Fulacht fia in Ballynabarny

Situated at the bottom of a slight W-facing slope, on the E bank of the canalised S-N Ballyedmond Stream which is c. 20m to the W, and c. 120m SSE of its confluence with the N-S River Slaney at a point where that river turns SW. It was first identified as two areas of burnt mound material separated by a palaeo-channel in archaeological testing (E004551) of land required for the M11 Motorway (Ruttle 2014, 17-8), and were subsequently excavated (E004563) as Ballynabarny 5. The E mound extended beneath a road bank to its E but is comprised of a single layer of broken and burnt stone (dims 13m x 9.5m; T 0.2-0.3m) which covered an oval trough (dims 1.88m x 1.78m; D 0.65m) with steep sides and a flat base that sloped down to the W. Fifteen stake-holes along the base of the trough were concentrated at the junction with its sides E-S-W and small pieces of wood were recovered from them. Just E of the trough was a fire-spot (dims 1.68m x 1.18m; T 0.02m). The primary fill of the trough was sandy silt with heat-shattered stone and charcoal that was covered by a deposit of natural clay. Above this was black sandy silt with heat-cracked stones sealed beneath a yellow/brown sandy clay beneath the spread of the mound. Material from the mound was incorporated into the alluvial deposits of the palaeo-channel. No artefacts were recovered. (Ruttle 2015, 8-11)