Fulacht fia, Cloheen By., Co. Cork

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Settlement Sites

Fulacht fia, Cloheen By., Co. Cork

On the south-western edge of Clonakilty, in a ploughed field where most people would see only turned earth, there is a circular patch of blackened soil and shattered stone that marks the site of a fulacht fia.

These ancient cooking places, found in their thousands across Ireland, typically date from the Bronze Age. The basic principle was straightforward: stones were heated in a fire, dropped into a water-filled trough, and used to bring the water to a boil. The cracked, heat-fractured stones that resulted were discarded in a horseshoe or circular mound around the trough, and it is precisely that distinctive dark spread of burnt material that identifies sites like this one centuries later.

This particular example lies on the bank of a small stream that runs alongside a field and townland boundary, bordering Miles townland. The stream would have been essential to the original function of the site, providing a ready water source to fill whatever trough or pit was used. The fulacht fia is described as levelled, meaning it no longer survives as a raised mound but has been flattened over time, most likely through repeated ploughing of the surrounding agricultural land. What remains visible is that telltale circular spread of scorched earth and fire-cracked stone on the south-eastern side of the field, a faint but legible signature of repeated prehistoric use.

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