County: Mayo Site name: Sonnagh
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: A020/030, E3345
Author: Richard F. Gillespie, for Mayo County Council), Westport Road, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Site type: Fulacht fiadh
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 546532m, N 800481m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.950887, -8.814547
This site was excavated between 26 June and 10 July 2006. It was newly identified during centreline testing (A020/003) and was fully excavated in advance of the construction of the N5 Charlestown bypass. It was enveloped in peat adjacent to a stream that had been deepened and straightened. It consisted of a roughly oval-shaped burnt mound, which partly covered a peat cut trough. It was located at 71m OD.
The mound was sub-oval in plan, measuring 10m by 6m, and had a maximum thickness of 0.35m. It consisted of moderately compacted burnt stone in a charcoal-rich peaty matrix interspersed with lenses of peat.
Two charred timbers were uncovered within the west side of the mound. These directly overlay a subcircular trough that had been cut into the peat. The trough measured 2.2m in diameter and had a maximum depth of 0.4m. The sides and base were concave, producing a regular bowl-shaped hollow. There was no evidence for a lining, although one split timber had been placed on the trough base oriented north–south and held in place by two rods, one at each end. These rods had been cut to wedge points, bent over the timber and inserted into the base to secure the base timber.
