Road — road/trackway in Loughgur

In wet marshy pasture on the SE side of Lough Gur running from the E side of Killalough Hill N along the SW edge of the smaller of the Lough Gur lakes on the SE side of Knockadoon and Knockmore. The road, known as Bóthairín na gCapall, runs 225m NE of the medieval church (LI032-033----) at Lough Gur. It is 190m S of two crannóga (LI032-039001-/002-) which are located 225m and 165m N of the road respectively. The road runs NNE-SSW from the base of Killalough Hill until it reaches the former shoreline of the lake where it turns W. The road appears to veer N 225m NE of the Black Castle (LI032-031----) along the W side of the lake. The road is not depicted on the 1840 ed. OSi 6-inch map, although it is partially depicted on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch and Cassini OSi 6-inch maps as a trackway running from the roadside to the former lake. The road is clearly visible on OSi orthoimage taken 2005-12 and on Digital Globe orthoimages taken 2011-2013 as a linear road lined on either side by a ditch. Lynch (1913, 10) gives an account of the road as follows: ‘I have never been on the top of Killalough Hill, but an old man has told me that there was a large stone circle on the top of this hill, and that there were marks on one of the stones , whether natural or artificial he could not say. The old man also told me that Killalough means ‘church of the lake’, the site of the church being, he said, marked by the mound at some distance north of the hill, and near the edge of the lake, at the east side of the causeway of the Black Castle. This church, he further said, was the church of the Desmond period, and was superseded by the new church built by Rachel, Dowager Countess of Bath. An old road leading to the Desmond church, which, he said, was locally called the Round Church, is named Bothairin na gCapall, ‘the little road of the horses’. A portion of this road leading through Rusheen (‘the little wood’ ), at the east side of the hill of Killalough, is still left, and near its junction with the road leading to Holy Cross Crofton Croker locates a pillar stone.’ The road is visible on Google Earth orthoimage taken 05/04/2006; 16/03/2016; 28/06/2018 and 20/09/2020. The N course of Bóthairín na gCapall appears to run along the W side of the lake where it passes a bullaun stone (LI032-038----) heading N. The road (LI032-037----) appears to be the S end of the same historic trcakway that consists of an earthen embanked road that runs N-S from the bullaun stone (LI032-038----) along the NE side of Lough Gur where it extends N and can be seen on the OSi orthoimage taken 2005-12 abutting the W side of the rock outcrop known locally as Carrigamhargaidh. It can be traced on the E side of Drumlaegh located 65m NE of the Spectacles (LI032-014012-) and 40m SW of an earthwork (LI032-047002-). The road can be traced on aerial orthoimages to a farm complex in Ballingola. See attached Google Earth orthoimages Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan Date of upload: 16 November 2020