Fulacht fia, Urraghilmore, Co. Cork

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Settlement Sites

Fulacht fia, Urraghilmore, Co. Cork

Sitting in rough grazing land at Urraghilmore in north Cork, a low horseshoe-shaped mound of burnt and shattered stone holds its shape after several thousand years.

This is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found in considerable numbers across Ireland, typically dating to the Bronze Age. The working principle was straightforward: stones heated in a fire were dropped into a trough of water to bring it to the boil, and the cracked, fire-damaged material was raked out and piled to the side. Over generations of use, those discarded stones accumulated into the characteristic mound that survives today.

The mound at Urraghilmore measures roughly 14.5 metres north to south and 12.5 metres east to west, rising to about 0.75 metres at its highest point. Its opening, some 6.5 metres wide, faces east, which is consistent with the form seen at many other fulachta fiadh across the country. The site was recorded by Bowman in 1934, placing it within a long tradition of antiquarian observation of such monuments in Cork, long before systematic archaeological survey programmes brought them into formal inventories.

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