Road - class 3 togher

The National Monuments Service's description

A brushwood structure exposed in section in the drain face 0.35m below the surface. The structure is three to four layers deep and comprises a compact and dense horizon of brushwood and heavy roundwoods. It may be aligned N-S and measured 2.9m wide and 0.28m deep. It has an undulating profile and may follow the line of a hummock. It is also present in the opposing drain face and is situated within raised bog peat (Bermingham 2014).

The site was excavated in 2015 (licence: 15E0174). Three distinct archaeological deposits were revealed within the cutting. The site was dated cal. 1281-1048 BC, UBA-31807, and cal. 1387-1060 BC, UBA-31806 (Whitaker 2017).
The S extent of the cutting contained a small possible platform that measured 0.25m x 1.54m in size. It was composed of four SW-NE oriented heavy hazel brushwoods with two supporting transverse light brushwood underneath. A layer of peat lay beneath the structure. The brushwood below was a haphazard arrangement of holly, alder and hazel elements contained within an area measuring 1m x 1.95m. The heavier elements were oriented roughly NW-SE and overlaid the lighter elements that were oriented roughly E-W. Several toolmarked ends were noted within this material.
Located 0.14m to the N was part of a small brushwood hurdle panel composed entirely of hazel. It was truncated by the drain. It measured a maximum of 1.42m x 1.87m and was composed of three sails and 62 light brushwood rods. Eleven elements had toolmarked ends.
A possibly contemporary, E-W oriented arrangement of parallel brushwood two to three elements deep was located 0.54m to the N of the hurdle. It measured 0.96m x 1.66m in size and was composed of closely placed alder, birch, hazel and pomoideae brushwood elements. Several elements had toolmarked ends (Whitaker 2017).

Compiled by: David O’Connor, Edited by: Femke Vleeshouwer, 8th April 2020
Date of upload: 20 November 2014

References

Whitaker, J. 2017 Final Excavation Report, Kinnegad Bog, Co. Meath (15E0160–15E0177). Unpublished report prepared by IAC Ltd submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.

Bermingham, N. 2014 Archaeological Survev of Ireland. Peatland Survey 2013: Kinnegad (Rossan), Co. Meath. Final Archaeological Survey Report, August 2014 (Licence number 13E0426). Unpublished report commissioned by the National Monuments Service.