County: Clare Site name: LISCORMICK (BGE 3/35/1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1208
Author: Martin Jones, Astrid-Lesley Nathan and Kate Taylor, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulachta fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 524494m, N 657794m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.666065, -9.116268
This site was examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West. Two burnt mounds, or fulachta fiadh, 25m apart, were excavated in a small, low area of rough pastureland between two steep hills and adjacent to a stream. In each case a considerable amount of alluvium/colluvium was removed to reveal the archaeological deposits, and it is possible that other features lie nearby. It is not known whether the monuments were related, although it is hoped that radiocarbon determinations will indicate whether they were contemporaneous. The eastern trench, Area A, measured 12m by 6m, and the western trench, Area B, measured 18m by 7.5m.
Area A
The sub-oval burnt mound, which extended into the adjacent field, measured 8.6m by 5m and was a maximum of 0.7m thick. It was composed of two layers of moderately friable, dark grey/black silt, burnt stones and a substantial concentration of charcoal fragments. The central part of the burnt material lay in a natural depression in the surface of the geological deposits.
Three features were associated with the burnt mound: a stone-lined trough, a small pit and a shallow hearth. The trough was oval, measuring 1.7m by 1.34m, and was 0.61m deep, with sharp, steep, well-defined edges. The main fills were probably derived from slumped mound material, and the upper fill was topsoil. The base was very slightly concave and was lined with five flat slabs of sandstone, below which was a thin layer of grey sandy silt.
The pit was sub-oval, measuring 1.4m by 1.05m, and was 0.4m deep. Two fills were identified, the upper of which contained a high proportion of sandstone pieces, none of which appeared to be burnt.
The small hearth was uncovered at the western side of the mound, severely truncated by a recent drain. A slight hollow, 1.2m in diameter, showed evidence of in situ burning, with oxidisation of the natural silty clay. This was overlain by a deposit similar to the mound material.
The single artefact retrieved, from the topsoil, was a 1926 penny.
Area B
The visible mound was c. 7m in diameter, although burnt stone material extended into the adjacent field. The mound material was a thick deposit of loose burnt clay and burnt angular and subangular stone and charcoal that had a maximum thickness of 0.51m. Smaller spreads of mound material and a layer of unburnt stone were also recorded.
Below the mound were a trough and a hearth. The sub-oval trough measured 2.9m by 1.5m and was 0.15–0.24m deep. The fill was identical to the mound material above. A possible hearth site was represented by a thin deposit of fire-reddened clayey peat, evidence of in situ burning. This deposit extended beyond the western baulk at the northern limit of the site; the exposed portion was roughly semicircular, measuring 1.3m by 1m, and was 0.06m thick.
An amorphous feature had truncated the mound at one end, although the mound material had slumped back over, and partially into, the cut. It is possible that the feature pre-dated or was contemporary with the mound and that a later feature had truncated the mound in a coincident position. Filling the cut feature and overlapping the edge of the mound was a sequence of layers of slumped or levelled mound material and alluvial deposits, presumably from flooding of the nearby stream.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
