Fulacht fia, Kingsland, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Settlement Sites
In a flat field in Kingsland, on the edge of a small stream, there is a horseshoe-shaped mound of scorched earth and shattered limestone that has been sitting quietly in the pasture for roughly three and a half thousand years.
This is a fulacht fia, a type of Bronze Age cooking site found in large numbers across Ireland, typically beside water. The working principle was simple: stones were heated in a fire, then dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to a boil. The burnt and cracked stones were thrown aside after use, and over centuries these discarded heaps accumulated into the low, curved mounds that survive today. The dark, charcoal-stained earth is the giveaway, and here at Kingsland it is still plainly visible.
The mound itself is well preserved by the standards of such sites, measuring roughly 19 metres north to south and 15.5 metres east to west, and rising to about 1.3 metres at its highest point. The central depression, where the trough would once have sat, opens to the north. The nearby stream runs northeast to southwest and would have supplied the water essential to the whole operation, though at some point it was artificially widened, which has disturbed the southern edge of the mound. Some slippage has also occurred on the eastern and western sides. At the south and northeast, exposures of black earth and burnt limestone remain visible at the surface, offering an unusually direct glimpse into the mound's composition without any excavation required.
