County: Limerick Site name: WOODSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0762
Author: Michael Connolly, Ægis Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 564795m, N 656862m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.661796, -8.520413
A burnt spread was identified during the monitoring of topsoil-stripping prior to the construction of the Southern Limerick Ring-Road. The site was originally noted as a spread of burnt soil, shattered stone and charcoal, c. 12m in diameter, at the north-western edge of the road-take.
A 12.5m2 area was excavated, and this clearly showed that the burnt material was widely dispersed and shallow in most areas. The main body of the material was located within a depression/cut on the north-eastern side of the excavated area. However, it is impossible to say whether even this concentration of burnt material is in situ given that it is mixed with boulder clay and topsoil and fills a number of land drains uncovered in the excavated area. The presence of drains crossing the site from north-west to south-east clearly indicates major disturbance of the area, while of the four identified drains only two appear to be coeval. The stratigraphy of the drains would suggest that the burnt material is later in date, but given the consecutive episodes of disturbance it is possible that the burnt material has been dug out from somewhere else to be used as a fill in the drain cuts because of the fact that its main component is fire-shattered stone, thus aiding the general drainage of the area. Equally, the burnt material may be in situ but may not be the remains of a fulacht fiadh or part of a larger deposit. It may only ever have been a relatively shallow spread of material, the exact function of which is unclear. Indeed, the recovery of some small fragments of cremated bone within the burnt material may suggest a function other than that of a fulacht fiadh.
16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick
