Road — class 3 togher in Clonad (phillipstown Lower By.)

The site (L 4.27m; Wth 2.06m min.; D 0.1m) is orientated NW-SE and composed of fragmented pieces of mixed brushwood, five light roundwoods and occasional twigs. The majority of the elements are closely set and longitudinally laid with the remaining pieces irregularly laid and dispersed. Woodworking is evidenced by two chisel points and one wedge point. The surrounding peat is moderately humified Sphagnum and Eriophorum with some ericaceous wood fragments. Compiled by: Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit (University College Dublin). This site was described by the Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit (UCD) in 2001 as a tertiary togher of fragmented mixed brushwood, light roundwood and twigs orientated from north-west to south-east (Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit (UCD) 2002). The majority of the elements were closely set and longitudinally laid, with the remainder being irregularly laid and dispersed. Woodworking was evidenced by the presence of two chisel points and one wedge point. The site lay in moderately humified Sphagnum and Eriophorum with some ericaceous wood fragments. The cutting was located over the only recorded sighting of this site. The cutting under licence no. 04E0725 measured 5m by 3m. This would appear to be the remains of a small north-east/south-west-orientated trackway, though the orientation was difficult to discern due to the restricted amount of wood present. Given that the wood did not extend beyond the small area of the cutting, this was either a very localised track over a particularly wet area of bog or it once extended further and has since been destroyed. As the site was visible on the field surface and the wood was in a poor state of preservation, it seems likely that this site originally continued for a longer distance but has been substantially damaged by machine activity. Reference Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit (UCD) 2002 Archaeological survey report: Clonad Bog, Co. Offaly. Unpublished report commissioned by Dœchas, the Heritage Service. Eoin Corcoran, Archaeological Development Services Ltd, Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3. Date of revision: 23 April 2009