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The Corlea Trackway
The Corlea Trackway

The Corlea Trackway is an Iron Age trackway, or togher, near the village of Kenagh, south of Longford town, County Longford, in the Republic of Ireland. This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Longford ( An Longfort in Irish) is the county town of County Longford in the Midlands of Ireland. County Longford (Contae an Longfoirt is a county situated in the Irish Midlands, in northwest Leinster. Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. It was known locally as the Danes Road.

The trackway is situated in an area which is the site of industrial-scale mechanised peat harvesting by the Bord na Móna, principally to supply the peat-fired power stations of the Electricity Supply Board. Peat is an accumulation of partially Decayed Vegetation matter. Bord na Móna ( lit Peat Board is a semi-state company in the Ireland, created in 1946 by the Turf Development Act 1946 A power station (also referred to as generating station, power plant or powerhouse) is an industrial facility for the generation of The Electricity Supply Board (ESB (Bord Soláthair an Leictreachais (sometimes called ESB Ireland to differentiate it from US utilities is a semi-state electricity While today a generally flat and open landscape, in the Iron Age it was covered by bog, quicksand, and ponds, surround by dense woodlands of birch, willow, hazel and alder while higher ground was covered by oak and ash. Birch is the name of any Tree of the genus Betula ( Bé-tu-la) in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the Willows, sallows and osiers form the Genus Salix, around 400 species of Deciduous Trees and Shrubs found primarily The hazels ( Corylus) are a genus of Deciduous Trees and large Shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere Alder is the common name of a Genus of Flowering plants ( Alnus) belonging to the Birch family (Family Betulaceae) The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of Trees and Shrubs in the Genus Quercus (from Latin The terrain was dangerous and impassible for much of the year. [1]

In 1984, timbers recovered from Corlea were radiocarbon dated to the Iron Age, rather than the Bronze Age as had been expected, and an archaeological project was established under the leadership of Professor Barry Raftery to investigate the site before it was destroyed by peat-digging. Radiocarbon dating is a Radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring Radioisotope Carbon-14 (14C to determine the age of The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for Excavations to 1991 in Corlea bog revealed 59 toghers in an area of around 125 hectares and further work has raised the total to 108 with a further 76 in the nearby Derryoghil bog. [2]

The majority of these toghers are constructed from woven hurdles laid on heaped brushwood on top of the surface, built to be used by people on foot. A hurdle is a moveable section of light Fence. Traditionally they were made from wattle (woven split branches but modern hurdles are often made of metal Four, including Corlea 1, the Corlea Trackway proper, are corduroy roads, built from split planks laid on top of raised rails and suitable for wheeled traffic. A Corduroy road or log road is a type of Road made by placing Sand -covered Logs Perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low The Corlea Trackway is made from oak planks 3 to 3. 5 metres long and around 15 centimetres thick laid on rails around 1. 2 metres apart. The road was at least 1 kilometre long. Dendrochronological study suggests that the timber used in construction was felled in late 148 BC or early in 147 BC and the road built then. Dendrochronology (from Greek grc δένδρον dendron, "tree" grc χρόνος khronos, "time" and grc -λογία Raftery estimated that the sleepers alone amount to a 300 large oak trees, or a thousand wagon-loads, with a similar volume of birch for the rails. [3] The Corlea Trackway ended on a small island, from which a second trackway, excavated in 1957 and since radiocarbon dated also to 148 BC, again around 1 kilometre long, connected to dry land on the far side of the bog. [1] The construction of the roadway required a great deal of labour, comparable to that used in the construction of ritual monuments such as barrows. A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a Mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves [4]

The purpose of the Corlea Trackway is uncertain. For the smaller toghers, O'Sullivan remarks that "there is a growing sense that these were not structures designed to cross the bog, but to get into the bog". [5] Massive structures such as the Corlea Trackway may also have served to get into the bog, perhaps for ritual purposes, rather than merely to cross it. [6] Whatever its purpose, the roadway was usable for only a few years. Gradually covered by the rising bog and sinking under its own weight, it was covered by the bog within a decade, and perhaps less, where it remained preserved for two millennium. [7]

The Corlea Trackway, seemingly constructed in a single year, has suggested comparisons with the Irish language tale Tochmarc Étaíne (The Wooing of Étaín), where King Eochu Airem sets Midir tasks such as planting a forest and building a road across a bog where none had ever been before at a place called Móin Lámraige. Tochmarc Étaíne ( Old Irish: "The Wooing of Étaín " is an early text of the Irish Mythological Cycle, and also features Eochu Airem ("the ploughman" son of Finn was according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition a High King of Ireland. In Irish mythology Midir (or Midhir or Mider) was a son of The Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann. [1][8]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Raftery, Pagan Celtic Ireland, chapter 5.
  2. ^ Pryor, Britain BC, pp. 381–382.
  3. ^ Pryor, Britain BC, pp. 382–385, fig. 90 & fig. 91; Raftery, Pagan Celtic Ireland, chapter 5.
  4. ^ O'Sullivan, "Exploring", pp. 173–174.
  5. ^ O'Sullivan, "Exploring", p. 175.
  6. ^ Pryor, Britain BC, pp. 387–391, argues for a solely ritual purpose. Raftery, Pagan Celtic Ireland, chapter 5, notes that the Corlea Trackway would have served to connect the later significant sites at Cruachan and Uisnech. Cruachan ( Cruachu, Cruachain, Ráth Cruachain) is the ancient capital of the kingdom of Connacht, and the seat of Medb and her Uisneach Hill is an historical site in County Westmeath located near the village of Ballymore, and is considered the Omphalos (mystical navel of Éire
  7. ^ Pryor, Britain BC, p. 386.
  8. ^ Pryor, Britain BC, pp. 387–388.

References

External links

An International Standard Serial Number ( ISSN) is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic Periodical publication. Francis Pryor is a British archaeologist who is famous for his role in the discovery of Flag Fen, a Bronze Age archeological site near The Office of Public Works ( OPW) ( Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí (legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, though the full title is rarely used is a
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