 0.6-0.16m to 1.45m x 1.17m; D 0.1m) c. 30m NE of the fulacht fia also had fills with burnt stone material, but two smaller pits (dims 0.85m x 0.4-0.5m; D 0.12-0.16m: dims 1.3m x 0.8-1.2m; D 0.13m) a little further E had inclusions of hazel charcoal that produced C14 dates of 2465-2206 cal. BC (Beta 247240) and 2195-1939 cal. BC (Beta 247138) respectively. No artefacts were recovered from any of the features. (ibid. 3-4)

See the attached plan from Gallagher and Ginn (2008, fig. 8)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 4 March 2022

References

Bayley, D. 2005 M3 Navan – North of Kills, Contract 5, Kells to North of Kells. Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 3 in Chapelbride, County Meath. Licence: 04E1054. Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy

Gallagher, D. and V. Ginn 2008 M3 Clonee – North of Kells, Contract 5, Kells to North of Kells. Final Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Chapelbride 5, Co. Meath. Licence: E003168. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services