Burnt mound

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, situated within a naturally-occurring depression of wet ground, bordered at S by a N-facing escarpment, and 15m to N by a low knoll upon which a rath (SL019-055----) is sited. The S shoreline of Ballisadare Bay is c.100m to N. A field drain (Wth 1.4m) curves in a shallow arc SE-N through the wet hollow. Along the S arc of the drain, a layer (L 14m; T 0.4-0.6m) of shattered stones within a charcoal-rich matrix is exposed in section at a depth of 0.4m-0.5m beneath present ground level. The layer is clearly visible in the N section face of the drain but only intermittently in the S section face. It overlies orange and pale grey subsoil layers. An animal bone was visible in dark-brown sandy soil at a level 0.15m above the burnt layer in the N section. There is a short interruption to the layer at its W end, at the point where the drain begins to curve to the N, but burnt material (L 8m) is again visible in both section faces where the drain extends to N. In the W section face a shallow dip in the surface of the burnt stone layer is filled with a grey, slightly greasy deposit (L 1m; T 0.15m) which is partly overlain by a lens of oyster shell (L 1m; T 0.15m). No trace of a mound is evident at surface level in the field but upcast from the drain, incorporating burnt mound material, has been spread on either side of the drain and heaped on top of the field fence that borders the W side of the drain.

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 12 May 2011