Fulacht fia in Ballymore (scarawalsh By.)

Identified in centre-line testing (E4110) in advance of the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy road scheme and set aside for resolution as Ballymore 1 (Hardy et al. 2010, 47-8). It is situated on a gentle NW-facing slope at the bottom of Carrigroe Hill. It was excavated (E4265) by Y. Whitty as a rectangular pit or trough (dims 2.1m NE-SW; 1.9m BW-SE; D 0.4m) with a flat base covered in a black sandy silt with pebbles and two upper fills with no burnt stone material. A rectangular pit (dims 1.8m NW-SE; 0.84m NE-SW; D 0.14m) 2.5m to the SE was filled with a silty sand that had some burnt stone and charcoal. Three small pits (dims 0.85m x 0.6m; D 0.3m: 1.1m x 0.9m; D 0.3m: 0.3m x 0.26m; D 0.16m), the first with a post-hole in its base, extended S of this pit (L 5m). A linear feature with rounded edges (L 1.25m; Wth 0.5m; D 0.23m) just W of this line had traces of burnt stone material, and there was a layer (dims 5.3m E-W; 1.2m N-S; T 0.05m) containing burnt stone c. 8-11m SE of the first, most likely, trough. The features probably represent the remains of a severely truncated fulacht fia. Samples from the possible trough and from the post-hole produced C 14 dates of cal. BC 1112-906 and cal. BC 969-848 respectively. (McNamara 2012; Whitty 2013) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 26 November, 2013