Keenagh (Corlea 2) Bog Trackway (County Roscommon–Longford border)
Corlea 2 — Keenagh Causeway · Keenagh Iron Age Trackway
Iron Age (Late Iron Age, La Tène D, 148 BCE)·Irish Iron Age (La Tène, Uisnech kingship)·🇮🇪 Connacht / Leinster, County Roscommon / County Longford, Keenagh Bog–Corlea Bog complex, River Shannon headwaters, Ireland
About
About Keenagh (Corlea 2) Bog Trackway (County Roscommon–Longford border)
5 m wide) 400 m north of the published Corlea 1 trackway — discovered but left in situ 1991 by Bord na Móna and Barry Raftery. Keenagh (Corlea 2) is 148 BCE dendro-felled oak transverse planks on longitudinal rails with hazel weaving identical to Corlea 1 but on a different alignment crossing Keenagh Bog to Dry Island, proving the Corlea–Keenagh field is a 5-trackway complex (Corlea 1–5) spanning 148–147 BCE winter felling. Pollen shows deliberate clearance of oak forest for track.
Left waterlogged in peat beside Corlea 1's 18-m preserved section in the visitor centre; visible as iron-pan hollow after industrial milling stopped in 1998.
Why it mattersDemonstrates Iron Age Ireland's largest timber-engineering program — 5 synchronous causeways 148 BCE, royal power display.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Corlea 1 vs 2 alignment difference
Theories
- 01Uisnech kingship bog road system
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Winter 148 BCE (dendro exact, felling season late autumn)
- Period
- Iron Age (Late Iron Age, La Tène D, 148 BCE)
- Culture
- Irish Iron Age (La Tène, Uisnech kingship)
- Builders
- Midland Irish Iron Age kingdom (Uisnech / midland tuatha)
- Purpose
- Royal peat bog causeway linking Iron Age dry-island crannog field and kingship inauguration way
- Abandoned
- c.100 BCE (bog growth)
- Rediscovered
- 1991 Bord na Móna milling; Raftery survey left in situ
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
-148
Winter oak felling for Corlea 2 (dendro)
1996
Corlea 1 visitor centre opens; Corlea 2 preserved in situ
On the ground
Structures & features
53.6150° N · 7.9500° W · 52 m · 2 mapped features
Oak Plank Surface (148 BCE, 3.5 m wide)
trackwayTransverse oak planks 3.5 m wide on Keenagh bog 400 m N of Corlea 1
53.6160° N · 7.9510° WHazel Woven Edge Rail
railingHazel woven rails securing edge of 148 BCE causeway
53.6140° N · 7.9490° W