County: Kerry Site name: CAMP 5
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E004318
Author: Tony Bartlett
Site type: Fulacht fiadh and post-medieval brick production
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 469575m, N 609405m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.220938, -9.908916
Excavations were undertaken at Camp 5 on behalf of Kerry County Council as part of Stage (iii) of the Archaeological Services Contract prior to the commencement of construction of the N22 Tralee Bypass/Tralee to Bealagrellagh, which extends from Lissatanvally townland to Flemby townland.
A total area of 950m² was exposed, revealing two phases of activity. The Phase I features seem to have been related to fulacht fiadh activity, while Phase II was associated with the production of bricks.
Phase I
The earliest activity at Camp 5 was represented by a subrectangular trough, measuring 2m (north–south) by 1.6m by 0.7m in depth. It had a timber lining at its base, consisting of approximately sixteen planks aligned north-west/south-east at the northern end of the trough cut. The planks were lying directly on gravel natural.
Two timbers against the sides of the trough may be the last remnants of timbers lining the sides of the feature. In situ wooden stakes were identified at the four corners of the trough. Overlying the timber lining was the basal fill, which consisted of dark brownish-grey clayey silt. The upper fill comprised light orangey-yellow clayey silt.
A hearth extending from the upper edge of the south-east corner of the trough displayed extensive evidence of burning in situ. This oxidisation was irregularly shaped and was mid-reddish orange in colour; it measured 1.25m in length by 0.9m in width.
A number of stake-holes directly truncated this oxidised subsoil and a large number of stake-holes were found immediately surrounding it. Most of these features seem to have been arranged in a north-west/south-east-aligned linear pattern to the south-east of the trough and hearth. All of the stake-holes were filled with the burnt mound deposit.
A second smaller area of in situ burning was identified to the south of the trough. This measured 0.8m long by 0.3m wide.
Overlying the upper fill of the trough, hearth and most of the stake-holes was the oval burnt mound, measuring 10.1m in length, 6.2m in width and a maximum of 0.22m in depth. This comprised greyish-black silty clay, containing very frequent charcoal and heat-shattered stones.
Phase II
A second phase of activity was identified to the west of the burnt mound, where a post-medieval pit was identified. It measured 5.2m long by 1.8m wide by 0.32m deep and contained bright orange, firmly compacted silty clay with occasional inclusions of charcoal and small stones, as well as fragments of brick. This material is likely to be debris from a nearby brick kiln.
A number of late post-medieval stone-lined drains were noted on the site, some of which truncated the mound.
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