County: Galway Site name: Mountkelly
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 19E0103
Author: Fiona Rooney
Site type: Fulacht fiadh
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 563952m, N 762139m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.607849, -8.544710
Monitoring was carried out in the townland of Mountkelly, to the north-east of Glenamaddy, Co. Galway. A burnt mound was revealed during the course of the monitoring. It measured 13m x 8m and consisted of a roughly horseshoe-shaped mound of typical fulacht fiadh material. It varied in depth (0.65m max.) and comprised of heat-shattered stones and loose black organic soil with moderate inclusions of charcoal. Excavations in the east quadrant revealed an area of compacted burnt stone, clay and charred wood with metal residues (0.45m in depth). Residual analysis of this material identified it to be typical in appearance of natural mottle bog iron ores. Species identification of the charcoal samples identified all to be oak, not suitable for dating.
Three cut features were revealed below the mound, cutting into the natural. One of the cuts was keyhole shaped and measured 4.1m in length, 2.05m in width and with a depth of 0.42m.
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