County: Cork Site name: DERRYCOOL
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0588
Author: Redmond Tobin, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 542773m, N 556269m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.755824, -8.828916
This site was initially identified as a localised spread of blackened soil and heat-shattered stones extending into the wayleave of the Ballincollig–Ballineen gas pipeline, in one of the ‘box out’ sections for extra easement at the termini of each section. The site was part of a fulacht fiadh, and a portion of the site remains preserved in the adjacent field to the north.
The site lies in low ground to the east of a drainage ditch that channels the water from a stream rising to the north of the site. There was no knowledge of this site before topsoil-stripping. Preliminary investigation clearly defined the extremities of the spread and showed evidence of a substratum of loose rubble underlying the burnt material. The burnt material was barely exposed during the stripping. It was reduced by hand to expose the full extent of the mound and defined it as 7.2m from east to west and extending approximately 5.4m south. In section, the depth of the burnt material is 0.7m.
The burnt material was removed to reveal a layer of sandstone pebbles and an old sod layer, which partially covered the stones. These stones were not structural in their plan. They were very loosely set, and the old sod layer lay between the stones and, in places, partially covered them. This layer of stone may correspond to the establishment of a dry work surface for the fulacht fiadh or may be a dump of stones used in the heating process.
A very dense area of blackened earth and heat-shattered stone was visible in the north-west corner of the stone spread. On cleaning it was defined as a rectilinear trough extending 1.1m from the northern baulk and 1.05m wide. The fill was of blackened soil containing large lumps of charcoal, burnt stone and some oxidised clay. The base of the trough was a very dense layer of charcoal. Underlying this charcoal is a layer of whitish clay still containing charcoal but at a lesser density. It would appear that the trough was lined with wicker, set in an impermeable bed of clay to retain water. The full extent of the trough could not be determined, as it was truncated by the baulk to the north.
The overall alignment of this fulacht fiadh was east–west. The trough was to the western extremity of the mound facing onto the stream while the mound extends to the east.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
