County: Cork Site name: GREENFIELD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0446
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 557655m, N 569617m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.877129, -8.615002
In the process of assessing the archaeological impact of the construction of the Ballincollig Bypass five archaeological sites were identified. This site was recorded on the Sites and Monuments Record (SMR 73:87) as ‘a cone-shaped pit containing fulacht fiadh material’. Because the road construction would destroy the site a decision was made to excavate in advance of other testing strategies.
The site consisted of three spreads of dark brown/black charcoal-stained clay containing substantial quantities of heat-cracked stone. The spreads would have been united originally but have been reduced by post-medieval ditches and more modern ploughing. The maximum depth of the deposit was c. 0.2m. A probable trough was excavated to the west of the fulacht spreads. This consisted of a pit measuring c. 2.16m north–south by c. 2.2m, with a depth of c. 0.75m. The sides were near-vertical and the base was uneven. The pit was filled with fulacht material. An area of pink staining onto the natural may indicate the position of an associated hearth.
Dating of these features awaits the return of results from the radiocarbon analysis of charcoal samples from the fill of the trough.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
