Fulacht fia in Fermoy — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Heat-shattered stones and charcoal still mark the rectangular trough where Early Iron Age people boiled water or cooked food near Fermoy. Oak fragments line its base, suggesting a timber box set into the earth rather than a rough stone pit. The bypass works revealed the mound in 2004, but the shape preserves an older rhythm of fire, water and repeated use.

This fulacht fia was excavated in 2004 in advance of the construction of the N8 Rathcormac-Fermoy Bypass. It consisted of a shallow heavily disturbed mound (c. 15m N-S; 12.5m E-W) of heat-shattered stones and charcoal-enriched soil underneath which was a rectangular trough (2.8m x 2.2m; D 0.6m). The presence of oak fragments in the base of the trough suggests that it may have been timber-lined originally. Two post-holes and a subrectangular pit (0.65m x 0.45m; D 0.2m) were found in close proximity to the trough. The fulacht fia was radiocarbon-dated to cal. BC 384-203 (UB-6834), an early Iron Age date. A second associated circular pit (1.5m x 1.4m; D 0.35m), filled with clay containing burnt stone and charcoal, was located c. 15m to the E of the fulacht fia. (Sutton 2006a, 1-27; 2007e, 58) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009

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