2002:0613 - KNOCK (BGE 6/8/1), Dublin

This site, a severely truncated fulacht fiadh, came to light during the topsoil-stripping of Section 6 of the Pipeline to the West, from Gormanston to Ballough. Advance fieldwork had failed to identify any evidence of this site. After stripping, the site became apparent as a group of patchy spreads of classic firing material extending 7.5–8m along the wayleave and projecting onto the pipeline corridor by 4.1m from the western baulk. The fulacht fiadh was situated at the base of an east-facing slope at the interface of solid ground with the edge of a bog, which becomes the Red Bog farther to the south. The site lies to the east of a stream, which probably acted as the principal water source. A second, equally truncated fulacht fiadh (see No. 614, Excavations 2002, 02E0685) lies farther south in a similar location.

The fulacht fiadh had been badly damaged by years of agricultural activity. After a preliminary clean up, the full extent of the burnt-mound material was established, and some of the burnt spreads were resolved into a series of cut features. These included a subcircular trough, measuring 2.1m by 1.8m and surviving to a maximum depth of 0.2m. It was cut into the natural and had a concave profile, with gradually sloping sides and a shallow, uneven base. The trough was lined with what appeared to be a thin brushwood wattle mat, the remains of which were preserved in the primary fill, which represented the natural sedimentation of the trough after its disuse. The silt was a grey/brown material with peat content. It had accumulated to a depth of 0.06m, and within it the fragmentary remains of the lining were preserved.

Sealing the silt was a dense fill of firing material (blackened soil and heat-shattered stone fragments). This upper fill was mainly silty clay, with firing material dragged over and into the trough by plough action.

A second possible trough lay to the north-west of the first, projecting from under the western baulk of the wayleave. This was a smaller feature, ovate, measuring 1.25m east–west by 1.18m. The exposed section survived to a maximum depth of 0.58m and was again cut into the natural. It contained a single, uniform fill of heat-shattered stones within a matrix of silty clay, though with a much smaller quantity of silt than the other trough.

A possible post-hole, F4, was 0.5m in diameter and 0.48m deep and lay to the east of the first trough. The feature was roughly circular, with a steep-sided, U-shaped profile. The fill was a grey silty clay, with no stone present. F5 was similar to F4, measuring 0.5m by 0.42m. It was only 0.16m deep and had a fill of silty clay but with a good proportion of stone. It was immediately to the west of the first trough. Both features appeared to be structurally associated with the first trough. The evidence indicates that they may form a superstructure over the trough, which cuts F5, suggesting that the trough was enlarged or recut.

The remaining features associated with this fulacht fiadh were quite indistinct, shallow depressions in the natural, within which deposits of firing material had collected. Subsequent plough action had levelled the natural, leaving these pockets of material isolated. Evidence of the plough action was in the form of a series of linear gouges in the natural. All of these striations were filled with firing material. Little substance of the mound remained. The mound form and its buried components seemed to suggest that the site was used over a relatively short period of time.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin