County: Longford Site name: DERRYNAGRAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0969
Author: Jane Whitaker, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Platform - peatland
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 606999m, N 761520m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.603488, -7.894243
A single cutting, measuring 2m by 6m, was recommended for excavation on the western field surface adjacent to the drain edge where the site was identified in 1999. Preliminary cleaning of loose peat from the surface revealed fragmentary disturbed brushwood elements on the field surface at the northern extent of the cutting. These upper elements do not appear to have been associated with the site but may be the southern extent of another small, damaged togher site that was visible as a line of milled brushwood running north-west/south-east across the field surface. This field-surface brushwood was sampled and removed before the desodding of the site. Contexts 3 and 4 were a confusing jumble of what appeared to be redeposited peat and wood, indicating the possibility that this site had been greatly disturbed by the slight shift in drain location during the most recent drain-cutting process. That the field had been used in the recent past for stockpiling peat may also have contributed to its disturbed nature here. The site had been abruptly truncated west of the drain edge.
Context 5 was the most undisturbed part of the site; it measured 1.6–2.43m and appeared to have been oriented roughly north-north-west/south-south-east. The site may originally have been a small platform. It was composed of brushwood and roundwoods, most of which were oriented east–west. The elements ranged in diameter from 15mm to 85mm, and many had chisel- or wedge-pointed toolmarked ends. The toolmarks were flat and had cutting angles ranging from 25º to 45º. The composition of the site is uncertain because of the level of disturbance it has suffered. Most of the in situ basal elements were oriented east–west and were laid onto moderately humified peat with a high Eriophorum content. The upper elements appeared to have been oriented mainly north-west/south-east, although, as mentioned above, many were disturbed. The site was visible in the opposing, eastern drain face but was not traced any further in either direction.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
