Road — class 2 togher in Castletogher

In a lowlying situation, exposed in a peat bank, with limited views in all directions. A 22m length togher is exposed along the section face of a peat bank which has been machine cut. It lies 0.8m below the bog surface and 1.35m above the marl below in well humified peats. The togher comprises very densely packed roundwood transverse timbers running from E-W, five to six timbers deep. Measured along a drain at the top of the bog the togher is 3.35m wide and is 0.45m deep in section. While very closely packed there are occasional longitudinal timbers including planks within the togher structure. Roundwoods vary in size from 0,11-0,17m. At the base of the togher, including on an oak plank sampled for dating purposes, is a very fine sand. Portions of damaged timbers are spread on the surface of the adjacent ground comprising roundwoods, half splits and some quartered timbers, many split along radials. There is a high proportion of oak observed but there are other species visible as well. Sampled for wood species, dendrochronology and radiocarbon. This togher may be trackway which provided its name to the townland and which was the boundary between opposing forces at the Battle of Ballymoe (GA006-134----). As recorded in a previous description "In bogland S of the Springfield River. According to local information, a wooden causeway was uncovered in the bog during turf-cutting operations some 40 years ago. It was described as being built of timbers laid flat, edge to edge, with others piled vertically into the bog. Large quantities of horseshoes and iron fragments were also discovered.’ (Alcock, de hÓra and Gosling,1999) At this time the togher was unlocated. It is very likely that this monment is the ‘togher’ referred to in the various sources for the battle of Ballymoe (1316). The Annals of the Four Masters mentions it in this context: ‘A great army was mustered by Felim O’Conor by Mac Feorais [Bermingham] and the English of West Connaught. They marched to Tochar-mona-Coinneadha. Rory the son of Cathal O’Conor, king of Connacht, came against them with all his forces, and a battle was fought between them, in which Rory was defeated and he himself slain, together with Dermot Gall Mac Dermot, Lord of Moylurg, Cormac Mac Keherny, chief of Ciarraighe, and many others of the chiefs of his gallowglasses and of his own particular friends.’ (AFM, iii, 507-8) The account preserved in the Annals of Connacht is a little more specific as to the location of the battle : ‘He [now] saw Fedlim, aggressive and fierce, at the head of his household troops, with his foster-father Maelruanaid Mac Diarmata and his followings by his side, as well as the sons of Domnall Ua Conchobair and the descendants of Donnchad son of Tomaltach [?Mac Donncada] and the Galls of West Connacht in their assembly and marching order, making towards Tochar Mona Conneda. And on the other side were the men of Connacht with their king, Ruaidri son of Cathal Ua Conchobair, Diarmait Gall Mac Diarmata, king of Moylurg, and the rest. They faced each other on the moor of Tochar and Ruaidri was overpowered by the greater force of men and arms and armour and he fell there – the king of Connacht, the most valorous and valiant of the Gaels, the destroyer of marauders and the banisher of foreigners out of Ireland.’ (The Annals of Connacht, ed. A. Martin Freeman (Dublin, 1944), 243-5). The Annals of Lough Cé also confirm this location: ‘Then it was that they perceived Fedhlim advancing towards them vigorously, fiercely at the head of his retainers, accompanied by Maelruanaidh Mac Diarmada with his own kindred and followers. And the sons of Domnall O’Conchobair, and the sons of Donnchadh, son of Tomaltach, together with the Foreigners of the West of Connacht, were also there in his advance and muster towards Tóchar-móna-Coinnedha [the causeway of Coinnidh’s bog]. The Connachtmen were on one side, including Ruaidhri, son of Cathal O’Conchobair, king of Connacht, and Diarmaid Gall Mac Diarmada, king of Magh-Luirg at that time, and the other men of Connacht. And they all faced one another on the bog of the causeway and then delivered a fierce, sudden battle to each other. The superior number of the hands and weapons, together with the mail-armour of the Foreigners, vanquished Ruaidhri so that the king of Connacht, Ruaidhri, son of Cathal – i.e. the head of the valour and bravery of the Gaeidhel, and the extirpator of pirates and bandits, and the expeller of foreigners and stranger-tribes from Erinn – fell there; . . .’ (Annals of Loch Cé, ed. William M. Hennessy (London, 1871), i, 581-3). O’Donovan in his edition of the Annals of the Four Masters provides the following locational details: ‘Tochar Mona Coinneadha, i.e., the togher or causeway of the bog of Coinneadh. The situation of this causeway is still well known. It is in the parish of Templetogher, between Ballimoe and Dunmore, in the north-east of the county of Galway, and the ruins of a church and castle are to be seen near it.’ (AFM, iii, 354, note x) A local website describes the togher as follows: 'The Construction of the Tochar Tochar Mona Conneda is 1.3km. in length and 3m wide and has an east-west alignment. Much of the road has been destroyed by turf cutting, though 50% is still intact. The tochar is located 0.6m below the bog surface which was exposed by turf cutting during the twentieth century. Horseshoes and other ironware were also found from the Medieval Period. (http://bmmyheritagecom.weebly.com/) Based on the above potential location of the ‘togher’ the two monuments mentioned by O’Donovan undoubtedly may be identified as Templetogher church (GA006-122003-) and castle (GA006-042----). It is of interest that the inventory entry for GA006-045---- records ‘Large quantities of horseshoes and iron fragments’ discovered at the togher and it is tempting to speculate that these relate to the fateful Battle of Ballymoe in 1316. On an opposing peat bank to the W is GA006-136---- a gravel road. There was no evidence for the survival of horse-shoes with the wooden togher although a portion of a horse shoe was retrieved from GA006-136---- gravel road. Compiled by: Margaret Keane and Paul Walsh Uploaded on: 5 July 2020