County: Offaly Site name: Derrinboy Bog
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 16E0604
Author: Caitríona Moore, Archaeology and Built Heritage
Site type: Peatland - early medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 620117m, N 709410m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.134841, -7.699365
A peatland survey was carried out at Derrinboy Bog, Co. Offaly for the Archaeological Survey of Ireland and funded by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Arts, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Derrinboy Bog is a small (217.5ha) isolated bog within Bord na Móna's Boora Works, c. 3km south-south-east of Kilcormac. Eight townlands occur within the bog area: Annaghmore and Annaghbeg, Money, Derrinboy, Coolfin Glebe, Cadamstown, Kilmacuddy and Currabeg. The bog is in active milled peat production and is bisected by a tertiary road. In the east and south-west areas the drains are orientated north-east/south-west and average 700m in length. In the north-west part, which narrows to form a long spur, the drains are orientated north-north-west/south-south-east and average 1.6km in length.
The survey was completed in difficult winter conditions in November 2016. The bog surface was very wet, with a high water table making many drains inaccessible. In parts of the east and south-west areas the drains had recently been re-cut with the extracted peat spread across the adjacent field surfaces. This obscured part of these fields and made conditions underfoot treacherous. Furthermore in the south-west and north-east areas of the bog many of the drain faces were covered with dense green algae/moss further reducing visibility.
All areas of Derrinboy Bog in BNM ownership and active milled peat production were surveyed. Two archaeological sites were identified and recorded. The sites occurred in the townlands of Currabeg and Money and were classified as Structure – peatland. They occurred on the field surface and were exposed and damaged by peat extraction. In consultation with the Department both were sampled for dating which resulted in their almost complete destruction. Both of the identified sites were subsequently dated to the early medieval period.
The identification of these two sites has established evidence of past human activity in the BNM peatlands and provided a broad indication of the relative date of the exposed peats. Their presence demonstrates the continued archaeological potential of the bog and it is possible that more sites will be exposed as peat extraction continues.
Archaeology and Built Heritage, Spade Enterprise Centre, St Paul's Smithfield, North King St, Dublin 7
