County: Kilkenny Site name: CATSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Mr. M. Ryan, Irish Antiquities Division, National Museum of Ireland
Site type: Two Fulacht Fiadha
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 647940m, N 638047m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.491721, -7.294069
Rescue excavations were undertaken in June, 1974, to examine two fulachta fiadha before their removal in the course of land drainage. Originally four mounds had existed in the field but two were destroyed before excavation and sites No. 1 and 2 only were investigated.
Site 1: a classic horseshoe-shaped mound c.20m in max. width- produced evidence of a trough, some decayed wood and a small stone ring. The cooking area has been dug into in recent times as a result of which most of the archaeological features there were destroyed.
Site 2: was roughly oval in plan and c.17m in maximum width. There was a slight indentation on its W. side where a trough may have existed: unfortunately deep furrowing for drainage purposes impinged on the site at this point and obliterated many of the archaeological features- parts of two pits were investigated here.
Under the mound, there was a crudely paved area, a parallel stone setting and a quarter-circular arrangement of stones, perhaps a hearth. Severe flooding necessitating constant use of a motor pump and, in the later part of June, bad weather severely hampered excavation.
