Fulacht fia in Ballymacaward

Testing was carried out by Angela Wallace of Connacht Archaeological Services under licence No. 08E0679 in advance of development for a single dwelling house with associated access route, septic tank, and percolation area at Ballymacaward, Ballyshannon. There are two archaeological sites in the immediate vicinity of the development, DG107–039----, an enclosure immediately east of the site on the other side of the road, and DG107–038----, an enclosure located c. 70m north of the site. A total of six trenches were excavated across the footprint of the development. Trenches 1–3 were excavated within the footprint of the proposed dwelling, Trenches 4 and 5 were located along the access route into the dwelling and Trench 6 was located at the proposed entrance-way and was excavated roughly parallel to the existing field boundary. No archaeological material was encountered in Trenches 1–5. One area of archaeological potential was identified in Trench 6. The burnt stone and charcoal identified in this trench is typical of deposits associated with burnt spreads or fulachta fiadh dating from the Bronze Age. This site type is typically located within marshy ground close to a stream as is the case at this site. It was recommended that the proposed access route for this development be moved c. 30–40m further north-west in order to avoid impact on this site. A further phase of testing was carried out on the revised access route, no further archaeological material was exposed. The area identified in Trench 6 was fenced off and excluded from development (Bennett 2011, 83). Compiled by Caimin O'Brien Date of upload/revision: 21 November 2011