New 'digital interpretation' of 3,000 year old Mayne Bog trackway available online

A new “digitial interpretation” of the ancient wooden trackway in Mayne Bog is now available to view online.

The wooden trackway or togher was discovered in Mayne Bog, near Coole in 2005. In the years that followed, a series of targeted archaeological surveys and excavations established that the trackway dated from the late Bronze Age (c. 870 BC), about 3,000 years ago.

At that time, the trackway was a major routeway, averaging five metres wide and spanning approximately 800 metres connecting the higher ground at Mayne with the River Inny to the west.

The new “digital Interpretation” of the trackway features a reconstruction and an interactive 3-D model and includes a short video.

In the video, archaeologist Jane Whitaker from IAC (Irish Archaeological Consultancy) describes the results of the archaeological investigations and shares her understanding of how and why the trackway was built.

Archaeologist Aidan Walsh, who lives nearby and has campaigned for the preservation of the trackway, says that he is “delighted to see the details of this amazing archaeological site being brought to a wide audience”.

“The Mayne Bog trackway was an important discovery that tells us a lot about the prehistoric population in the area.”

Melanie McQuade, heritage officer with Westmeath County Council, explained why the project was commissioned.

“Mayne bog is not accessible to visitors and the surviving stretch of the trackway cannot be seen because it lies between 1.5m to 2m below the surface of the uncut ‘high bog’. It is this lack of visibility that prompted Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society to commission a digital presentation of the trackway, that would make the details of this site available to a wide audience online.”

Seamus O’Brien of Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society said that the society is “delighted to host this new digital interpretation, which brings to life the sheer scale of the Bronze Age trackway discovered at Mayne Bog and what a monumentous undertaking it was to construct it”.

The digital interpretation is now online, linked to Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society Website, click here to watch.