County: Cork Site name: MEENANE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 53:95 Licence number: 99E0705
Author: Eamonn Cotter
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 577079m, N 584460m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.011685, -8.333893
The site lay on high, wet land c. 1km north-east of the village of Watergrasshill, Co. Cork, and was excavated before the construction of the Watergrasshill Bypass, a proposed new section of the N8 roadway. The excavation was funded by Cork County Council.
The site was an irregularly shaped mound of burnt, shattered stone measuring 15m north-south x 14m east-west at its maximum extent, with a maximum depth of c. 0.5m. A modern, stone-filled land drain ran north-south 2m to the west of the mound, and two similar drains extended northwards and eastwards from the north-east corner of the mound.
A trough and associated features were uncovered beneath the mound. The trough was rectangular and measured 2.1m east-west x 1.3m, with an average depth of 0.3m, giving it a capacity of c. 800 litres (176 gallons). It was filled with burnt, heat-shattered stones with some clay and silting.
The long axis of the trough was aligned with the slope of the ground, i.e. west-east. The higher ground immediately to the west of the trough had been worked so as to form a horseshoe-shaped shelf, with each terminal of the 'horseshoe' formed by an upright stone set in the subsoil at the north-west and south-west corners of the trough. To the west of the 'shelf' was an arc (1.2m long) of stones set on edge in the subsoil. The extent of fracturing of these stones and the two stones at the corners of the trough, as well as the burnt clay on the 'shelf', indicates that this was the hearth on which stones were heated before being deposited in the trough.
A setting of post-holes to the north and south of the trough suggests either a structure enclosing the west end of the trough to protect it from the elements or a structure forming part of the hearth. The size of the two largest post-holes, 0.3m in diameter x 0.38m deep and 0.4m in diameter x 0.34m deep, suggests a low, sturdy structure, something that would have been necessary to retain the fire on the hearth while the stones were heating.
A large pit, approximately oval, lay 1.6m to the east of the trough, downslope from it. The pit measured 2.9m north-south x 2.2m, with a maximum depth of 0.6m. The fill of the pit consisted mainly of grey/black silt layers with small amounts of burnt stone, suggesting that the pit lay open for a long period and silted up gradually. Its function is uncertain.
Ballynanelagh, Rathcormac, Co. Cork
