Fulacht fia in Rathcobican — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Under the grass at Rathcobican, County Offaly, three broad scars of burnt stone wait beside a ringfort, likely feeding basins where water was boiled over live embers. The earth still holds the heat of that work, preserved in shallow curves and blackened soil rather than grand marble. People may have gathered there to cook, cleanse or mark a boundary, their names lost but their labour written in the landscape.

Test excavation was undertaken by Dominic Delany under licence no. 99E0461, from 30 August to 3 September 1999, before application for planning permission for four detached dwellings. The sites are within the area of constraint around a ringfort that consists of a raised circular platform (diameter 44.8m, height 1m), enclosed by a slight bank largely reduced to a scarp, and an external fosse (width 4m, depth 0.9m). The SMR file for this site also notes that a field system (OF011-017002-) possibly associated with the ringfort exists in the area west and south-west of the monument. The ringfort (OF011-017001-) is 25m from the eastern edge of the proposed development site, which measures 70m north-south by 125m. Three test-trenches were mechanically excavated, 125m long and 1.5m wide, extending east-west across the site. The features encountered were three spreads of burnt material, probably levelled fulachta fiadh, and portion of a circular enclosure, possibly a ring-ditch. Several linear and curvilinear features were also encountered, but it was not clearly established whether these were of archaeological significance. The archaeological features were recorded as follows. A large spread of burnt material (OF011-017004-) was encountered midway along Trench 1. The burnt material directly underlay the sod and had an average thickness of 0.35m, lensing out to 0.05m at the east and west. The eastern edge of the spread is clearly defined by a curvilinear feature, 1.7m wide, and a second curvilinear feature, 1.2m wide, was encountered 22m west of the burnt material. It is possible that the curvilinear features represent the east and west limits of a large circular enclosure (OF011-017005-). A spread of burnt material (12.5m east-west) was encountered close to the east end of Trench 3. The east edge of the spread is defined by a curvilinear feature, 2.4m wide, and a second curvilinear feature, 2m wide, was encountered 25m east of the burnt material. A spread of burnt material (12.5m east-west) was encountered close to the east end of Trench 3. The east edge of the spread is defined by a curvilinear feature, 2.4m wide, and a second curvilinear feature, 2m wide, was encountered 25m east of the burnt material. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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