County: Mayo Site name: KILDARRA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0967
Author: Bernard Guinan
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 545069m, N 773549m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.708741, -8.832020
During the monitoring of topsoil removal as part of the Lough Mask Regional Water-Supply Scheme, Stage III, under licence 01E0314 (No. 1402, Excavations 2002), two areas of burnt stone were identified at the edge of an area of peat in the townland of Kildarra, Co. Mayo. The sites are referred to as Kildarra A and Kildarra B.
Kildarra A was an irregularly shaped spread of compact, heat-fractured sandstone measuring 5.3m north–south by 2.3m. It was c. 50m north of Kildarra B. The site lay in an area of peat. Two distinct contexts could be distinguished within the burnt stone. The northern end of the site consisted of a thin spread of charcoal with occasional burnt stone inclusions. At the southern end of the site there was a much higher concentration of burnt stone, with very little charcoal. These burnt deposits rested on peat 0.1–0.2m deep.
A number of possibly worked wooden stakes and wood-chips were uncovered at the periphery of the burnt spread during the excavation. In most cases only the base of these survived in the natural boulder clay.
A subcircular cut feature/boiling pit was uncovered in natural boulder clay 1.3m west of the burnt stone spread. The fill consisted of a loose, dark brown peat with a number of heat-shattered stones, as well as some possible wood shavings, two burnt bone fragments and a possible hazelnut shell.
Kildarra B was an area of burnt stone at the edge of a peat deposit at the base of a low-lying hill. An area measuring 3.6m north–south by 7.4m was excavated. The site had been subjected to modern disturbance. The southern and eastern parts of the site were truncated by a field drain, which was filled with a variety of modern household rubbish. This drain measured c. 16m east–west and was 0.6–0.8m deep. It was cut into the natural boulder clay and backfilled with peat. A layer of peat, 0.2–0.6m deep, covered the site.
The site consisted of a thin deposit of angular sandstone fragments within a charcoal matrix and was 0.02–0.1m deep. These stones averaged 0.05–0.1m in diameter. Some occasional chert nodules were also present. This thin layer of burnt-mound material overlay a thin, mid-/dark brown layer of peat, 0.02–0.06m deep, with some charcoal flecking and some degraded root inclusions, which in turn rested on natural boulder clay.
Coosan, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
