Road — road/trackway in Boherygeela

In reclaimed pasture, with enclosure (LI031-070001-) annotated ‘Entrenchment’ 105m to W, second enclosure (LI031-068001-) 35m to N. Outline of roadway (L. 1km; Wth 5.2-6.5m) running N-S clearly visible on OSi orthophoto taken 2005-12. On this aerial image the outline of the road is clearly visible as a linear feature flanked on either side by a fosse. This trackway appears to run onto an existing laneway at S end of road as depicted on OSi 25-inch map. At N end of roadway it runs onto a stream or ditch and from there runs N parallel to the stream towards the public road close to Meanus Cross Roads, and may have provided access to the early Christian enclosure at Killorath (LI031-040001-). The townland name Boherygeela or Bóthar Ó gCadhla (the road of Uí Chadhla) may be named after this trackway. According to Gowen (1987, 142) this trackway was ‘one of a network of roads in the area around Caherguillamore and Meanus (Eoin Grogan, pers. comm.) and leads to the site of the medieval church of Meanus [Killorath LI031-040001-?] which lies roughly half a mile east of the present church building [Meanus R.C. Church] and is known locally as a Mass Path’. Gowen (ibid.) described this trackway as consisting of a ‘a slightly raised surface with a low bank and ditch on either side’. A short section of the trackway (Site PC/2/32) was excavated by Margaret Gowen in 1986, prior to the construction of the Bord Gáis Éireann Gas Pipeline (Gowen 1988, 142-5). The results of this excavation were summarised as follows; ‘This long, straight stretch of road, not recorded on any edition of the OS, was revealed in aerial photography. It is also clearly visible on the ground. The pipeline crossed the road at a point where it is disturbed. The remains elsewhere display a profile not unlike that of the 'Cladh na Leac' [LI031-010001-] at Lough Gur with a low bank and ditch on either side. Two cuttings were opened’ (Gowen 1987, 24). Excavation revealed the trackway to consist, ‘of a roughly, and thinly, metalled surface of angular limestone pebbles and stones up to 10-15cm in size. It had a maximum width of 5.2m in cutting 2 but is likely to be up to 6.5m in width elsewhere. The surface was not particularly level, especially in cutting 1 where a pothole-type depression existed and part of the track surface had been truncated. Two small depressions on the road surface in cutting 2 may possibly be interpreted as ruts. The two ditches bounding both sides of the track are likely to be contemporary with the construction of the road, though upcast from the ditches had collapsed over the edges of the metalled surface of the roadway’ (Gowen 1988, 143). Gowen concluded that ‘as no datable finds were recovered from sealed contexts it is impossible to date this structure. Its similarity, in sectional profile, to the Cladh na Leac at Lough Gur makes comparison tempting: the latter is considered to be of possible prehistoric date. It is likely to have been in existence in medieval times as it appears to lead to the site of the medieval church at Meanus and can possibly be associated with the trackways at Caherguillamore. Although these too are undated, they appear to be associated with the medieval field-systems in the area’ (ibid., 144). Compiled by: Fiona Rooney Date of upload: 15 March 2021 See attached ASI aerial photographs ASIAP – 307/8 taken 13/09/2002.