County: Mayo Site name: DRUMSHINNAGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E1056
Author: Bernard Guinan, Coosan, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.
Site type: Fulachta fiadh
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 541008m, N 801415m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.958677, -8.898869
Two spreads of burnt sandstone c. 2m apart were discovered in Drumshinnagh, Castlebar, at the edge of an area of deep peat. The area was reclaimed in the recent past disturbing the upper levels of the two sites. These sites were discovered during monitoring of topsoil removal as part of the Newport road realignment scheme, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, under licence 05E0699 (see No. 1129 below). These sites are referred to as Drumshinnagh I and II and were excavated in the summer of 2005.
Drumshinnagh I was an irregular spread of compact, heat-fractured sandstone within a charcoal matrix. It measured c. 6.65m north–south by 3.43m. The site survived to a maximum depth of 0.43m. Stratigraphically the heat-shattered sandstone rested on a deposit of dark-brown peat to the west. All strata rested directly on a natural deposit of light-grey, silty sand.
Drumshinnagh II was situated immediately south of Drumshinnagh I. The surviving deposits of charcoal-rich heat-fractured sandstone were very irregular in shape and very shallow (0.08m). It measured 6.3m north–south by 1.88m. Peat underlay the western side of the site which in turn rested on the silty sand. An unlined trough/boiling pit survived at the centre of the remaining mound cut into the underlying natural. The steep-sided cut was well defined on three sides only and the base was flat. It measured 1.8m east–west by 1.25m, with a maximum depth of 0.28m. The pit contained a thin layer of burnt sandstone c. 0.03m deep.
