Fulacht fia in Quignashee

In a hollow adjacent to a water course, in terrain characterised by drumlins with wet, lowlying areas in between the higher ground. This fulacht fia was excavated (Licence: 05E1201) in November 2005 in advance of Mayo county council road-widening works along a stretch of the N59 (Zajac 2009). The fulacht fia had been greatly damaged in the past: it was truncated on its E edge by the N59 road, on its W edge by a modern land drain, and at SW by another land drain. The patchy, surviving remnants of the burnt mound (c. 12m N-S; max Wth 5.2m at NE) consisted of heat-fractured stones in a dark gritty charcoal-rich soil, with the greatest concentration (c. 1.8m N–S; 2.2m E–W; H 0.7m) at the NE. Underlying the burnt stone, to N of centre, was an unlined, subcircular trough pit (1.2m E–W; 1m N–S; D 0.4-0.6m), somewhat truncated at its NE edge, which was cut into subsoil. It was surrounded by an irregular area of subsoil (1.9m NE–SW; 1.75m NW–SE), interpreted as a possible attempt to enlarge the existing trough area. A circular posthole (diam. 0.1m; D 0.2m) was located 0.4m E of the trough. Small pieces of decayed wood were incorporated into the burnt stones surrounding the trough. A piece of oak wood on the natural subsoil adjacent to the trough appears to have been a tree root. A narrow band of the burnt mound was visible in the section face along the existing road edge, and may continue beneath the road. Also visible towards the N end of this section face, was a pit (0.3m N–S; D 0.25m), with a gently sloping S edge and a steeper N edge, cut into the burnt mound layer. (Zajac 2009). There is a rath (MA030-057----) 300m to W. Attached image provided courtesy of S. Zajac. MA030-106----_01.JPG trough with adjacent post hole, viewed from N Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 25 March 2020