County: Clare Site name: BALLYMACONNA (BGE 3/11/1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1154
Author: Graham Hull, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 537473m, N 682477m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.889530, -8.929139
This site, examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West, was on a hilltop with 360º views. A fulacht fiadh was excavated c. 175m to the south-east by Emer Dennehy (No. 96, Excavations 2002, 02E1392), and a pit was found 20m to the south (No. 95, Excavations 2002, 02E1155).
An oval pit was excavated, measuring 1.8m (east–west) by 1.4m and 0.25m deep. The pit sides were nearly vertical, and the base was flat. The single pit fill was a fine grey/brown silt with frequent natural gravel inclusions. Occasional large stones (0.3–0.4m in diameter) were also found in the pit; some of these were heat cracked and fire reddened. Very occasional charcoal flecking was also observed.
The heated stone in the pit suggests burning either within the pit (no evidence of oxidisation was recorded) or nearby. Association with the second pit found on the hilltop (No. 95, Excavations 2002) is a possibility to be explored. It is not known whether the pit was part of a larger archaeological complex that lay perhaps to the west.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
