Worm Ditch or Black Pigs Race

Located in an undulating landscape at the lower NE-facing foothills of Dough Mountain . This linear earthwork (L c. 1.25km) survives in interrupted sections, and is oriented generally NW-SE. It is located c. 1-1.2km SW from the SE-NW County River, which provides the boundary with Co. Fermanagh. The earthwork is generally overgrown but is sometimes grass-covered and in places passes through a coniferous forest. It consists of a flat-bottomed fosse (Wth 3-4.5m), usually with higher ground (H 1.2-1.5m) at SW and a low bank (Wth 3-5m; H 0.2-0.5m) on the NE side. The NW end of this ditch was utilised as a roadway and it terminates c. 150m SW of Lough Tiernan and c. 400m from the S end of the linear earthwork (LE005-014----), which continues the line of the Black Pig’s Race towards Donegal Bay. Towards the S end this section becomes a simple ditch (Wth of base 1.5m; D 0.3m) with a field bank at the NE side, and it terminates c. 200m NW of a SW-NE section of the W-E Sraduffy River. Another section (LE008-012----) is c. 2.6km to the SE. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 September 2008