What is recorded here
Cloncreen Bog in County Offaly holds a ghost structure dated to 1929-1750 BC, hidden beneath industrial peatlands where timber and brushwood once crossed. The site vanished when relocated in 2014, leaving only an ash fragment to prove that human hands shaped the NE extent of the bog before memory began. What disappeared is not loss but transformation, for the peat itself became the archive, swallowing the shape while preserving its age.
This site was located in the industrial peatlands of Cloncreen Bog. It was recorded in the 2013 Peatland Reassessment Survey as a structure, located in the NE extent of the bog, and described to be composed of possibly displaced E-W orientated timber, roundwood, and brushwood, as well as a single N-S orientated brushwood. It was found in moderately humified Sphagnum peat (Whitaker 2014).
The original find spot was relocated by GPS in 2014 (excavation licence: 14E0255), but no in situ remains were visible.
A fragment of ash was chosen for AMS dating and returned a result of cal. 1929-1750 BC (UB 26602).
Compiled by: Jane Whitaker/Femke Vleeshouwer
Date of upload: 25/02/2020
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
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