County: Roscommon Site name: CURRINAH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A020/059, E3355
Author: Agnes Kerrigan, for Mayo County Council
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 557208m, N 798972m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.938314, -8.651710
Excavation was undertaken on this site on 9–28 June 2006. The site was newly identified during centreline testing (A020/003) and was fully excavated in advance of the construction of the N5 Charlestown bypass. The site was located at an altitude of 111.95m OD and was situated in a peat basin. The mound measured 8.4m east–west by 3.8m by 0.2–0.33m thick. It had an irregular shape, with a peat-filled central depression marking the area of the trough. The mound consisted of a moderately compact mid-greyish-black peaty silt with frequent inclusions of heat-affected stones and fragments of charcoal.
A wood- and stone-lined rectangular trough was identified under the mound material cut into the underlying peat. It had external dimensions of 1.7m north–south by 0.9–0.7m by 0.2m deep. It consisted of a base and three wooden sides, with the south side constructed using a large flat stone. The trough had a single fill, a friable dark-brown peat with frequent inclusions of heat-affected angular stones.
The base was constructed of brushwood timbers, most with intact bark and some with worked ends. These were orientated north–south and were 35–50mm in diameter and 1.3–1.8m long. A total of eighteen lengths were identified.
A notable feature on the southern half of the trough was the different construction of the base, with split roundwoods set perpendicular to the brushwood. These timbers were on average 0.72–0.08m long and 0.05–0.08m in diameter. All of the sides were kept in place by carefully arranged stakes, which were placed either on the interior or exterior of the corners of the trough or along the middle of the east and west sides. On removal of the horizontal timbers, additional stakes were found within the sides. The side timbers were a mixture of brushwood and split roundwoods. Two wooden stakes supported the southern end stone in its slanted position. The sides of the trough on the east and west had some doubling of timbers, which were separated by moss lining. Two stakes directly opposite each other on the external east and west sides at a distance of about 0.4m from the sides do appear structural. A sandy residue was noted at the base of the structure, possibly the residue of heating and cracking stone in the water of the trough when in use. It was a loose greyish fine sand.
Drummin, Westport, Co. Mayo
