What is recorded here

Hot stones, lifted from the hearth with long wooden tongs, fell into the oak trough and hissed until the water boiled without a flame. People gathered there to cook, clean or celebrate, trusting the rhythm of heat and steam rather than a steady fire. The quarry has since buried the pit under rubble, but the wooden groove and rough planks still suggest a place where ordinary days became sharp with purpose.

In stone quarry at Carrigcleena. According to local information, formerly in scrubland but now covered by rubble from quarry; inaccessible. Shown on 1938 OS 6-inch map as mound. Possibly this is fulacht fiadh investigated in 1853 by South Munster Antiquarian Society led by John Windele (Coleman 1893, 262-3). Investigation revealed wooden trough 'composed of planks, eight in number, four of which formed the sides and ends and four the bottom. Its dimensions were six feet long, four wide and two deep and the workmanship such as might have been effected with stone-axes, with no nails of any kind. A rude groove at each end of both sides received the cross planks which formed the ends, and through the middle of the bottom, a rough wooden bar, somewhat rounded, penetrated into the marl beneath. The outside of the planks were nearly as rough as when felled from their native oak-forest.' (ibid.). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

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