County: Offaly Site name: CLONAD (OF-CLO0013)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: OF018-090 Licence number: 04E0727
Author: Eoin Corcoran, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Road - class 1 togher
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 647194m, N 723957m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.263864, -7.292590
This site was recorded by the IAWU in 2001 as a primary togher, visible at five sightings at varying depths beneath the field surface and orientated from north-east to south-west (IAWU 2002). The condition of the site was recorded as varying along its length, with all the field surface sightings having suffered damage. Three cuttings were excavated over OFCL00013 all measuring 6m by 4m.
The site had suffered very badly from the activity of machines. Only one of the cuttings (Cutting 3) contained more than one layer of wood and even then the wood was in very poor condition. It is hard to draw any conclusions about this site, given its poor state of preservation and the fact that no other sightings of the site remain. From the excavation evidence and the record from the 2001 survey, it appears to be the remains of a north-east/south-westorientated trackway linking two areas of dry land across a narrow part of the bog. Samples obtained will be sent for radiocarbon dating. This site appears to have served the same function as OF-CL00002 and OF-CL00004 (Nos 1388 and 1389, Excavations 2004) and dating evidence may help to ascertain its relationship, if any, with these other two trackways.
References
IAWU 2002 Archaeological survey report: Clonad Bog, Co. Offaly. Unpublished report commissioned by Dúchas, the Heritage Service.
Whitaker, J. and Corcoran, E. 2020. Final Excavation Report for Clonad Bog, Co. Offaly (Licences: 04E0722–04E0729), Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd., 2019. Unpublished report prepared by IAC Archaeology.
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