Fulacht fia in Kiltenan North — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Half a kilometre from the Clonshire River, a boggy field hid at least three fulacht fia, their heat scattered through shallow land like forgotten embers. One mound stretched fourteen and a half metres, its tail crossing into the pipeline route as a thin ribbon of burnt stone. Men digging for a gas line cut through that ribbon and found dark clay choked with limestone, charcoal flecks and the compressed residue of repeated fire. The trough was gone, but the field still smelled of patience: water heated, stone struck, meat or tools made ready, and the whole ceremony buried beneath grass.

Excavated by Graham Hull (02E0664) 'as part of Bord Gáis Éireann's Pipeline to the West. It lay on flattish land that had previously been shallow bog. The land in the immediate vicinity sloped gently downward to the north-west. The Clonshire River lay 75m to the south-east. Between the site and the river was a boggy field that contained at least three fulachta fiadh. The tail of one of these mounds extended onto the easement and survived as a thin, discontinuous spread of burnt stone, and a thicker deposit of the same material was visible in section adjacent to the fence-line. The fulacht fiadh lay mostly in the adjacent field; it was roughly oval, measuring c. 14.5m (east-west), and would have been c. 7m wide. The section examined was 6.5m long and had a maximum thickness of 0.12m. The fulacht material was a dark brown/black, sandy clay with as much as 50% burnt limestone. Charcoal flecking was also observed. A layer of old topsoil was recorded between deposits of fulacht material. No evidence of a trough was visible, either in the recorded section or in the main body of the mound in the neighbouring field.' This description is posted on the web at the following internet address (accessed 3 August 2012): http://www.excavations.ie/ Compiled by: Denis Power Date of Upload: 8 August 2012

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