County: Offaly Site name: Barnaboy, Daingean South Bog
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 14E0311
Author: Jane Whitaker
Site type: Road – Class 3 Togher
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 642222m, N 729675m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.315666, -7.366353
Daingean South Bog was surveyed by the Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit (IAWU) during the 2001 Archaeological Survey of Ireland Peatland Survey. In 2004 seven sites were excavated by Sinclair Turrell as part of the Bord na Móna Mitigation Project. A Re-Assessment survey was carried out on behalf of Bord na Móna in 2013 by the author under licence 13E0230 and subsequently twelve sites were excavated in August 2014 by IAC Ltd during the 2014-2017 BnM Mitigation Project.
At Daingean South (OF-DAS-051A-B) a single 3m x 5m cutting was recommended for excavation at sighting ‘a’ or ‘b’ of the togher. As sighting OF-DAS051a was discovered no longer to be extant a 3m x 5m cutting was established at sighting OF-DAS051b. This was reduced in size to 1.4m x 3m when it was discovered that an adjacent BnM concrete drain had truncated the site. The overlying peat consisted of poorly humified sphagnum peat with moderate eriophorum and calluna inclusions. The excavated site revealed fragmentary remains of a plank togher that had been truncated by modern drainage. At this location the site appears to have originally consisted of two parallel radially spilt oak planks oriented north-east/south-west with an associated longitudinal roundwood. The plank fragments ranged in width from 0.1–0.13m, in depth from 0.04–0.06 and from 0.6–1.05m in surviving length. The roundwood had a maximum diameter of 0.06m and length of 1.36m. The underlying peat was moderately humified sphagnum peat with some fine root inclusions.
IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co Wicklow
