County: Kerry Site name: Railway Road, Dromneavane, Kenmare
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0678
Author: Linda G. Lynch, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 32 Nicolas Street, Kings Island, Limerick.
Site type: Two fulachta fiadh
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 491113m, N 571565m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.885615, -9.581769
During monitoring at Railway Road, Dromneavane, Kenmare, Co. Kerry, of the groundworks associated with the construction of a Cara housing scheme, two mounds of heat-shattered stones or fulachta fiadh were uncovered. Fulacht fiadh 1 was located 40m to the north-east of fulacht fiadh 2. Some fire-cracked stone was also noted in the topsoil at the northern side of the site, but this was not associated with any nearby feature and appeared to be residual.
The two fulachta fiadh excavated at Dromneavane are classic forms of the site type. Fulacht fiadh 1 measured 4.9m north–south by 7.2m and a maximum of 0.28m in height. The northern edge of the mound was truncated by a later stone-lined drain. A subrectangular trough measuring 2.05m north–south by 1.3m and 0.25m in depth, with wicker lining of the walls and an internal wicker division, was also excavated. The base of the trough was dug into the compact natural clay and was infilled with slippage from the mound and with peat that developed over the site after it had gone out of use.
Fulacht fiadh 2 measured 6.4m north–south by 4.64m and a maximum of 0.26m in height, with a later large stone-lined drain running by the south-western edge of the mound. A simple unlined circular trough, measuring 1.35m in diameter by 0.45m in depth, was also excavated, with stones from the final use of the trough present in the base. There was evidence of a period of flooding soon after this final use and the pit ultimately filled up with slippage from the surrounding mound material. The upcast from the original digging of both troughs was uncovered, underlying their respective mound material.
Samples of charcoal from individual contexts should be sufficient to provide radiocarbon dates, with assessment of the timbers and peat samples from the two sites providing further information. Based on previously excavated examples, the fulacht fiadh with the unlined circular trough is likely to be earlier than the fulacht with the wicker-lined trough.
