County: Kerry Site name: BALLINGOWAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1716
Author: Laurence Dunne, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 486691m, N 613887m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.264998, -9.660033
A fulacht fiadh was recorded during monitoring of topsoil removal at the site compound associated with work on the N21 from Tralee to Ballycarty. It consisted of an irregularly shaped spread of black, silty, charcoal-rich material that contained 40% heatshattered and reddened sandstone and occasional charcoal lumps. It measured 6.3m north–south by 4.2m by 0.3m deep. The spread was situated on the side of a natural hollow which measured c. 3m in diameter by 0.5m deep and had a more pronounced slope on the eastern side, where the fulacht fiadh was located, than on the western side. This natural hollow may have been an old streambed.
A trough, oval in plan, was positioned on the side of the hollow on sloping ground. It measured 2.4m east–west by 0.9m by 0.32m deep and had a sharp break of slope at the top and a gradual break of slope at the base. As it was located on a slope, the base of the trough was sharply inclined from east to west. The shallow nature of the trough and its position on sloping ground means that it could not have been used to contain much water, as the water would simply have flowed out again at the lower, western end.
3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry
