County: Longford Site name: DERRYAD, Cloonfore
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0519
Author: Noel Dunne, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Road - class 3 togher
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 605210m, N 768542m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.666607, -7.921150
Prior to excavation, this site was evident as a togher that extended for a visible distance of 5.6m across the domed centre of a milled field. It was orientated east–west to east-south-east/west-north-west and is likely to have been more extensive before the present Bord na Móna milling operations. Its upper surface consisted of a band of longitudinal light brushwood that was 0.5–0.73m wide. This band was narrower than the longitudinal brushwood of the substructure. Its northern and southern edges were 0.35–0.4m and 0.15–0.18m, respectively, inside the lower edges. The upper longitudinal elements rested on five transverse or slightly diagonal brushwood, which ranged in length from 0.95m to 2.9m and in diameter from 15mm to 45mm. These extended for up to 0.95m beyond the longitudinal edges of the site. Sixteen longitudinal rods, up to 65mm in diameter, formed the upper elements of the togher substructure. These consisted of light and heavy brushwood, along with a single roundwood, and had lighter brushwood and twigs placed in between. The overall substructure consisted of a band of longitudinal brushwood and twigs that was up to 1.08m wide. It was 0.25m thick at the southern edge and narrowed consistently to 0.1m on the opposite side. The diameters of the individual brushwood also decreased across the site, from a maximum of 50mm at the southern edge to a maximum of 15mm on the opposite side.
Reference:
Whitaker, J. and Dunne, N. 2019. Final Excavation Report for Derryad Bog (Licences: 00E0516-00E0522), Irish Archaeological Consultancy, Ltd., 2019. Unpublished report prepared by IAC Archaeology.
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