County: Clare Site name: CLAREABBEY (Site AR122)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0032
Author: Kate Taylor, TVAS Ireland Ltd.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 534551m, N 675389m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.825492, -8.971121
Eleven pits and a small spread of burnt stone at a site on the N18 Ennis bypass contained either concentrations of charcoal or heat-affected stone or both. Whilst it is not possible to directly relate all these features, especially given the distribution across the site, it is likely that they all relate to the same kind of activity: the heating of water with fired stones in a similar manner to fulachta fiadh, with the pits perhaps acting as troughs. The natural clay deposits at the northern end of the site were impermeable, meaning that the pits would not require lining in order to hold water. The northern concentration of pits was located at the edge of a low-lying bog and was truncated by a drainage channel, probably a rectified stream, indicating that the location would have been ideal for activities that required fresh water. The presence of a small assemblage of bone at the base of one of the pits perhaps indicates that they were used for cooking or preparation of animal hides.
Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare
