2002:1173 - FINNITERSTOWN (BGE 3/63/1), Limerick

This site was examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West. It lay on relatively dry, flattish ground, formerly used as pasture. A rectified stream lay c. 100m to the south-west.

A burnt spread, typically 0.12m thick, was observed during monitoring and measured c. 9m (south-west/north-east, from the edge of the easement) by 15m. Two modern field drains cut through the spread. Two small pits and a large pit were recorded below it. The small pits were oval, measuring 1.6m (east–west) by 0.44m by 0.34m deep and 0.76m (north–south) by 0.6m by 0.23m deep. The pits were 0.9m apart and were filled with a mid-grey/brown, clayey silt with a very high burnt stone content, similar to the burnt spread. The large pit was subcircular, c. 2.8m in diameter, and was 1.25m deep. The break of slope was gradual at the top and steepened toward the base, which was irregular and cut through bedrock. There were thirteen pit fills and one recut. The primary fill was a dark grey, silty clay with c. 70% burnt or decayed stone inclusions and some charcoal. The basal deposit was recut, and laminar deposits had been introduced to the pit. Charcoal and animal bones were recovered from the bottom of the recut pit. Decayed wood and one large piece of dumped and waterlogged tree root were also found in the pit.

The large pit may have functioned as a fulacht fiadh trough, but its depth and the absence of an impermeable lining suggest that it was more likely to have been a well or possibly a borrow pit, associated with a burnt mound. Selective wet sieving of the extensive bulk soil samples may provide information that will further our understanding of the function of the site. It is hoped that species identification of wood and charcoal will be made and that material suitable for obtaining a radiocarbon determination will be extracted.

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