2000:0817 - DERRYNAGUN BOG, Leabeg, Offaly

This excavation was carried out in Derrynagun Bog, Co. Offaly, as part of the 2000 Bord na Móna Archaeological Mitigation Project. It was located at the north-eastern extent of Derrynagun Bog close to the adjoining reclaimed farmland. The site was recorded in 1998 on the field surface, and it was noted that it was either a single-layered structure or the surviving bottom layer of a togher. At that time it was described as being composed of horizontally laid rods located on the field surface. Excavation this season revealed that it was a fragmentary site that had become very dried out in the eighteen months between its primary recording and subsequent excavation.

There was very little peat cover over the site (0–20mm), and many elements were partially exposed on the field surface. It had a high fibrous matter content that also included ericaceous roots, eriophorum and wood fragments. The excavated cutting revealed five longitudinal roundwoods ranging from 50mm to 60mm in diameter and from 0.3m to 0.78m in length and orientated north-east/south-west. The remainder of the material exposed consisted of a transverse and irregular scatter of fragmentary brushwood rods. The brushwood ranged from 9mm to 47mm in diameter and from 0.12m to 0.45m in length. This site was most likely the fragmentary remains of a small togher. The longitudinal roundwoods may originally have supported transverse brushwood rods, as indicated by the brushwood remains excavated. Sites of this construction type have been recorded and excavated within the Lemanaghan complex of bogs. Several were excavated this season by the author in the nearby Corrhill Bog (see Excavations 2000, Nos 829–40). It is proposed to date as many of these small sites as possible and to compare the environmental results as well as their locations within the whole Lemanaghan complex in an attempt to gain a better understanding of their function.

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