County: Limerick Site name: RATHCANNON (BGE 3/75/4–5)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1083
Author: Brian Halpin, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 557326m, N 635334m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.467779, -8.628037
BGE 3/75/4
Topsoil-stripping of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West in Rathcannon townland, Co. Limerick, uncovered a single pit measuring 1.12m east–west by 0.61m. The cut was sub-oval with a shallow and generally flat base. It had two fills. The upper was dark grey, silty clay with minor amounts of charcoal and sandstone; the lower was a brown/grey silty clay that was very rich in charcoal. There was no indication of in situ burning in the feature.
BGE 3/75/5
Topsoil-stripping in the same townland uncovered two shallow pits. They were not associated with any other features. The pits were next to each other and aligned north–south. Both were subcircular and exhibited a gradual U-shaped cut in the yellow/orange boulder clay. They measured 1.4m east–west by 1.2m–1.5m. The fills were an almost identical, charcoal-rich, silty, sandy clay with burnt and heat-shattered sandstone. This is indicative of the fill of a fulacht fiadh, in which the local landscape is rich.
It is not known whether these pits were purposely dug or natural depressions. There was no evidence of in situ burning.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
