County: Longford Site name: DERRYAD, Cloonfore
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0520
Author: Noel Dunne, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Road - class 3 togher
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 605180m, N 768569m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.666850, -7.921603
This togher was visible for a maximum distance of 10m, extending across the domed centre of a milled field. The site no longer survives along the cambered edges of that field and is not visible in the adjoining fields to either side, which are now at a lower level. Excavation revealed that the site was orientated west-south-west/east-north-east and had an original width of 1.1m. It consisted of longitudinally arranged rods, which were mainly light brushwood but also included occasional heavy brushwood and twigs. The rods ranged in diameter from 5mm to 50mm, averaging 17mm, and were in a quite fractured condition from the traffic of machinery over the site. They originally formed a single, tightly packed layer, though in some cases the elements overlapped and could be up to two or three rods deep. Heavier brushwood rods were used to form both sides and an internal spine along the centre of the site. Two half-split, light brushwood pegs and three flimsy twig pegs were closely set under the longitudinal elements in the centre of the site.
Good construction details noted in the course of the 1999 reassessment were not as clearly visible or as well preserved in 2000, as the site had suffered further from the milling operations in the intervening period.
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 Unpublished report prepared by IAC Archaeology.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
