Fulacht fia in Newrath Little

Situated in a slightly undulating landscape. Archaeological testing (04E0914) by S. Delaney (2005) at Testing Area 13 of Contract 4 of the M3 motorway identified (excavations.ie 2004:1306) a spread of burnt stone material on the route of the N52 Kells link-road that was completely excavated (E003154) by Y. Whitty as Newrath Little 2 in December 2006 (excavations.ie 2007:1356). A spread of broken and burnt stone (dims 13.3m NE-SW; 5.7m NW-SE; max. T 0.1m) extended a little outside the excavated area to the NW, but its material also contributed to the fill of three troughs extending S from the mound. A circular trough (diam. 1.47-1.6m; D 0.45m) had steep sides and a flat base with a burnt stone fill. It was connected by a gully (L 1.38m; Wth 0.74m; D 0.16m) extending W to a larger gully (L 4.2m; Wth 1.2m; D 0.2m) extending NW-SE. A circular trough (diam. 1.87-1.9m; D 0.19m) is just S of the S end of this gully. A sample of hazel charcoal from the bottom of this trough provided a C14 date of 2023-1828 cal. BC (UBA 12063). The third subcircular trough (dims 1.84m x 1.4m; D 0.37m) was 3m to the SW and had a clay lining, probably with wood, around its edges. A sample of hazel charcoal from the layer above this with heat-affected stones yielded a C14 date of 1944-1771 cal. BC (UBA 12064). The sample also contained seeds of goosefoot and spurge, weeds of open marginal woodland. In the confined area (dims c. 4m E-W; c. 2m N-S) between the first trough described and the larger gully was a concentration of seven stakeholes, a gully and a small pit (diam. 0.38-0.42m; D 0.11m) that may have formed a temporary structure here. (Whitty 2010) See the attached plan from Whitty (2010, fig. 5) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload; 11 March 2022