Ancient road ‘slowly decaying’

Photo shows, some of the ancient oakwood trackway uncovered in Mayne Bog.

Unless a preservation order is issued to protect the 3,000-year-old bronze age road in Mayne Bog, this monument of “European significance” will be lost to future generations, an archaeologist has warned.

Discovered in 2005, the ancient oakwood trackway has been the subject of a long – and up to now unsuccessful – attempt, to get the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to introduce measures to preserve it.

Much of the wooden road, which experts believe was part of an extensive ancient highway system stretching across the midlands, has already been cut up by peat moss producer Westland Horticulture.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Castlepollard based archaeologist Aidan Walsh says that a preservation order needs to be issued to preserve the 200m of road that remains under an uncut section of the bog.

“The state is resolutely refusing to put one [a preservation] on it, meanwhile they are doing little bits of research in response to pressure. The big thing they haven’t done, and the council need to be involved in this, is investigating who it is owned by.

“It’s not all owned by one individual. The uncut pieces are owned by lots of local people. We know some of them and they are very keen to see something done properly but we don’t have full legally established information on the ownership.”

Meanwhile, peat moss production continues on other sections of Mayne Bog. Mr Walsh says that the longer peat is extracted from Mayne Bog, the more damage will be caused to the remaining section of the road.

In a statement issued in 2015 in support of the campaign to have a preservation order issued for the roadway, John Waddell, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, NUI Galway, described it as being of “European significance”.

Prof Waddell said that it is “extraordinary” that the discovery of the road “has not been the subject of a comprehensive survey and more extensive excavation”.

Heritage body An Taisce has also called on the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to preserve the road, while a number of local TDs and councillors such as Deputy Willie Penrose and Cllr Andrew Duncan have voiced their support for the campaign.

The preservation of the roadway is one of the “actions” in the Westmeath County Heritage Plan 2018-2023.

The Heritage Plan states that the council and Westmeath Heritage Forum seeks to “work with all relevant stakeholders to explore and support the most appropriate means and measures for the protection, promotion and interpretation of the Bronze Age wooden road and trackway at Mayne Bog”.

Senior planner Cathaldus Hartin told the Westmeath Examiner that the council and heritage forum are “actively working towards this action”.

“The council has already engaged with the National Monuments Service (NMS), Department of Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht in respect of this issue, namely, the preservation of the Mayne Bog Road (with a focus on the intact section within the area of high bog),” he said.

While acknowledging the work being done to get the Department of Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht to change its position, Mr Walsh says that time is running out to preserve the bog for future generations.

“A very important part of archaeology is slowly decaying, because the more the bog is milled and drained, the more the water drains out of the uncut area.

“The more that happens, the drier the road gets. Eventually in 50 or 100 years’ time ,it will just disappear.”

“... What we are looking for is preservation and some form of very light touch interpretation which could involved things like raised wooden walkways like you see at wildlife sites and interpretative panels. It doesn’t have to have a building or need staff. It could become a tourism attraction even with that sort of light touch,” he said.

The Westmeath Examiner contacted the Department of Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht, which issued this statement on the bog:

"The Department is fully aware of the Bronze Age trackway at Mayne Bog. The National Monument’s Service has been working actively over several years, in co-operation with the landowner, to ensure that the parts of the trackway in areas subject to peat harvesting are appropriately recorded in line with archaeological practice and standards. Reports on the results of such recording will be incorporated into the Department’s records and made available in due course for public consultation. The National Monuments Service has also been liaising with relevant parties, including Westmeath County Council, regarding the possibility of securing the long term preservation of the part of the trackway surviving in intact peatland and the development of public access to these areas. In view of the active steps being taken, as outlined above, and the cooperation being achieved between relevant parties, the question of a preservation order under the National Monuments Acts does not arise at this time."