County: Westmeath Site name: WILLIAMSTOWN (BGE 1B/97/3)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0361
Author: Bernice Molloy, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 656218m, N 759287m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.580452, -7.151041
The fulacht fiadh at Williamstown was on a gentle east-facing slope. The ground rose again to the west and north. There was a stream downhill c. 60m to the west. The site, bounded to the north by the construction haul road, ran under the stockpile to the south and beyond the southern limit of excavation.
The burnt mound was in a gentle arc to the west of the trough. One deposit of burnt stone was visible within the mound. The mound measured 10m (north–south) by 2.5m but had been disturbed and truncated, probably by agricultural activity. It was better preserved at the southern end, where it was 0.3m deep. It decreased in depth to 0.05m toward the north. It was composed of fire-cracked limestone and sandstone in a friable, dark, sandy clay. There were also occasional inclusions of charcoal. The mound was truncated to the west by a modern linear land drain.
The trough was directly east of the burnt-mound material. It was rectangular, measuring 2.8m (north-east/south-west) by 1.4m, and was 0.25m deep. It widened to 1.5m toward the south-west, where there were four stake-holes cut into the base. A small, shallow pit to the south of the trough was filled with burnt stone. No artefacts were retrieved from this site.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
