2009:083 - ROSEHILL, Cavan

Topsoil stripping along a corridor 1.35km long and between 5m and 17m wide was monitored prior to the insertion of an upgraded gas pipe. A fulacht fiadh was identified on a low-lying area of wet ground in the townland of Rosehill and was subsequently excavated.
The fulacht fiadh was constructed on a deposit of grey silt (F4) that lay directly over the natural subsoil. Water for the site was probably sourced from a former stream, indicated by a spread of silty soil overlying river gravels c. 2m to the north-west of the fulacht fiadh.
A large trough, 1.6m by 1.4m, was cut into F4 on the south-east end of the site. It was 0.45m deep and had a U-shaped profile. Overflow was carried by a shallow linear channel, 0.46m long by 0.18m wide and 0.22m deep, that led westwards from the trough. After it went out of use, the trough was backfilled with friable, black, charcoal-rich silty clay with a high frequency of fire-cracked sandstone. There was a small oval pit c. 1.9m to the north-west of the trough. The pit measured 1.1m by 0.7m and was 0.26m deep with a U-shaped profile. It was filled by mid-grey silty clay which had regular inclusions of limestone and contained occasional fire-cracked sandstone pieces and a few very small fragments of bone. The bone had been burnt white but was too heavily fragmented to be identified to species or anatomical elements. There was no evidence for a hearth on the site, although a fire would have been lit somewhere near the trough in order to heat the stone. It is possible that a raised hearth, which would leave little or no archaeological remains, may have been used.
The burnt mound, which had been levelled and truncated by subsequent activity on site, measured 4.5m by 3.4m and extended over the location of the trough. It comprised black charcoal-rich silty clay with regular inclusions of fire-cracked stone and was 0.18m deep.
No finds were recovered during excavation and dating awaits the results of radiocarbon analysis.