Fulacht fia in Woodstown — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Woodstown holds a twelve-metre disc of shattered stone and charcoal where hot water once crashed against rock. Men may have cooked flesh, cleaned weapons or drowned a name in that foam. The ring road nearly erased the dish, but excavation recovered the heat and the dark soil memory.

In a slight depression, on the flood plain of the Mulkear River. Identified during monitoring of topsoil removal prior to the construction of the Southern Limerick Ring-Road. Excavated (Licence No. 01E0762) by Michael Connolly in 2001. A shallow burnt spread (diam. 12m) consisting of heat-shattered stone and charcoal mixed with boulder clay and topsoil. This material is very disturbed and it was difficult to determine if it was in-situ. The same material has been used to backfill a number of land drains uncovered across the excavation area (ibid). The recovery of some small fragments of cremated bone within the burnt material may suggest a function other than that of a fulacht fiadh (Connolly 2003, 245-6). See attached plan extract from excavation report (Connolly 2001). Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 1 July 2020

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