1999:755 - TUMBEAGH BOG, Tumbeagh, Offaly

This linear brushwood, roundwood, hurdle and plank togher varied in composition along its length. The site was a compact linear arrangement of wood five layers deep in places. The togher was orientated on an east-west axis. The wood extended to 1.9m wide, but the main body of the togher was tightly compacted and had a width of 0.55m and a depth of 0.01m.

The upper walking surface of the track was composed of five roundwoods and around ten brushwoods, with a small amount of interspersed twigs. Several of the roundwoods were broken along their length, possibly owing to pressure from the overlying peat. There were numerous brushwood outliers around the track. These outliers possibly fell away from the track in antiquity. The only evidence for pegs was a split brushwood, which had tooling at one end and may have functioned as a peg. There was very little bark present on the wood. After the upper layer of wood was removed a second layer was recorded underneath. This was a compact arrangement of roundwoods, brushwood, twigs and wood chips up to four brushwoods deep in places. This lower layer was composed of smaller elements, with only one roundwood recorded. The wood was densely packed together owing to the presence of small brushwood and twigs. There were a lot of acquatic-loving plants such as Menyanthes trifoliata (bog bean) recorded throughout this layer of wood.

A hurdle panel was laid down alongside the brushwood togher at its eastern end. At this point a Bord na Móna drain truncated the hurdle panel, so its true length could not be established. The panel comprised a moderately tight weave of single rods over single sails. The hurdle was 0.95m wide and 50mm deep. The hurdle structure was probably constructed on dry land and then transported onto the bog and laid down alongside the brushwood/ roundwood trackway in an area where it was particularly wet.

This site was traced along the Bord na Móna field surface for a length of 32m and had been milled slightly along some of its length. This track could have supported a human's weight in an area that we know was very wet because of the presence of Menyanthes trifoliata (bog bean) in the peat. There were some substantial lenses of bog ore found in and around the trackway. Although there has been no evidence for the exploitation of these ores for industrial purposes, parallels for such activities can be seen in Holland. Middle Bronze Age trackways excavated by Casparie in Holland were constructed to provide access to areas of bog iron ore in the peat.

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