2001:811 - BEGNAGH BOG, Corragarrow, Longford

This site was excavated as part of the 2001 Bord na Móna Archaeological Mitigation Project. It was recorded in 1999 as a togher composed of large planks, split timbers, roundwood and brushwood. It was traced for a distance of 135m across nine production fields and was visible at the drain edges at depths of up to 0.85m. Four cuttings measuring 5m by 5m were excavated.

The first cutting was located towards the centre of the bog at sighting 99BG0002E. Almost 1m in depth of peat was removed. This was quite well decomposed and was very dark in colour. The peat directly overlying the site had a very high Eriophorum content while the peat to either side was Sphagnum-rich with only small amounts of Eriophorum.

The site had an interesting composition; it was made up of transverse roundwoods, split roundwoods and planks, supported by a row of longitudinal roundwood runners which in turn were secured in place with a line of outer posts along both sides of the togher. The runners were located at the northern and southern ends of the transverse timbers so that the site construction was similar to an inverted rail-line. The overall width of the site excavated in this cutting was 3m. The pegs protruded considerably above the level of the track. All of the wood was in poor condition and most of the timbers appear to be incomplete and somewhat degraded. The site has the appearance of having been either disturbed or exposed to the elements for some time before becoming waterlogged.

The second cutting was also located in the central portion of the bog. The overlying peat was quite shallow at this location and was a maximum of 0.2m in depth. It was Sphagnum-rich peat that was weakly decomposed, containing patches of Eriophorum and many pieces of ericaceous roots and twigs. There were some larger tree roots in the north-east corner of the cutting. The excavated site in this cutting was not as visually impressive as in the first cutting. There appeared at first to be little or no superstructural wood remaining, and only the pegs and supporting longitudinal runners seemed to have survived. A further 0.05–0.1m of peat was then removed from the cutting, revealing a scattering of broken roundwoods and fragmentary brushwood irregularly laid in between the delineating posts. During the sampling of the posts a cattle jawbone was discovered adjacent to one of them. This was in relatively good condition.

The third cutting was placed at the westernmost sighting of the togher. This was two production fields from the western extent of Begnagh Bog and had not previously been identified during the 1999 reassessment survey. It was visible this season as an area of milled wood chips on the field surface towards the centre of the field. There was very little peat remaining over and between the elements. It was a maximum of 0.04–0.05m in depth and was Sphagnum-rich but had been milled and it was difficult to identify its level of decomposition or the presence of other plant matter. As with the previous cuttings, the outer row of pegs were present on both the northern and southern edges of the site but no longitudinal supporting runners survived. The wood was in poor condition and most pieces had been broken by the weight of machinery passing above. Of the more intact timbers, 50% were oriented north–south (i.e. transverse) and the other 50% were oriented west-south-west/east-north-east.

The final cutting was excavated close to the eastern extent of the bog at sighting 99BG0002C. The two sightings further east (A and B) were in very poor condition in section and were not selected for excavation as a result. The remaining peat cover was up to 0.07m in depth and was moderately well decomposed and Sphagnum-rich, with occasional inclusions of Eriophorum and ericaceous roots. As with Cutting 3, the orientation of the elements exposed was 50% north–south (transverse) and 50% roughly south-west/north-east. As with Cuttings 1 and 3, the site was composed of roundwoods, split roundwoods and planks. All were broken and somewhat degraded. At this location the togher was 3.54m in width. There were only four small pegs exposed in this cutting. One was at the south-east extent of the excavated wood while the other three were 1m south of the northern side of the site. The underlying peat was moderately well decomposed and had a high Eriophorum content which is indicative of dry ground conditions. This might explain the change in construction of the togher along its length.

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