County: Offaly Site name: CASTLETOWN BOG, Castlearmstrong
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0289
Author: Ellen O'Carroll, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Road - class 3 togher
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 617193m, N 728885m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.309973, -7.742012
This site was the remains of a brushwood togher on the surface of a Bord na Móna production field. Excavation revealed the remains of the upper elements of a linear brushwood togher and a lower layer of pegs. The togher was 1.32m wide, 60mm deep and 15m long. The wood was concentrated at the northern end of the cutting and was two layers deep. The upper layer was composed of some milled and broken longitudinals between 5mm and 47mm in diameter. The longitudinals were laid approximately north-west/south-east. There was also some transverse brushwood placed over and under the longitudinals. The transverses were slightly larger than the longitudinals, up to 50mm in diameter. This upper layer of wood represents the walking surface of the togher.
A second layer of wood was revealed underneath a thin peat layer. This context consisted mainly of pegs between 10mm and 40mm in diameter. The pegs were also clustered at the northern side of the cutting. Toolmarks were recorded and sampled from both of the wood layers. All were simple, multi-faceted, chisel-cut points.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
