Road - togher, Newtown (Pubblebrien By.), Co. Limerick
Co. Limerick |
Roads & Tracks
At low tide on the River Shannon estuary near Newtown in County Limerick, two large oak planks lie exposed in the foreshore peat, the remnants of what was once a togher.
A togher is a timber trackway, typically laid across boggy or waterlogged ground to allow passage, and this one sits in the intertidal zone, periodically covered and uncovered by the tidal rhythm of the estuary. What makes the site quietly arresting is that it appears on no Ordnance Survey historic mapping, and the surrounding peat has simply held these timbers in place, largely forgotten, until modern survey work brought them back into record.
The two planks were catalogued as Carrigadirty Rock 20 and 21 by O'Sullivan in 2001. The first is oriented north to south, measuring 3.4 metres long and between 46 and 54 centimetres wide, with irregular edges marked by notches and protrusions. The second is the more substantial of the pair, oriented east to west, running 5.6 metres long, 76 centimetres wide, and 5.5 centimetres thick. Both were tangentially cleft from oak, a process of splitting timber along a line that runs roughly parallel to the growth rings, which produces wide, relatively flat planks. The second plank was taken from what O'Sullivan described as a massive, knotty oak trunk, and the craftsmanship is still legible in the timber: it was worked to a blunt oblique point at its western end and cut straight across at its eastern end, with thin, feather-edged sides where the trunk had been split. It sits set into fen peats, about two metres south of the edge of the intertidal peat shelf. An enclosure recorded separately lies roughly 32 metres to the west-northwest, hinting at a broader pattern of early activity along this stretch of the estuary.
Access to the site depends entirely on tidal conditions, since the planks lie in the intertidal zone some 60 metres north of a flood relief embankment. The foreshore here can be soft and difficult underfoot, so appropriate footwear and awareness of tide times are essential before approaching. The timbers themselves are not dramatically visible in the way a standing monument might be; they require patience, a low tide, and some familiarity with what preserved bog oak actually looks like in situ, darkened and dense against the surrounding peat. Consulting the recorded coordinates and O'Sullivan's 2001 descriptions beforehand will give a clearer sense of what to look for once on the ground.
