County: Limerick Site name: DERRYKNOCKANE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0093
Author: Ciara MacManus, c/o ADS Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 555799m, N 650943m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.607941, -8.652580
The partial remains of a fulacht fiadh were discovered in the townland of Derryknockane, Co. Limerick, in February 1999, 5km south-west of Limerick City and c. 1.5km south-east of the existing N20 road. The site was uncovered during monitoring of topsoil-stripping for the proposed N20/N21 Limerick Bypass and survived as a spread of charcoal-rich soil and burnt stones.
Excavation of this spread revealed the existence of a large, subrectangular trough pit, 2m long, 1.2m wide and 0.4m deep, with an east-west orientation. A smaller, linear pit (1.6m x 0.65m) lay to the east of the trough, and a large, subcircular pit (1.2m diameter) lay 1.6m to the south-east of the trough.
The trough had been filled by various deposits, which included a sealing layer of redeposited subsoil, over which lay the main fill of charcoal-rich, blackened material containing a large number of burnt stones.
The trough had been positioned upon a small ridge surrounded by marshy land, which sloped off to the west. Much of the dump material from the use of the trough appeared to have accumulated down, and to the base of, this slope, evidenced by a 0.13m-thick spread of mound material in this area.
Only the partial remains of a fulacht fiadh were uncovered during these excavations; the rest of the site was presumably destroyed by agricultural activity in the past. The remains of a linear plough furrow to the east of the trough and those of a large French drain to the west of the trough confirm this destruction.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3
