2009:378 - ABBEYLAND LITTLE/CARTA/CLONFERT (BUTSON)/ESKER/KILLALTANAGH/KILMACSHANE (TURBETT)/KILMACSHANE (MACKLIN)/REASK, KILMACSHANE BOG, Galway

The Re-assessment Survey 2009 included Blackwater, Ballaghurt, Bloomhill, Clooniff, Garryduff and Kilmacshane bogs, which are part of the Bord na M)na (BnM) Blackwater group of bogs. These bogs were initially surveyed by the IAWU in 1992 and 1993. The objective of the Re-assessment Survey was to re-identify any surviving previously recorded sites, identify new sites and subsequently record all archaeological sites identified during the course of survey. Kilmacshane Bog is located, on the western side of the Shannon, 0.3km north-east of Clonfert, Co. Galway, and 2km north-west of Banagher, Co. Offaly. Within the BnM Blackwater group, it is located directly south-east of Kilmacshane Bog and has a total area of 1188ha, at least 50% of which is now cutaway.
A total of 35 archaeological sites, identified during the first-round survey of Kilmacshane Bog in 1992, were lodged in the records of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland. The sites were concentrated in the south-west corner of the bog and in the centre of the bog, where it is narrowest.
At the time of the Re-assessment Survey parts of the eastern side of the bog were in production. In the remaining areas the marl was visible on many of the field surfaces and in the drain faces, indicating that little peat remains within much of the bog. Much of the centre of the bog, where many of the previously recorded sites were located, was covered with open water. A hand-held GPS was used to locate findspots for the previously recorded sites; however, nothing remained of these sites and no new archaeological sites were identified within the bog.