County: Westmeath Site name: DALYSTOWN(1B/68/3)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0774
Author: Bernice Molloy, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 641027m, N 743179m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.437112, -7.382539
This site was part of a complex of sites that extended along a 500m stretch of the pipeline corridor (including Nos 1854, 1855 and 1857, Excavations 2002). It was at the base of the gradual south-facing slope of a low gravel hill. The land rose immediately to the north, and the site appeared to be in a natural hollow or valley between two hills. Farther west, the ground became wetter and the pipeline passed through a tract of boggy, marshy land.
Two distinctly different areas of burnt stone spreads were visible, oriented east–west along the pipeline corridor. Two phases of activity were identified during excavation. Phase I consisted of features sealed by the mound, including two troughs, a linear gully and in situ burning that may constitute the remains of a hearth. Phase II was the two mounds. Mound I measured 7m (north–south) by 6.7m and was 0.27m in maximum depth. It consisted of one level of burnt angular limestone in a compact, blackish, silty clay, very similar in composition to the burnt-mound deposit to the west. One piece of animal bone was recovered from this deposit. Mound II, to the west of Mound I, was more substantial. It measured 13.6m (east–west) by 11.1m and was 0.72m in maximum depth. Several bands of burnt stone were visible in section. The size and depth of the mounds suggest that this site was in use for a long period.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
