County: Sligo Site name: CALTRAGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0859
Author: Brian Halpin, Mary Henry Archaeological Services
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 565605m, N 824176m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.165410, -8.526690
This previously unrecorded fulacht fiadh was in a greenfield site approximately 0.5km south of the town of Sligo in the townland of Caltragh. The mound was approximately 25m in diameter, with no troughs or associated features present. The site was found to be in a good state of preservation, lying just east of a small stream in poorly drained pastureland. Aside from furrows noted at the surface and a shallow trench with modern debris running roughly north–south at the surface of the mound, the site was found fairly intact.
The mound consisted of layers of charcoal-rich material with large amounts of burnt stone. Typical stratigraphic deposition common to fulachta fiadh, owing to continual periods of firing from a presumed trough, was noted.
Under the monument was a layer of peat which was very black and silty, with the majority being affected by the surrounding water-table. Several finds of worked flint and chert, including a burnt flint scraper, were recovered at the interface of the peat and the first layer of deposition of the burnt material. While no troughs or features were present in the peat, these finds indicate that the interface was at least contemporary with the period of the first firings on the site.
The peat layer was removed down to the subsoil but no pre-peat activity was evident. Owing to the level of the water-table and the nearby stream, the true extent of the spread could not be ascertained.
No other features were uncovered during the course of this investigation. Results of radiocarbon dating and relevant specialist reports are awaited.
24 Queen Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
