County: Westmeath Site name: Newdown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1666
Author: Avril Hayes, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick.
Site type: Fulachta fiadh
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 651980m, N 749881m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.496366, -7.216593
This site at Newdown, Mullingar, was identified during centre-line testing by Frank Coyne of the N4 road improvements from McNead’s Bridge to Kinnegad, Co. Westmeath (No. 1984 above, 03E1469). It consisted of two areas of burnt-mound material, located 15m apart. Fulacht A, located to the east of Fulacht B, consisted of a roughly circular deposit of burnt stone, c. 12m in diameter. The trough of Fulacht A was located to the north-east of the deposit. It consisted of a rectangular fill which overlay a series of fragmentary and decayed timbers. The timbers lined the sides of a shallow rectangular cut. Fulacht B was an irregularly shaped deposit, 12m north-south by 7m. As with Fulacht A, the trough for Fulacht B was located to the north-east of the deposit. The trough was oval in shape and, upon excavation of the charcoal-rich fill, nine decayed stake-holes were noted lining the basal edge of the cut.
