County: Roscommon Site name: CLS142, Cloonshannagh, Cloonshannagh Bog
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 14E0272
Author: Tim Coughlan
Site type: Structure peatland
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 602988m, N 780945m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.778078, -7.954667
Cloonshannagh Bog is located 3km north-west of Termonbarry and 2.5km west of Lough Forbes. The bog is part of the Bord na Móna Mountdillon Group and has a total area of 331 hectares. A survey by ADS in 2008 under licence 08E0645 identified a total of 88 sites. Upon re-assessment by ADS in 2013 under licence 13E0221 89 sites were recorded. Of the 89 sightings, 60 were platform sightings, 18 sightings were of archaeological wood and 11 were trackway sightings, all of varying lengths and widths. Of these 35 sites were listed for excavation as part of the current contract.
A 3m x 2.5m cutting was opened at the recorded sighting of CLS142 using survey-grade GPS equipment. The peat above the site was a dark orange-brown sphagnum peat that was moderately to well humified (H3). There was occasional eriophorum but this appeared to be localised to the area sealing the archaeological wood.
The site consisted of less than a dozen poorly preserved brushwoods laid longitudinally within the cutting with an east-west orientation. They were sparsely laid and in poor preservation. They ranged in size from 0.06–0.35m in length and 0.02–0.06m in diameter, and there was no evidence of any toolmarks. As the site was located on the field surface the excavated elements may represent the remnants of a more substantial structure that has been milled away, or it may have been the site of a small, localised, simple platform. The elements were so few and sparse that there was no discernible difference in the content of the peat above and below the site.
A date of AD 1039–1207 was returned from a piece of alder stake.
IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
