Fulacht fia

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in the slight valley at the headwaters of a NE-SW stream, and on a SE-facing slope at the edge of a possible NE-SW palaeo-channel (Wth 1.9m; D 0.5m) filled with alluvial deposits. Archaeological testing (E004893) of an area required for the construction phase of the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy motorway in January 2017 (Kavanagh 2017) identified archaeological features (excavations.ie 2017:147) in three areas which were excavated (E004922) in November 2017 as Monroe 6 (excavations.ie 2017:313), although one is probably post-medieval drainage which is not mapped. Area 2 consists of six spreads of broken and burnt stone creating a rough mound (dims c. 13m N-S x c. 4m; T 0.08-0.22m) overlying two subrectangular pits (dims 1.2m x 1.1m; D 0.3m: 1.55m x 0.7m; D 0.3m) filled with silts and heat-shattered stones which may have functioned as troughs. Four pits (dims 1m x 0.4m; D 0.2m to 1.44m x 1.34m; D 0.6m) were beneath the burnt mound and filled with gravelly or sandy silts with burnt stone while some smaller pits were cut from levels within the mound. A large rectangular trough (dims 2.45m x 1.8m; D 0.2m) filled with broken and burnt stone was W of the mound, and a slight V-shaped channel (L 1.6m; Wth 0.16m; D 0.16m) led NE from it through the mound. The trough had a wooden base and four planks from it survived. A subcircular pit (dims 2.05m x 1.62m; D 0.3m) c. 20m SW of the mound was filled with sandy silts with some brushwood fragments and could have been another trough. The area was cut by later drains and few artefacts were recovered. (Kavanagh 2018, 11-23)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 5 November 2020

References

Kavanagh, L. 2018 Preliminary stratigraphic report and post-excavation design for Monroe 6, Co. Wexford. M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy PPP Scheme, Co. Wexford. Townland: Monroe. Licence: E004922. Unpublished report, IAC Archaeology

Kavanagh, L. 2017 Archaeological Test Trenching of Proposed Permanent Fill Area 7; M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy PPP Scheme, Co. Wexford. Townland: Monroe. Licence: E004893. Unpublished report, IAC Archaeology