What is recorded here

Fulacht fia means cooking or bathing with heated stones, and this is one of their scattered markers across Ireland. Reenturk is no exception. The field still holds a shallow crescent, barely visible unless rain strips the soil or someone digs there. Stones cracked by heat and darkened earth remain buried beneath the grass. People may have gathered water, heated rock and poured it back to steam or cook. They may have sat beside the pit at dusk, listening for the sound of water striking hot stone. The place no longer needs explanation. It waits for someone to remember that heat and water can transform ordinary life.

This site was identified approximately 20m south of the northern field boundary and approximately 50m east of the western boundary. A shallow layer (0.20m) of burnt soil and stone was revealed in both the north and south face of a drain. The spoil from this section of the drain was examined; it too contained burnt soil, heat fractured stones and small quantities of charcoal. The drain appears to have cut through the most northerly section of a low mound (max. height 0.25m) which extends 5.4m further south and 7.4m long. This mound, while difficult to trace, appears to conform to the classical horse-shoe shaped mound which one associates with fulacht fia. Compiled by: Úna Cosgrove Date of upload: 04 October 2013

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.