Road - class 1 togher

The National Monuments Service's description

A narrow oak trackway (Wth 1.25m) on a brushwood substructure (Wth 2-2.5m) may originally have traversed c. 2,600m of Timahoe Bog (ENE-WSW) between dry ground at Drumachon 'island' to the E, and dry ground in Kilkeaskin townland to the W. It intersected a second togher (KD008-029----/KD009-019----) which crosses the same stretch of bog, but on a NNW-ESE orientation. The trackway was excavated by Rynne in 1966 (SMR file) and was examined again in 1986 (Munro 1987, 22) and also in 1992 (Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit (UCD), SMR file). It consisted of a haphazard arrangement of large oak planks laid longitudinally and transversely, with occasional narrow side planks, supported upon a substructure of roundwood runners. A thick layer of brushwood, secured by pegs, underlay the main timbers and extended beyond their N-edge. Several morticed planks were recorded, one of which contained a peg in a mortice, and several other notched timbers, probably of yew, were noted extending beyond the northern edge of the structure, but were of uncertain function. Yew 'posts' recorded as projecting about 0.7m above the level of the togher and posited as route-way markers might be explained as pegs that had risen up through the peat. Dendrochronological dating suggests a two-phase structure: the substructure is dated to 1483 BC (Q6416) and the superstructure to 1378±9BC (Q6672), (N.M.I. IA/12/66; Brindley & Lanting 1998, 47-8). The surviving remains (L 218.9m ENE-WSW; Wth 2.5m; D 0.3m) were surveyed by the Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit in 1992. They consist of a compact arrangement of transversely laid roundwoods, brushwood and planks, the latter having morticed ends. Oak and birch brushwood, up to eight rods deep, was used as a filler between the roundwoods and planks and as a substructure to the overlying planks. Many displaced timbers in the area indicate that the site was originally more extensive. All in-situ timbers were covered by a fine layer of sand/gravel. One plank (L 3.5m) had been radially split and had the remains of a rotted-out, parallel-sided mortice at one end. A probable yew roundwood (L 1.63m) was also morticed and a number of pieces had their ends worked into wedge and chisel points.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 10 June 2011