2011:372 - DREHID BOG, TIMAHOE WEST, Kildare

Monitoring of peat-stripping associated with the expansion of an existing waste management facility took place in Drehid Bog, Co. Offaly, between 8 and 19 August 2011. This latest phase of works was to facilitate the construction of a sixth waste reception cell (see Excavations 2006, no. 954, for a report on earlier works).

The development site consisted of a rectangular parcel of bog measuring approximately 180m east–west x 100m. It was bounded to the east by the Phase 5 waste reception cell, which was constructed in July 2010, and to the south by the Phase 3 waste reception cell, which was constructed, along with the Phase 4 cell, in March 2009.

The surface of the Phase 6 development area was overgrown with sedge, some dense birch scrub and heather. The first part of the groundworks consisted of removing the surface vegetation and trees with a mechanical excavator. The peat within the future waste cell was then stripped down to the underlying marl and stones.

Nothing of archaeological interest was found during the course of these groundworks.

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