County: Tipperary Site name: Leigh/Longfordpass South/ Longfordpass East
Sites and Monuments Record No.: TN042–039 Licence number: 08E0399
Author: Sinclair Turrell, ADS Ltd, 110, Amiens Street, Dublin 1.
Site type: Stone and timber trackway
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 622954m, N 659023m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.681884, -7.660523
Following the peatland survey carried out by ADS in 2006, a total of thirteen sites were excavated in Littleton Bog, Co. Tipperary, during May and July 2008.
This site was first investigated in 1960 by Etienne Rynne (Rynne 1962–5) and subsequently entered on the SMR. In 1990, a Bord na Móna worker found a Late Bronze Age leaf-shaped sword protruding from the exposed timbers of the site. This was entered in the NMI Topographical Files as IA/192/1990. The file reports a radiocarbon date of 2720660 years bp for the site. Following on from this, a team from the NMI carried out an investigation of the site and found that the trackway appeared to have had two phases of construction (Excavations 1990, No. 105). During the 2006 Peatland Survey a radiocarbon date of 1190 bc– 900 bc was obtained for the site.
For the 2008 excavation, four cuttings measuring 5m by 4m were excavated and a metal-detection survey was also carried out along the length of the trackway. The trackway was variable along its 300m length with no two cuttings displaying an identical stratigraphy. Only in Cuttings 2 and 4 did a full stratigraphic sequence still survive. The trackway seems to have been renewed or rebuilt at least once, with the later phase being generally wider than the earlier.
In Cutting 2 the trackway had a base of peat, sand and stones above which was a mix of longitudinal and transverse planks, together with several pegs. Above this was a layer of longitudinal planks resting on transverse planks and these were overlain by another deposit of stones. Above the stones was a layer of transverse planks resting on longitudinal planks. There was also a line of pegs running along each edge of the trackway, fixing the upper transverse timbers in place. Many of the planks found throughout the sequence had mortise holes at their ends.
In Cutting 4, the base of the trackway was composed of transverse plank fragments and stone. Above this was a layer of mortised transverse planks, with a line of pegs running along each edge of the trackway. This was overlain by a longitudinal roundwood above which was a dense layer of transverse roundwoods.
This site was a substantial Late Bronze Age trackway, which must have formed an important route, linking the eastern and western sides the bog. A large amount of time, labour and building material seem to have been invested in this trackway and it was probably organised at a regional rather than a local level. The renewal of the trackway suggests that it may have remained in use over a long period of time.
Reference
Rynne, E. North Munster Antiquities Journal 1962–65 IX, 138–144.
