County: Westmeath Site name: DERRYHINCH BOG, Pass of Kilbride/Rattin/Derryhinch/Baltigeer
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0664
Author: Cara Murray, Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit, Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 655471m, N 742513m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.429800, -7.165297
Derryhinch Bog is a Bord na Móna bog producing milled peat and was surveyed on behalf of Dúchas as part of the Peatland Survey 2001. It is c. 1km south of the N6, midway between Milltownpass and Kinnegad, and is 505ha in total area.
A total of 32 sites were recorded in this bog, including the find-spot of some bog butter identified by Bord na Móna personnel the previous summer. These sites include ten toghers of varying composition and scale, none of which traversed the bog in its entirety. One of the more substantial toghers consists of clay, flagstones and wood, but very little of this structure survives. Bord na Móna personnel reported that this togher originally traversed the entire bog via a small dryland island. In addition to these toghers and the bog butter, there are fourteen deposits of worked wood and seven deposits of unworked wood. One togher, consisting of a possible hurdle panel, has been radiocarbon-dated to 1886 cal. BC and a deposit of worked roundwoods has been dated to 1258–1215 cal. BC. The sites are widely dispersed throughout the bog and are generally small in scale. A togher (SMR ME 45:1) was recorded in the eastern part of the bog by Macalister in 1932; however, no trace of it was identified during the survey.
Reference
Macalister, R.A.S. 1932 An ancient road in the Bog of Allen. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 62, 137–41.
Belfield, Dublin 4
