County: Cork Site name: BALLINVINNY SOUTH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 64:152-01 Licence number: 00E0251
Author: Eamonn Cotter
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 573982m, N 579610m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.967953, -8.378629
This site was excavated in advance of the Glanmire–Watergrasshill bypass, a proposed new section of the N8 roadway. It was located c. 5.5km south-south-west of the village of Watergrasshill, in the townland of Ballinvinny South. It lay in wet marshy land at the base of a steep-sided glen, on the opposite bank of a stream from the already excavated fulacht fiadh in Killalough townland (see Excavations 2000, No. 112).
The site appeared as a high, kidney-shaped mound of burnt stone with some hazel scrub growing on it. Excavation revealed that the lower reaches of the mound had been gradually buried under several layers of fluvial deposits. The first of these was a layer of sand, gravel and clay that occurred on all sides of the mound and was probably the result of flash flooding depositing soil wash from the surrounding hills on the floor of the narrow valley. Subsequently, alternating layers of sand and silt were laid down by periodic flooding of the stream, particularly on the west side of the mound, close to the stream. These layers in turn were overlain by a waterlogged silt/peat layer that developed across the valley floor, fed by natural springs rising from the base of the valley sides.
Removal of the burnt mound revealed a semicircular setting of large stones set on edge in the clay, its open end towards the south-west. Fracturing of the stones indicated that they had been subjected to intense heat, though there was no other evidence that the area had been used as a hearth. Within the stone setting a layer of silty clay appeared to have been laid against the lower edges of the stones. The inner limit of this clay packing was c. 0.08m deep and had a straight, vertical edge along its north and east sides. The vertical edge suggested that the clay had originally been laid against some supporting framework such as wooden planks.
Beneath the clay packing was a thin layer of burnt mound material, suggesting that the mound had already been in use before this clay was laid in place. Beneath this material was the natural, undisturbed gravel. Surprisingly, in spite of extensive investigation of the area, no evidence for a pit or trough was found, and it may be that an overground wooden trough was used.
Ballynanelagh, Rathcormac, Co. Cork
