County: Louth Site name: FARRANDREG, Dundalk
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0698
Author: Teresa Bolger, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Fulachta fia
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 703099m, N 807895m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.009976, -6.427067
Monitoring of topsoil removal along the pipeline corridor of the Farrandreg Drainage Scheme had identified two potential fulachta fiadh towards the western end of the scheme. The two sites (A and B) initially appeared to consist of two spreads of burnt stone, c. 50m apart, towards the eastern side of Field 2 of the Farrandreg Drainage System. Each of these spreads partially sealed a trough, and the burnt stone spread at Site B also sealed a small hearth. Although all areas of each site within the pipeline corridor have been fully excavated, both of these sites extended beyond the limits of the corridor, and thus beyond the limits of the present excavation, and as a result neither site could be excavated in its entirety.
Site A
The eastern site, Site A, consisted of a trough measuring 3.3m x 1.8m x 0.85m deep, with a shallow primary fill of grey sand. Above this was a thin layer of charcoal-rich, silty clay, concentrated towards the southern end of the cut. Above this was a layer of grey, sandy clay with stones, very similar to the underlying geology but very disturbed. This was deepest towards the southern end of the trough, becoming thinner towards the north, where it was overlain by the uppermost fill, a deposit of burnt stone in a matrix of charcoal-rich, sandy clay. This was concentrated towards the centre and north of the trough. The burnt stone deposit did not spread out beyond the trough, and it did not even seal the entire trough.
Site B
The western site, Site B, consisted of a wider spread of burnt stone in a matrix of charcoal-rich clay (C2), partially infilling a trough. The spread also sealed a small hearth to the north-east of the trough.
The cut of the trough was subrectangular and orientated north-west/south-east. It measured 3.6m x 1.2m with a maximum depth of 0.8m. It had steeply sloped sides and a stepped base. A very thin layer of silty, grey, charcoal-flecked clay was present against the sides of the southern end of the trench. Covering this was a deep deposit of grey, silty clay with frequent stones. This layer became more shallow towards the northern end of the trench and was overlain, at that end only, by the burnt stone material (C2).
C2 covered a total area of 3.2m x 3m, including the northern end of the trough, tapering away to the east and west. Underneath C2, and to the north-east of the trough, was a small hearth, which consisted of a layer of burnt clay, 0.1m deep, sealing an elongated, oval, charcoal spread. The subsoil directly underneath both the hearth and the burnt stone spread had been discoloured by their presence but was otherwise undisturbed.
Neither Site A nor Site B produced any artefacts.
Most fulachta fiadh sites feature a trough or troughs either sealed beneath the mound or situated between the arms of the horseshoe, and the trough is usually filled with the same burnt stone material that comprises the mound. Though both Sites A and B have troughs, they are both unusual in that the burnt stone material does not fully seal either trough; a large section of each trough has been filled with material not containing any burnt stone whatsoever; and there are almost no other indications of burning activity.
The presence of hearths at fulachta fiadh sites is not atypical, and the hearth at Site B is in keeping with this. At Site A, the lowest fill of the trough, a fine sand, was similar to the kinds of deposits that can build up when a cut feature is exposed to weathering and the elements prior to any deliberate infilling. So it is possible that the trough stood open for at least a short time before being filled in.
Though fulachta fiadh are commonly dated to the Bronze Age (Brindley and Lanting 1990), precise dating of these two sites is problematic in that neither produced any artefacts. This is not unusual; there have been very few securely stratified artefacts found associated with fulachta fiadh, and those that have been recovered are of a nature that gives a broad range of dates. Although there is evidence that fulachta fiadh were used up until the 16th century, 14C dating evidence from the majority of those excavated place these sites’ origins firmly in the middle of the second millennium BC. It is probable, therefore, that Sites A and B do date to the Bronze Age. Certainly the recovery of a large quantity of Early Bronze Age pottery from an excavation in Field 1 of the Farrandreg Drainage System (see Excavations 2000, No. 675) does indicate that there was activity of Bronze Age date and possibly even Bronze Age habitation in the immediate vicinity of the present site.
Reference
Brindley, A.L. and Lanting, J.N. 1990 ‘The dating of fulachta fiadh’, in V. Buckley (ed.), Burnt offerings: international contributions to burnt mound archaeology, 55–6. Dublin.
8 Dungar Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
