Fulacht fia, Cloghboola Beg, Co. Cork

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Settlement Sites

Fulacht fia, Cloghboola Beg, Co. Cork

In a marshy field in mid Cork, close to a stream, sits a low oval mound that most people would walk past without a second glance.

It measures roughly fourteen metres from north to south, ten metres across, and rises just over a metre from the surrounding ground. At its centre there is a shallow depression. This is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found in enormous numbers across Ireland, typically dating from the Bronze Age. The basic principle involves heating stones in a fire, dropping them into a water-filled trough to bring it to a boil, and using that heat to cook meat. Over repeated use, the shattered and spent stones accumulate into a distinctive horseshoe or oval mound of dark, scorched material, which is exactly what survives here at Cloghboola Beg.

The proximity to water is not incidental. Fulachtaí fia, as a class of monument, are almost always found near streams, rivers, or boggy ground, presumably because a reliable water source was central to the whole process. This particular example sits about fifty metres east of a stream, with the surrounding marshy ground preserving the mound in reasonable condition. It does not stand alone either; a second fulacht fia of the same type lies roughly a hundred and twenty metres to the south-east, suggesting this stretch of landscape saw repeated or sustained activity during the prehistoric period. Whether the two sites were in use simultaneously or at different times is not something the physical remains alone can answer, but their proximity is striking given how commonly these monuments cluster in favourable terrain.

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Pete F
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