Fulacht fia in Ballycourcy More

Identified in centre-line testing (E4110) in advance of the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy road scheme and set aside for resolution as Ballycourcy More 1 (Hardy et al. 2010, 95-6). It is situated on a level landscape with a small S-N stream c. 15m to the E. It was partially excavated (E4267) by D. Gallagher who uncovered the remains of a severely truncated fulacht fia. It consisted of a subrectangular trough (dims 1.9mNW-SE; 1.3-1.45m NE-SW; D 0.33-0.47m) with nine stake-holes in the corners, suggesting it may have been wood-lined although no trace survived. Only slight traces of burnt mound material filled the trough, but the mound is probably outside the excavated area to the NE. There were three stake-holes just SE of the trough, and seven stake-holes and three post-holes were in an area (dims c. 2m x c. 2m) NW of the trough. Three pits were within 1m of the trough to the NE (dims 0.46m x 0.44m; D 0.16m), SE (dims 0.69m x 0.55m; D 0.22m), and SW (dims 0.45m x 0.3m; D 0.15m). A charcoal sample from a fill of the trough produced a C14 date of Cal. BC 1449-1316. The prehistoric habitation site (WX026-088----) is c. 145m to the SSW and the rectangular enclosure (WX026-057----) is c. 170m to the SW. (McNamara and Ruttle 2011; Gallagher 2013) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 29 November, 2013