What is recorded here

Thirty-three square metres of charcoal and hot stone still mark the marsh south of Rathmore, preserved inside a narrow drain rather than buried under soil. The V-shaped cut exposes opposing faces of burnt material, suggesting the fulacht fia survived because people kept digging water instead of ploughing the sacred heat. What was cooked there may have fed a wedding, a war camp or a winter assembly, but the stones refuse to forget the temperature they once held.

In level marshy grazing land, to the S of Rathmore. Burnt material (L 12m; D 0.7m) is exposed on opposing faces of a N-S V-shaped drain. A spread (20m N-S; 18m E-W) of burnt material intermixed with spoil is evident on the uneven surface of the W side of the drain and another (20m N-S; 4m E-W) on the E side. This is probably the fulacht fia measuring '400 sq. yds [334.4 sq. m]' which was recorded in the 1940s in Daniel O' Keeffe's land but from which material was 'drawn onto the road' (Schools Manuscript, Co. Kerry). Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork. Date of upload: 31 January 2011

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