County: Offaly Site name: Lough Boora, Lea Beg
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 24E0437
Author: Maeve McCormick
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 616964m, N 719338m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.224173, -7.745960
Seven test trenches were excavated along the line of the proposed Velo Rail in Lough Boora Park, Lea Beg, Co Offaly. Trenches totalled 190 linear metres. Works took place on 23 April 2024. The proposed velo rail will follow the line of a pre-existing bog rail line which had been used by Bord na Móna for peat production and transportation. As a result, many areas will be infilled while some will require some shallow excavation.
A dark brown humic, waterlogged, topsoil (C1) measuring up to 1m deep was noted in most trenches. This overlay a light brown bog or peat layer (C2). This bog was noted in Trench 3 to continue beyond a depth of 2.5m. Bord na Móna workers who supervised the excavation stated that in certain parts of Lough Boora bog the bog layer reaches a depth of 4m or 5m. Trench 4 was excavated across a stone laneway which was put in place after the bog had been harvested in that region. The road layer (C3) comprised a light grey compact clay, stone and gravel fill measuring 0.4m deep. As a result of the harvesting Trench 4 was also the shallowest trench with the subsoil being recorded at a depth of 1.5m in this location. A clay and stone dump (C6) was recorded in Trench 7, most likely associated with the construction of the path which passed nearby. Finally, Trench 5 was excavated through the original Bord na Móna stone rail track which will be reused for the Velo Rail. The stone rail track (C5) comprised light grey stone and gravel laid to a depth of 0.6m on top of the bog (C2).
Nothing of archaeological significance was recorded in the course of the works.
Archer Heritage Planning, Unit 1, Tenure Business Park, Co Louth A92 K2VF
