2008:181 - Cappagh, Cork

A fulacht fiadh and an isolated pit were uncovered by Máire Ní Loingsigh in 2006 (Excavations 2006, No. 286) during test-trenching in a greenfield site on the western outskirts of Kinsale town. A grant of planning was subsequently issued for the proposed development of a housing scheme and the licence was transferred to the writer in order to undertake a full excavation of the identified features.
The levelled fulacht fiadh in the west end of the development site was found to have been truncated by a water pipe, land drains, furrows and a former field boundary. The burnt spread measured 9.6m north–south by 6.7m wide and ranged between 0.02m deep at the outer edges to 0.38m deep near the centre where it overlay the truncated remains of a rectangular trough cut. The south and west sides of the trough had been removed by a modern water pipe trench and its surviving extent measured 2.4m east–west by 0.5m wide and 0.5m deep. There were no traces of any lining material in the trough and it was filled with a number of distinct lenses of charcoal-enriched deposits. The surface of the glacial till adjacent to the east end of the trough was scorched over an area measuring 0.83m north–south by 0.6m wide. This was interpreted as the basal remains of the hearth used to heat the stones which were then raked into the adjacent trough. A number of tree pits extended north–south through the centre of the excavation area and appeared to be associated with a former tree-lined field boundary shown in this area on the first-edition map.
The isolated pit in the east end of the development site was cut into the glacial till and measured 0.7m east–west by 0.34m wide and 0.25m deep. The concave sides of the pit and the rounded base were scorched, indicating in situ burning. The pit fill was composed of a mixture of plough soil and burnt clay and contained occasional charcoal flecks but no artefacts. There were no associated archaeological features identified in the vicinity of the pit.