Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a slight N-facing slope. Archaeological centre-line testing (04E0584) by N. Fairburn at Testing Area 11 of Contract 3 in advance of the M3 motorway identified burnt mound material (excavations.ie 2004:1158) at two places that were designated Ardbraccan 1A and 1B and were fully resolved (E003115) by M. Mossop (2008) over three weeks in August 2006 (excavations.ie 2006:1486). In Area 1A (dims 40m E-W; 37m N-) two fulachta fia and a large cistern or well were recorded.
This presented as a spread of burnt and broken stone (dims 7.3m x 5.3m; T 0.3m) that overlay a stone-based hearth (diam. 0.8m; T 0.11m) from which a sample of ash charcoal provided a C14 date of 2461-2205 cal. BC (BETA 247115). It overlay an oval trough (dims 1.75m x 1.2m; D 0.36m) with a fill of mostly fire-cracked stone that was immediately N of the hearth and a small pit (diam. 1.1m; D 02m) was nearby. The trough of fulacht fia (ME025-085001-) is c. 4.5m to the N and the trough of this fulacht fia was at the N edge of a cistern (ME025-085003-) and a metalled path (L 14.7m; Wth 2m) extended N from it. (Mossop and Ruddle 200, 2-5)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 11 April, 2023

Fairburn, N. 2004 M3 Clonee-North of Kells. Contract 3 – Navan Bypass. Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 11, Ardbraccan, County Meath. Licence: 04E0584. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services
Mossop, M. and E. Ruddle 2009 M3 Clonee-North of Kells. Contract 3 – Navan Bypass. Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Ardbraccan 1, Co. Meath. Licence: E003115. Final Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services