County: Mayo Site name: MULLENMADOGE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A020/011, E3337
Author: Richard F. Gillespie, for Mayo County Council
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 543151m, N 799840m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.944760, -8.865933
This site was excavated between 27 June and 8 July 2005. It was newly identified during centreline testing (A020/003) and was fully excavated in advance of the construction of the N5 Charlestown bypass. It consisted of a roughly horseshoe-shaped spread of burnt stone and charcoal, which had maximum dimensions of 7m by 13m by 0.2m thick. It was the base of a fulacht fiadh mound, which had been truncated from above during land reclamation. It rested on natural boulder clay in undulating pastureland at 87m OD.
A hollow in the centre of the mound overlay a trough, which was cut into the boulder clay. The trough was filled with burnt stone and charcoal, with an upper fill of charcoal-flecked silt. The burnt stone within the fill included larger stones than elsewhere in the mound. The trough cut had steep sides, which measured 2.5m east–west by 1.85m by 0.54m deep. It was rectangular in plan, with the corners slightly rounded towards the top. The cut included a slight step to the east. There were four stake-holes present at the corners of the base of this trough, which would probably have been used to support plank-built sides. They had an average diameter of 0.07m and were 0.1–0.2m deep.
This was a fulacht fiadh with evidence for a lined trough, which was probably used for cooking in the Bronze Age.
Westport Road, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
