County: Kildare Site name: BALLYFARSOON
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KD026-023---- Licence number: 03E0571
Author: Eamonn Cotter, for V.J. Keeley Lt.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 664258m, N 708483m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.123017, -7.039970
This site was excavated on the route of the M7 Heath–Mayfield road scheme. It had not been previously recorded and was discovered during testing along the road corridor. Excavations were carried out from 14 to 29 April 2003.
The site was initially identified as a spread of burnt, blackened stone, located on the edge of a wet, marshy area. Topsoil was removed by mechanical digger, revealing the extent of the burnt mound, c. 10m north–south by 7m. The maximum depth of the mound, near the centre, was 0.3m, and it thinned out towards the edges. Below the mound, on its east side, was a rectangular trough measuring 2m long (east–west) and 0.6m deep. It was 1m wide at the centre and 0.6m wide at each end. It had two fills, an upper layer of burnt stone and charcoal-rich silt similar to the burnt mound, and a lower layer of dense silt with a small amount of broken stone. Several groups of stake-holes around the west end of the trough indicate the presence of a light structure in this area. The stake-holes were on average 0.05m in diameter and ranged in depth from 0.06 to 0.18m.
Another group of similar stake-holes was found immediately east of the trough and to the east of these a second trough was uncovered. This was subcircular in plan and measured 2.8m by 1.8m by 0.6m deep. Its fill was very different to that of the first trough, comprised principally of a blue/grey clay with some burnt stone.
Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny
