County: Galway Site name: ANNAGHCORRIB
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Aonghus Moloney and David Jennings, Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit, Dept of Archaeology, University College Dublin
Site type: Road - class 3 togher
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 593952m, N 725028m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.275554, -8.090676
During the Wetland Unit survey of the Galway area of Blackwater Bog, the remains of a large togher were discovered at Annaghcorrib. This togher had been previously excavated by Dr. Barry Raftery in 1988 (Raftery 1990 Trackways Through Time, Headline Pub., Dublin) however, during the interim period it had all but been destroyed by peat milling. Given that only one short stretch of the togher remained relatively intact, a brief excavation was undertaken. The togher originally crossed a narrow stretch of Garrydoff Bog and linked the south-western margin with a known crossing point of the River Suck to the north-east. It had previously been dated by Raftery to 892±9 B.C.
The excavated section was some 12m by 4m and revealed a relatively intact section of togher. The extensive Bord na Móna drainage had exaggerated the original bog topography and the togher lay at a 30º angle. It was constructed of transversely laid split oaks with occasional sections laid longitudinally. The longitudinal timbers of the superstructure were generally found over transverse timbers and may have been to provide additional support or repair to the overall structure. Over 90% of the oak timbers had been radially split and 70% of these had been further worked or squared off. The timbers averaged between 2m and 2.3m in length and 0.3m in width. In general, the timbers were carefully split into narrow planks and many were no more than 0.2m-0.3m in thickness. The timbers were selected from mature oaks and generally had between 70 and 100 growth rings present.
The underlying bog topography was of a hummock and hollow system. The north-east area of the cutting was composed of a hummock whereas the south-west area was dominated by a deep hollow. As could be expected, little substructure was used in the drier hummock area while the wetter hollow section had several superimposed substructural layers. A considerable number of mortises had been cut into the upper timbers, 45 were recorded in total. Of these however, only 21 had actual wooden pegs driven into them. The pegs averaged 0.64m in length and 0.47m in width or diameter. Some 70% were of narrow split oak and many of these could have been the remains of the squared planks. The function of the pegs appears to have been to stop any lateral movement of the planks and maintain the structure as a single unit.
This togher compares closely with many of the other examples excavated by Raftery in the Longford bogs and would have provided a comparatively dry crossing of this particularly wet bog.
