Road

According to local folklore, this routeway, known as Bóthar na Scairte, extended along the whole length of Valencia Island (Mitchell 1989, 46, fig. 104; Hayden 2000a, 111). Part of its present remains at the SW end of the island can be traced for a distance of c. 500m, beginning at an embayment N of Danganmore Head, continuing E along the headland and skirting the bay to the NE of Danganbeg rock (Mitchell, Hayden and Walsh n.d.). At this point it is abruptly truncated by the cliff edge where rock-fall has occurred. The surviving road (Wth 1.25m) is bordered in places by vertical slabs on its cliff side. An entrance in the enclosure (KE087-025014-) faces towards the line of Bóthar na Scairte where it approaches the overlying medieval field boundaries, suggesting that the entrance may in fact have lead out onto this early roadway (Hayden 1999). During excavations in the area in 2001, a single trench was opened across the line of the routeway to the NE of the medieval farm in Bray (Hayden 2001). The bank (H 0.5m) on the S side of the road had a large stone set on edge in it. According to the excavator (ibid., 10), there was no obvious manmade surface on the N side of the bank, just a rough notch cut into the rising ground, which gave a flat and level top to the subsoil. A branch of another road (KE087-100----), known as Bóthar na Iarthair, joins this track to the W of Dunganmore Head. The construction date of this road has not been established. (Mitchell 1989; Mitchell, Hayden and Walsh n.d.; Hayden 2001) Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork. Date of upload: 30 May 2011