County: Kildare Site name: CARTON DEMESNE (Sites 1 and 2), Maynooth
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0199
Author: E. Eoin Sullivan, on behalf of Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia and Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 696390m, N 738500m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.387859, -6.550962
The small isolated spread of burnt stone was located along the fairway of Hole 3, 70m to the south of the fulacht fiadh. The topsoil was removed by hand, leading to the discovery of a flint leaf-shaped arrowhead, a possible stone mould and twelve pieces of struck flint, two of which had secondary reworking. All the artefacts were from the disturbed ploughzone. The spread of burnt stone was an irregular linear shape, measuring an average of 5.2m (east–west) by 1.8m. It was cut into the natural to a maximum depth of 0.28m at the eastern end, and was cut by a later field drain running north-north-east/south-south-west. The drain was filled with a light brown sandy clay with occasional inclusions of small pebbles. It was 4.6m long and 0.5m wide. A second drain, 24.5m to the west, had a similar orientation, dimension and fill.
The fulacht fiadh was located at the green of Hole 2 and consisted of a spread of burnt stone measuring 8.8m (east–west) by 5.8m, which was the remains of the burnt mound. The maximum depth of the burnt stone was 0.15m. There was one subcircular trough, in the north-western quadrant of the spread of burnt stone. It measured 1.72m north–south by 1.34m and was filled with charcoal-rich clay with burnt and fire-cracked subangular stones. Twelve post-holes were located around the circumference of the interior of the trough. The trough was situated on a natural break of slope, with the bulk of the burnt mound material being disposed along the summit and downslope.
One animal tooth and a dual-purpose flint plano-convex knife/end scraper were recovered from under the burnt mound material. No carbonised seeds were found in the deposits associated with the fulacht fiadh.
39 Trees Road, Mount Merrion
