Furnace in Mullagh

On a low hill in undulating pasture. A bowl-shaped iron-smelting furnace was identified in 2008 during archaeological test-trenching (Excavation Licence no. 08E0861) on the proposed route of the N5 Longford bypass (Hull 2009, 6). The furnace was characterised by red oxidised clay, frequent charcoal inclusions, iron slag and fuel ash, with an associated circular bowl-shaped pit. Charcoal from the furnace was submitted for radiocarbon dating and produced dates of 409-386 BC. Subsequent excavations (Excavation Licence No. 09E0311) in the following year (Stephens 2009a) revealed that the furnace was almost circular in plan (0.66m x 0.63m; D 0.65m) and U-shaped in profile with a short linear extension on its NE side which was interpreted as a flue. A subcircular pit (0.85m x 0.63m; D 0.28m) lay 0.72m to the N of the furnace while there was a post-hole (0.4m x 0.33m; D 0.19) to the E. (pers. comm. M. Stephens) The attached image is uploaded courtesy of M. Stephens. Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan Date of upload: 19 September 2013