County: Kildare Site name: COOLOGMARTIN/DERRARROGE/DERRYCRIB/GILLTOWN/HOLLINAMONA/TIMAHOE EAST, GILLTOWN BOG
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0826
Author: Sinclair Turrell, ADS Ltd, Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3.
Site type: Peatland survey
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 672925m, N 712604m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.158934, -6.909568
Gilltown Bog is situated 2km north-west of Staplestown. It is surrounded by farmland, with some private turf plots to the north-east. There are further extensive areas of bog beyond the farmland to the west and north-west. The bog covers an area of 355ha and forms part of the Bord na Móna Coolnamona group of works. The bog consists of 111 fields running north–south, all of which are in production, with the exception of a small area to the north-east of the bog that was out of production and overgrown with scrub. Gilltown Bog was first developed in the late 1970s, when it was levelled and the drains cut, with peat moss production beginning in the early 1980s. The Bord na Móna workers reported local stories of a mass path running across the bog, although none of them had ever seen it and no traces were found during the survey.
Two sites were identified in Gilltown Bog during the course of the survey. They were both substantial toghers dating to AD 660–890 (KD-GTN001) and 1490–1200 BC (KD-GTN005). Both were oriented north-west/south-east and recorded at several locations across the bog.
