Fulacht fia in Leshemstown

Archaeological centre-line testing (04E0480) by T. O’Neill at Testing Area 18 prior to the construction of the M3 motorway identified a spread of burnt mound material (excavations.ie: 2004:1282) that was fully excavated (E003047) by H. Schweitzer (excavations.ie 2006:1598) as Leshemstown 1 in January 2006. A large spread of broken and burnt stone (dims c. 9m E-W; c. 8m N-S; T 0.05-0.2m) and several smaller related spreads are related to a subrectangular trough (dims 1.96m x 1.58m; max. D 0.52m) filled with five fills, largely the same mix of burnt stone as the mound, some pits and a metaled surface. There was no lining in the trough but a sample of alder charcoal from a primary fill yielded a C14 date of 2130-1890 cal. BC. Seven pits (dims 0.5-0.55m; D 0.04m to 1.17m x 1.02m; D 0.22m), largely to the W of the trough are filled with the burnt mound material, and five intercutting pits 2.2m SW of the trough are filled with silty clays with varying amounts of burnt stone. The largest pits (dims 2.4m x 1.1m; max. D 0.47m: 2.3m x 0.94m; D 0.32m) were E of the trough and are associated with a metaled surface (dims 1.7m N-S; 1.6m E-W) just to their S. A sample of elm charcoal from one of the pits produced a C14 date of 1970-1740 cal. BC. A few flints were the only artefacts recovered. (Schweitzer and Ginn 2008) See the attached plan from Schweitzer and Ginn (2008, fig. 8) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 December 2021 O’Neill, T. 2004 M3 Clonee - North of Kells, Contract 1 Clonee – Dunshaughlin. Final Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 18, Leshemstown, County Meath. Licence: 04E0480. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services