1997:524 - DER31, Cooleeny, Tipperary

This is a substantial composite track, 246m in length and 6–8m wide, dating from 790–380 BC. It runs north-west/south-east from one glacial ridge to another and bridges the mouth of Cooleeny Bog. It is one of only three sites in Derryville that could be used for crossing the bog. One cutting, measuring 15m by 8m, was excavated on the southern flank of the western ridge, about 60m from its western landfall. Since it lies outside the impact zone of the TMF, the rest of the site remains intact.

The site was constructed in four phases. In Phase 1 brushwood dumped into depressions evened out the general route of the track. This levelling covered an area up to 8m in width. In Phase 2 a triple row of pegs marking a regular 3m width was laid to designate the specific route. A layer of sand was laid between the two outer posts in Phase 3. This was level both along the length and across the width of the track. Further brushwood was also laid in soft sections. The surface of the track was constructed as Phase 4. This was a mixture of transverse planks and roundwood. One strip of planks and roundwood was laid in the south and then overlapped by another strip laid from the north. It was pegged at both sides and where the two strips joined in the middle. These pegs survived for up to 0.15m above the present track surface, but they had clearly rotted during the use of the track and could have stood up to 0.5m above the original surface. This surface was 4.5m wide at its narrowest point. While this was level overall, there were substantial gaps and dips between the pieces of wood.

The track crosses all the major peat types in the bog—marginal forest peat, fen peat, and raised bog peat. There had been a bog-burst affecting this area a few centuries before the construction of the track, leaving the surface unstable. The unstable drainage of this area and the uneven nature of the raised bog required a very firm structure to make crossing possible, even at this very narrow point. Unfortunately the massive structure, including sand, dammed the outflow of water created by the earlier bog-burst and caused another, more massive, bog-burst. This would have occurred within a year of the construction of the track and damaged the site past repair. The effects of the bog-burst can be seen in the line of the track as it crosses the fen peat bordering the south-west ridge.

The construction of this track in this environment indicates a lack of knowledge of the bog on the part of the builders. This track was set to mark and maintain an important routeway which was required to cross the bog rather than go around it to the south. This was important enough to command a good deal of labour as well as resources, suggesting that the site should be seen as an indicator of centralising regional power bases in the area in the later prehistoric period.

A piece of roundwood that had been turned into a small rod (20mm in diameter) with a rounded end was found lying horizontally in the lowest layers of brushwood. There are marks from lathe-turning which show under low magnification. One end is carved round and smoothed, the other was broken in antiquity. There is nothing in its form to indicate its function. Its position in the foundation layer of the track suggests that it was deposited as scrap. This is the earliest evidence for lathe-turning as a woodworking technique in Ireland.

Minorco Lisheen Ltd, Killoran, Moyne, Co. Tipperary