County: Kildare Site name: KILGOWAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002886
Author: Liam Hackett, Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 683098m, N 704130m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.081311, -6.759673
This site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme, Phase 3: Kilcullen to Carlow. This revealed a fulacht fiadh consisting of the remains of a burnt mound, a trough and associated pits and later modern curvilinear drainage gullies and ditches. An artificially directed stream was adjacent to the site, which was used to direct water to a small mill that was in use in the early 20th century on a nearby farm. The edge of the original stream course was visible within the east edge of the site and was marked in the adjacent fields as a slight linear depression.
The burnt mound had an irregular shape in plan and measured 9.5m by 9m and 0.25m deep. It consisted of black silty clay with heat-shattered sandstone and charcoal. Two isolated spreads of burnt material were found to the east of the burnt mound overlying silt deposits contained within the old stream course and close to the present day stream.
Underlying the burnt mound was a subrectangular-shaped trough that measured 2.1m north–south by 1.7m and 0.6m deep with gradual to sharp sides and a flat base that was truncated by an oval-shaped arrangement of twelve stakes. Eleven individual elements of timber were also recovered from the trough, suggesting it was originally wood lined. A number of other pits were also excavated on site that contained burnt-mound material and so are likely to relate to the burnt-mound activity occurring on this site. No finds were recovered from the excavation. Post-excavation work is ongoing.
Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork
