1999:768 - HUGHESTOWN, Roscommon

During the summer and autumn of 1999 Roscommon County Council undertook the realignment and widening of part of the National Primary Route (N4) between the towns of Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon. During archaeological monitoring of groundworks for the road improvement scheme (see No. 774, Excavations 1999) a fulacht fiadh was uncovered and excavated. The newly discovered site was in the townland of Hughestown, c. 5km to the west of Carrick-on-Shannon. The fulacht fiadh was found in a low-lying and peaty area. The site was bordered on its north side by a narrow stream running in an east-west direction.

The site was divided into two areas. Area 1 was a fulacht fiadh with a burnt mound and a wooden trough. Area 2, to the west of Area 1, consisted of the remains of a number of different stone surfaces. Both areas were just to the north of the stream.

The entire area was very waterlogged, with a heavy and dense cover of rushes growing all over the site. At a depth of 1m and beneath a mid- to dark grey, sticky, silty clay were the first traces of an archaeological site consisting of a burnt mound, a well-preserved wooden trough and a series of post-holes. The trough was made of wattle, with interwoven rods supported by uprights. The mound consisted of two main deposits. One was a dark, sandy material that contained frequent small to medium-sized burnt stones, occasional pockets of sand and frequent flecks of charcoal. The deposit was quite thin (0.08–0.12m). The second deposit was quite similar to the first, except it was a lighter shade of grey; it contained similar inclusions. The full extent of the two deposits forming the burnt mound was 10m long and 7.6m wide (north-south). The burnt mound was deposited around the trough, and its western half was infilled with the burnt stone.

Following the excavation of the burnt mound feature, a wooden trough was uncovered. The trough was sited in the northern/north-eastern area of the excavated site, with the mound predominantly occurring to its south, south-west and west. The trough was in a good state of preservation, with the cut to accommodate it clearly visible. It was oval, 2.1m long (east-west) and 1.3m wide. The cut truncated a sticky, grey silt. The trough, revealed at the base of the oval cut, consisted of three main wooden planks. The planks were lying flat, orientated east-west, and were 1.3–1.72m long, 0.08–0.15m thick and 0.18–0.21m wide. The central plank was splayed, with its base wider than its upper surface. The planks were of ash, and toolmarkings were evident on all three. The planks used in the construction of the base of the wooden trough were sealed by a thin layer of light grey sand and a deposit of medium-sized stones. The sand and stone tended to be confined to the western half of the trough. It appeared that both deposits, the light grey sand and the stones, represented the final use of the trough. The residual from heating of the stones was dumped into the trough as it became defunct and there was no further use for it.

The wall of the trough was constructed from wattle, a series of 24 hazel uprights. Hazel provided flexibility, with each rod being malleable and easy to manipulate into the desired shape. The hazel uprights supported a dense series of rods. The rods, also of hazel, were interwoven in a figure of 8 around the uprights. The interlaced nature of the work gave a 'Moses' Basket'-like appearance to the walls of the trough. The external face of the wattle was partially packed with a peat-like material. The peat probably acted as a sealant to assist in retaining water within the trough. The hazel uprights had either wedge- or chisel-shaped points and hammered tops. There were no traces of any cuts for the uprights, and it appeared that they had been hammered directly into the soft peat and the natural, grey silt. A radiocarbon date from a collapsed piece of timber from the trough gave an age of 3783±56 BP.

A large number of post-holes were uncovered to the west of the trough. It is possible that the post-holes were related to the use of the occupation phase of the trough, as they truncated the same deposit. There were no traces of preserved wooden posts in the actual post-holes.

Area 2 occurred to the west of the mound and wooden trough. Two main stone pathways/surfaces were exposed during the excavation, one overlying the other. The surfaces consisted of frequent small to medium-sized, sub-angular and angular stones and sparse larger stones. The stones were of limestone and were packed quite close to each other. Both stone surfaces extended in an east-west direction. The surfaces were sealed by organic-type deposits. The deposits contained occasional animal remains with traces of butcher marks. The bones represented domesticated animals as well as hunted wild animals.

The remains of a thin burnt mound were uncovered. It was stratigraphically located between the two stone surfaces. It was very similar in composition to the burnt mound uncovered in Area 1. A series of five large stones, aligned north-south and set into one of the surfaces, was uncovered. The large, flat boulders extended into the nearby stream, which coincided with the northern edge of the site. The purpose of the large stones remains unknown, but they may represent a stone path running towards the north and across the stream.

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