County: Meath Site name: RATHMULLAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E1212
Author: Melanie McQuade, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 706405m, N 774460m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.708975, -6.388235
Monitoring was carried out on a development site located to the west of Drogheda in the townland of Rathmullan, Co. Meath, between 23 August and 30 September 2004. The site covered an area of c. 285m by 270m. A 19th-century field boundary and post-medieval drains were uncovered. Three pieces of worked flint were recovered from ploughsoil and the ploughed-out remains of a fulacht fiadh were uncovered towards the base of a low north-facing slope on the south of the site. The fulacht fiadh was excavated and three phases of activity were identified.
During the first phase a trough was excavated. This was a subrectangular pit (2.04m long and 0.8–1.02m wide) aligned roughly north-south. In the north-east of the trough were three stake-holes. These had diameters of 50–70mm and were 60–130mm long. No corresponding stake-holes were identified on the west of the trough. Their function is not clear. It is possible that they may have been part of a wooden structure or lining of the trough.
Phase 2 saw the use of the trough for heating water and the accumulation of a mound of burnt material. No evidence was uncovered for a hearth, but the mound comprised a deposit of charcoal-stained clay with much burnt stone (3.3m by 2.6m). It was a maximum of 50mm deep and lay directly on top of natural subsoil. The mound material was flanked to the north-east and north-west by spreads of light-grey silty clay with burnt stone.
In the third phase of activity a drain was cut through the mound.
No finds were recovered from the excavation. The results of specialist studies and radiocarbon analysis of the archaeological material are awaited.
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