What is recorded here

Half a metre of fire-cracked sandstone still lies buried in the Nore floodplain, the ghost of a boiling pit that once hissed steam into the Kilkenny air. People may have gathered there to cook meat, cleanse tools or share heat, their hands red from carrying stones out of flaming hearths before plunging them into water. The plough cut through the mound and scattered the rest, yet the crushed rock and charcoal remain waiting for rain.

Within the western flood-plain of the River Nore, with undulating farmland and patches of reclaimed boggy ground. This fulacht fia was revealed during archaeological monitoring of a Bord Gáis Éireann gas pipeline development and was subsequently excavated in August 1999 (Stevens 2000, 151; Licence no. 99E0599). It consisted of a partially exposed spread (dims. 8.5m x 6m; D 0.2m) of fire-cracked sandstone and charcoal-rich, silty sand, representing part of a denuded fulacht fia. The mound was heavily truncated by later ploughing. Two large areas of burnt soil lay to the E of the mound and were interpreted as an informal circular hearth (dims. 3.5m x 3m; D 0.1m) and a second hearth and platform area, for heating stones to use in the fulacht fia. The platform and hearth contained several dump deposits of pink ash, white ash and an irregular, disturbed limestone and sandstone spread (dims. 12m x 6m; D 0.22m). (Stevens 2000, 151) Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 31 July 2018

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