2001:1094 - BLACKWATER BOG, Cloniff and Curraghmore, Offaly

This site was excavated as part of the 2001 Bord na Móna Mitigation Project. Five cuttings along a degraded roundwood and plank togher were excavated. The roundwoods and planks were placed longitudinally along the field surface to create an even walking surface. These longitudinal roundwoods and planks were then underlain by transverses to raise the walkway off the wet peat.

The first cutting (2m x 5m) was located in the centre of the Bord na Móna (BnM) field. After excavation the wood exposed in the cutting consisted of four degraded roundwoods. The roundwoods would have been associated with the togher, but owing to ongoing milling in the area the site had been virtually destroyed and is almost unrecognisable here. The roundwoods had deteriorated and had been milled on their upper surfaces. Three roundwoods were located in a transverse position at the northern end of the cutting, while the fourth was located 0.26m to the south-east of the cutting.

Cutting 2, c. 135m to the north of Cutting 1, measured 1.5m by 5m. It was placed in the centre of the BnM field as the site had been disturbed at the edge of the field. The wood exposed in this cutting represented the remains of a longitudinally placed roundwood togher, albeit in a degraded state. Two longitudinal roundwoods were placed over a larger roundwood transverse. These longitudinal roundwoods represented the walking surface of the togher. They were in a poor state of preservation and broke up when sampled. The underlying transverse still had bark intact. The two roundwoods were cut to a wedge point. There was no evidence of pegs or mortices in this cutting, and the impression given by its simple construction is that this site was not intended to be in use for a long period of time. The togher was traced into Cutting 3, which was c. 10m to the north of Cutting 2.

Cutting 3 measured 1.5 by 5m and contained the remains of the longitudinal roundwood togher. The cutting was located beside the drain edge as the site, which had been cut by the drain, could be seen protruding from the drain face. The wood exposed in the cutting had been disturbed by milling but the general trajectory of the togher at its time of use was still clear. The upper layer of the site was composed of longitudinal planks and roundwoods underlain by roundwood timbers. The longitudinal planks/ roundwoods do not appear to have been worked. There were two transversely placed timbers in the centre of the cutting which would have acted as supports to the overlying roundwoods/planks. Hazelnut shells, bark and wood remains which were no longer in situ were also exposed throughout the cutting. The wood was in poor condition, possibly as a result of the type of peat in which it was preserved. The site was in weakly humified orange Sphagnum spp peat, which oxidised to brown on exposure. There was a lot of plant matter visible, including a white reedy type of plant. There were patches of Eriophorum close to the wooden togher.

Cutting 4 was c. 30m north of Cutting 3 and measured 1.5m by 5m. It was positioned beside the drain edge as the site could be seen protruding from the drain face. Between 0.2m and 0.6m of peat was removed from over the exposed wood. This peat was composed of two layers. The upper layer consisted of weakly humified red-brown fluffy Sphagnum spp peat with inclusions of Eriophorum spp and Calluna sp. roots. Owing to a slope in the field surface the layer varied in depth from the southern to the northern end. The second layer in which the togher also lay was moderately humified. A single split plank and some wood chips were exposed in this cutting. The plank was badly preserved and disturbed at the northern end of the cutting where it was fragmented and split. The southern end of the plank was exposed for a length of 3.12m, was 0.3m wide and was orientated north–south. The portion of plank at the northern end measured 1m in length and 0.2m in width. The plank was a radial split which had been split from a larger roundwood and would have formed the walking surface of the togher. The wood was gnarled and knotty. Hazelnuts and bark were also present in the cutting. There were no mortices, pegs or transverse timbers present in this cutting.

Cutting 5 was positioned at the last sighting of the togher, at its southernmost end. A 3m by 3m cutting was excavated to reveal a concentration of degraded roundwoods at the southern end of the cutting and two roundwoods at the northern end. The site would have measured 1.8m in width and 0.2m in depth. No pegs were recorded at this location. The roundwoods may represent what was left of the walking surface of the togher, underlain by some very degraded transverses. This stretch of the togher was traced to the north for another 0.5m. The northern end of this site ends at this location as the ends of the longitudinal roundwood were worked here.

No other wood was located in the immediate vicinity. The southern end of the site was traced for another 0.35m, which means that the total length of the togher at this location was 7m. The wood exposed in this cutting probably represents a small stretch of the longitudinal roundwood togher which was uncovered and excavated in Cuttings 1–4. Although the exposed site in this cutting does not physically link up with the other recorded stretches of this togher, there is little doubt that the wood in this cutting is representative of the same event. This area may have been a particularly wet patch along an otherwise dry part of the bog and that is why only a 7m stretch was constructed at this location.

Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 1