County: Kerry Site name: KILMANIHEEN WEST (Site AR04)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0974
Author: Kate Taylor, TVAS Ireland Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 508467m, N 622209m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.343838, -9.343372
A small fulacht fiadh was represented by a low mound of burnt stone around an oval trough on the N21 Castleisland–Abbeyfeale road improvement scheme. The crescent-shaped mound was made from mainly heat-shattered sandstone, measured 5.9m by 3.95m and was up to 0.3m thick. The unlined trough measured 1.7m by 1.15m and survived to a depth of 0.32m. The main fill of the trough was large sandstone pieces and these may indicate the last use of the monument.
A small circular pit, possibly an earlier trough, was also excavated beneath the stone deposit. The pit measured 0.85m by 0.8m and was 0.38m deep with steep sides and a concave base.
A sequence of peat and alluvium layers filled the top of the trough and overlay the burnt stone. These layers probably formed naturally following the abandonment of the burnt mound.
Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare
