County: Offaly Site name: Mountlucas Bog RD23-3-4, Ballynakill
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 13E0106
Author: Sinclair Turrell
Site type: Road – Class 3 Togher
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 649813m, N 723641m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.260778, -7.253396
This trackway ran across the bog for 20.7m in a north-south orientation and was up to 2.5m wide and 0.3m deep. It was constructed from roundwoods, brushwoods and twiggy detritus, with some pegs also present. The majority of the elements were laid longitudinally but with a somewhat wavy appearance and a number of transverse brushwood elements were also present within the longitudinal brushwoods. The wood, although broken along its length in places, was generally well preserved, with roundwoods up to 4.8m long and 0.06m in diameter. The roundwoods mostly overlay the brushwoods and formed a dense layer at the southern extent of the trackway. The brushwoods were noticeably smaller towards the northern end of the trackway, where they were mixed with twiggy detritus.
Below the main body of the site there were three pockets of peat, up to 0.3m deep, which contained brushwood scattered within them, probably the result of the filling in of hollows prior to the construction of the brushwood walking surface. There was a large peg, 1.7m in length, within the brushwood towards the northern end of the trackway. This did not appear to be part of the construction and was probably inserted from a higher level. The trackway petered out at its northern extent and appeared to have terminated at this point, suggesting a construction built to span a relatively short stretch of bog.
A piece of hazel submitted for radiocarbon dating returned a result of 4691±33 BP (UBA-24160)
Dominic Delany & Associates, Unit 3, Howley Court, Main Street, Oranmore, Co. Galway
