Road - togher, Dromerkeen, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Roads & Tracks

Road – togher, Dromerkeen, Co. Kerry

At Dromerkeen in County Kerry, a stretch of rough marshy pasture holds the memory of a road that has entirely disappeared from view.

Nothing marks the spot today, no timber, no stone, no raised earthwork, yet local tradition preserves the name: a togher once crossed this marsh, running east to west through ground that would have made ordinary travel difficult or impossible in wet seasons. A togher is a causeway or trackway laid across boggy or waterlogged terrain, typically constructed from timber planks, brushwood, or other organic materials, and examples found elsewhere in Ireland date back thousands of years, some to the Bronze Age or earlier.

What survives at Dromerkeen is not the structure itself but the knowledge of it, passed down through local usage of the word. That the name togher remained attached to this particular crossing long after any physical trace vanished suggests it served as a meaningful route for long enough to lodge in the landscape's memory. The ground here is rough marshy pasture with occasional outcrops of rock breaking the surface, conditions that make plain why a constructed path would have been necessary in the first place, and why the organic materials from which such paths are built rarely survive without the preserving conditions of deep, undisturbed peat.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Road – togher, Dromerkeen, Co. Kerry. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement