County: Offaly Site name: CLONEARL BOG, Clonearl Demesne/Oldcroghan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1241
Author: Michael Stanley, Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 646355m, N 732450m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.340252, -7.303921
Clonearl Bog was surveyed on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government as a response to the discovery of human remains (NMI 2003:14) in Clonearl Demesne townland in May 2003 (No. 1533, Excavations 2003, 03E0772). The survey was to assess the archaeological potential of the bog and to context the find within the overall archaeological record. Clonearl Bog is situated to the south-west of Croghan Hill and to the east of Daingean and Tyrrellspass. A 100ha area of the bog is being developed for the production of horticultural peat. The north-eastern portion of this area was not available for survey, as the drain profiles and vegetation did not offer sufficient visibility.
Three insubstantial sites were recorded within 15m of each other in the southern portion of the bog, located c. 150m east of where the human remains were recovered. These consist of two sites comprised of single pieces of brushwood and a third site consisting of two pieces of parallel brushwood. Two of the sites exhibit evidence of woodworking with a metal-cut tool, but none of the sites has been dated.
Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4
