Fulacht fia, Rowls Noonan, Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Settlement Sites
In a pasture at Rowls Noonan in north County Cork, a low horseshoe-shaped mound sits on a gentle south-facing slope, partially swallowed by vegetation.
It measures roughly twelve metres north to south and just over ten metres across, rising to about 1.2 metres at its highest point. The opening, some six metres wide, faces west-northwest, and the northern half of the mound sits noticeably deeper than the southern. To a casual eye it might read as a natural rise in the ground, but the shape gives it away.
This is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found in enormous numbers across Ireland, with particularly dense concentrations in Munster. The classic form involves a trough dug into the ground, usually lined with wood or stone, which was filled with water. Stones heated in a nearby fire were then dropped into the trough to bring the water to a boil, and meat was cooked in the resulting heat. Over time, the cracked and fire-shattered stones were discarded around the trough, gradually building up into the characteristic horseshoe or kidney-shaped mound that survives today. Most fulachtaí fia date to the Bronze Age, broadly between 1500 and 500 BC, though some are earlier or later. The asymmetry noted here, with the northern half sitting deeper, may reflect the original position of the trough or the way material accumulated during use and abandonment.