County: Kildare Site name: BALLYVASS
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0453
Author: Niall Gregory, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 676864m, N 688038m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.937643, -6.856539
Excavation of a fulacht fiadh site took place before Bord Gáis pipeline development. The site encompassed an area of 55m2 of undeveloped land. The site was revealed during archaeological monitoring as a spread of burnt stone and charcoal-rich soil. Excavation revealed three shallow pits and two complete troughs. The pits consisted of a primary ash layer fill, followed by charcoal-rich soil mixed with burnt stone. Both fills were found to extend beyond the edges of the pits. The fulacht fiadh site extended southwards beyond the area of excavation, where the northern portion of two further pits were excavated. They had the same fill as the other pits. However, the base of one of them contained two flint scrapers.
One of the troughs consisted of a steep-sided oval hollowing of the natural subsoil. Its fill was similar to that of the pits. The other trough was circular. While it had the same fill as the other trough and pits, it also had a cladding of redeposited natural subsoil. Removal of this revealed that the subsoil that was dug into to create the trough was of a sandy and therefore porous composition. The cladding would have served to retain water in the trough.
25 Westpark, Blessington, Co. Wicklow
