What is recorded here

Charcoal pits at Cappakeel reveal hands that turned wood into black powder for knives, dye or ritual. They dug shallow rectangular holes, packed them with branching material, burned them without air and scraped the residue into crates. The M7 works exposed the pattern, but the pattern belongs to people who understood transformation. Charcoal making is not destruction. It is negotiation with fire, patience with loss, and trust that what disappears can return changed.

New monument uncovered during excavation by Ros O Maolduin under licence number 03E0633 in advance of the M7 Heath-Mayfield motorway scheme. The excavation at site F at Cappakeel townland revealed a prehistoric ring-ditch (LA009-050), a linear ditch (LA009-051) of medieval date and a series of charcoal production pits. A large number of pits following a discernible pattern and interpreted as charcoal-production pits were uncovered. They were all subrectangular, measuring 2m by 1m, were quite shallow, packed with charcoal, and portrayed evidence of intense burning in situ (Bennett 2006, 289). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 December 2007

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