County: Clare Site name: BALLYCORICK (BGE 3/26/1–4)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1011
Author: Graham Hull, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Burnt pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 528139m, N 666328m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.743251, -9.064266
These sites were examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West. Four charcoal-rich deposits were recorded lying within 150m of each other in the same field.
BGE 3/26/1
A thin deposit of charcoal and ash was excavated. It lay on the surface of the natural geology and measured 2.8m (north-west/south-east) by 1.05m with a maximum thickness of 0.02m. Some of the charcoal pieces were clearly branches, up to 0.05m long with a diameter of 0.02m. The immediately adjacent natural geology had been oxidised red in places, suggesting either in situ burning or deposition of hot embers. A sample of the charcoal was taken.
BGE 3/26/2
An amorphous spread of charcoal-rich fine silt was recorded on the topsoil-stripped ground surface. This deposit measured 0.4m (north–south) by 0.35m and was 0.01m thick. It was truncated at the east by a modern stone field drain.
BGE 3/26/3
A rectilinear pit, measuring 4.2m (east–west) by 1.4m, was excavated. The base of the pit was flat, and it was 0.2m deep. The sides were nearly vertical. The fill was very rich in charcoal, and the charcoal was more evident at the western end of the pit. Carbonised wood comprised 100% of the fill in parts of the pit. In other parts, charcoal was a 20% component. Green/brown silt was also recorded as the pit fill. Very large, branch-sized, pieces of charcoal were observed and sampled from the pit. Oxidisation of the natural geology surrounding the pit indicated in situ burning.
BGE 3/26/4
A shallow linear feature, measuring 2.6m (north-west/south-east) by 0.5m and 0.05m deep, was excavated. The gully fill was a black fine silt that included 80–90% charcoal.
Summary
The similarity of the four deposits, all within in a single field, suggests that the sites are very probably related. The very high charcoal content in the fill of BGE 3/26/3 may suggest that the charcoal was a commodity rather than a by-product. Industrial iron- and glassworking is known to have consumed vast quantities of woodland in 17th-century Munster. Species identification from the recovered samples is certainly warranted, and a good case can be made for the commissioning of a radiocarbon date. It is possible, of course, that the pit and associated dumps of charcoal have an earlier origin, maybe as the sites for heating the stones found in the ubiquitous fulachta fiadh, for example.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
