Road - class 2 togher

The National Monuments Service's description

This togher (L 17.3m min.; Wth 3.68m; D 0.32m) was orientated N-S with a small curve at its S end. Due to disturbance in the centre of the excavation trench, the uppermost layer was present only at its extreme N and S ends. At the N end Layer 1 (D 0.1m) consisted of closely laid transverse roundwood (av. diam. 0.08m; L 0.3-1.3m) and brushwood (av. diam. 0.04m; L 0.07-0.5m) with occasional twigs and irregular brushwood. At the S end the structure was dominated by longitudinal and irregular brushwood with occasional larger roundwood laid both transversely and longitudinally. At both ends some of the larger elements were laid just slightly off transverse.
Layer 2 was significantly better preserved and was composed predominantly of longitudinal brushwood (diam. 0.045-0.055m; av. L 1m), occasional roundwood and twigs, which were overlain by occasional transverse roundwood. This layer was two to three pieces deep with smaller and fragmented brushwood occurring towards the base. The condition of the wood in this layer was good. Almost 300 pieces of worked wood were recovered from the togher. Amongst the samples identified were pieces of alder, apple-type, oak, birch and holly. A carved alder bowl in fifteen pieces and an ash wheel rim fragment were recovered from Layer 2. The togher lay 0.3m above another togher (LF004-007----); a structure (LF004-037----) was situated c. 5m NW of its S end and another structure (LF004-038----) lay 3.4m to the W. Radiocarbon dating revealed date ranges of cal AD 400-560 (Beta-217357) and cal AD 680-880 (Wk-25203) (Moore and O’Connor 2009a, 43-4, EDC 49).

Compiled by: Mary Tunney based on data kindly supplied by Caitríona Moore.

Date of upload: 26 August 2011