County: Dublin Site name: SOUTHERN CROSS MOTORWAY ROUTE, Balrothery/Firhouse/Scholarstown/Ballycullen/Newtown/Edmonstown/Tibradden/Marley Grange/Taylor's Grange
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0206
Author: Colin D. Gracie, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Hearth, Fulacht fia and Furnace
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 716042m, N 725541m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.267501, -6.260413
Monitoring of topsoil removal was carried out between 23 April and 14 July 1998 along the route of the proposed motorway. Four features were discovered.
A hearth-type feature was excavated 10m from the site of Scholarstown 'Fairy Fort' (O117266). This was c. 0.8m in diameter and contained a number of granite stones, which had been burnt.
The second feature (O116266), a spread of burnt material containing black silt, burnt stone and charcoal fragments, was revealed to be a fulacht fiadh. A rectilinear pit 1.1m wide and 0.48m deep had been cut by a subcircular pit 2m long, 1.4m wide and 0.6m deep. Beside this were the remains of a hearth and two linear concentrations of stake-holes—94 in total. The linear arrangement of stake-holes ran on either side of the rectilinear pit, and a number were clearly angled to form a tent-like structure over the pit.
The third site was another burnt spread also in Scholarstown townland (O119265). At the time of writing, this has yet to be excavated.
In the Tibradden townland a bowl furnace was found (O143257). It was 0.4m in diameter and contained numerous fragments of iron slag, as well as charcoal and burnt clay. Two saucer-shaped furnace bottoms of slag were discovered, one in situ, suggesting at least two phases of use. A fragment of copper was also found on the top of the feature.
Gaspipe-laying took place near the 'Brehon's Chair', Taylor's Grange, as part of the road scheme. Two fragments of flint were found during monitoring of this work.
8 Abbeydale Close, Lucan, Co. Dublin
