County: Wicklow Site name: KILMACANOGUE NORTH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0571
Author: John Ó Néill, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 724613m, N 714746m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.168597, -6.136197
Monitoring of topsoil removal in advance of the construction of a Bord Gáis Éireann gas pipeline by Ian Doyle (see No. 1357, Excavations 2001, 00E0509) identified a spread of burnt stone and charcoal at this location, to the east of Kilmacanogue village, on the lower slopes of the Little Sugar Loaf, at around 101m OD. The archaeological features were identified on ground that sloped to the east (at an incline of about 1:25) and appear to represent the remains of a burnt mound or fulacht fiadh.
The spread of burnt material (designated as F1) and the area of the pipeline corridor around it were fully excavated to try and identify any associated activity. The spread was found to cover some 3.7m (east–west) by 2.4m, to a maximum depth of 0.15m. Water action has stained the ground downslope of this spread for a further 4–5m. The spread consisted of 60% charcoal-rich, friable clay with 40% burnt stone, 20–90mm in length, including small and angular limestone, sandstone, granite and quartzite.
A single irregular pit was identified further upslope from F1, measuring 3.8m (east–west) by 2m. This was found to contain two fills and had a maximum depth of 0.65m. The upper fill was 60% burnt stone, and a 0.1m-deep lower fill may have been a deliberately introduced base lining.
A further shallow pit, 0.8m in diameter and 0.14m deep, was located beside F1 and was backfilled with the same material.
All of the above features were partly truncated by modern agricultural activity. The larger pit had been excavated into natural boulder clay, but the spread of burnt material and the shallower pit overlay a shallow deposit of sod, 0.1–0.15m deep. No finds were recovered from this deposit or from any of the other features during excavation.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
