Fulacht fia, Lecarrowkilleen, Co. Mayo
Co. Mayo |
Settlement Sites
In a damp, rush-grown pasture field in County Mayo, a low grass-covered mound sits quietly beside a stream, unremarkable to the casual eye but carrying the traces of prehistoric activity.
This is a possible fulacht fia, a type of site found widely across Ireland and generally understood to be a Bronze Age cooking place, where stones were heated in fire and dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to the boil. The mound itself, the characteristic shape of these sites, is the accumulated debris of those cracked and fire-shattered stones, discarded after use over many generations. This particular example measures roughly five metres along its longer axis and barely half a metre in height, sitting in the western corner of the field.
What makes the location quietly curious is not just the mound itself but what lies immediately beside it. Just one metre to the north sits a second fulacht fia, a separate recorded site, meaning two of these features occupy the same marginal, waterlogged ground in close proximity. The pairing is not explained, but it is not entirely surprising either. Fulachtaí fia tend to cluster near reliable water sources, and the stream here would have made this spot repeatedly attractive. The observation of this possible second mound was communicated by R. Crumlish in 2010, suggesting the site came to closer attention relatively recently despite the long history it likely represents.