County: Dublin Site name: JORDANSTOWN (BGE 6/11/1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0686
Author: Redmond Tobin, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 718718m, N 757065m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.550075, -6.208449
This site was identified during topsoil removal for the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West project (Section 6: Gormanston to Ballough) at Jordanstown, Lusk, Co. Dublin, as an irregularly shaped spread of firing material, subcircular to oval and measuring 1.4m by 1.2m. The fill appeared to be classic firing material, but the characteristic blackened soil was heavily leached and had lost much of its definitive colour. This site is well located on a rolling landscape, sloping to the east. The land is well drained, and land use is predominantly pasture. The site lies on a natural break in slope, at which point the land drops steeply to the south into a V-shaped stream valley. There are good views to the south-west.
At a distance of 1.3m south of this location the slope breaks toward a stream that runs c. 4–5m below the position of this site but is likely to have acted as the water source. At the point where the slope breaks, a further spread of firing material was apparent. This material extended under the residual topsoil and subsoil not removed after the stripping process. The spread at this location measured 2.3m north–south by 3.3m.
The trough was subcircular, measuring 1.26m north–south by 1.12m, with the depth varying from 0.39m at the north to 0.26m at the south. It had steep sides and a shallow, almost flat base. The trough displayed no structural features and appeared to have been quite simple in form and function. It had evidence of collapse at the southern side: a wedge of redeposited natural clay within the fill. This event must have happened after the trough had been abandoned and had partially silted up.
The fill was quite mixed. To the north it was grey leached clay and heat-shattered stone. The clay content increased deeper into the trough. The collapsed wedge of natural clay, which slipped into the trough after its final disuse, dominated the southern part of the trough. This wedge became incorporated in the fill through gradual silting up of the trough.
In the immediate environs of the trough there was little evidence of a burnt mound, but to the south was a spread of firing material measuring 3.3m north–south by 2.3m. The spread was the waste mound of the fulacht fiadh but was not revealed during stripping as the deposit was sealed under residual topsoil and redeposited natural clay. This material survived to a maximum depth of 0.4m. The deposit was not as severely affected by the leaching process and retained the classic colour.
The natural was a heavy, stiff, grey clay that appeared to be impermeable and retained water naturally. This would explain the lack of any structure within the trough.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
