A 2,000 year old oak road excavated from a Longford bog is re-laid at Craggaunowen County Clare.
The trackway, constructed from oak planks during the Iron Age, was discovered two years ago in a Bord na Móna bog at Corlea, County Longford.
Constructed from a series of oak beams, each measuring over three metres in length, this ancient road traversed a route through the bog.
Archaeological and scientific tests carried out by the Office of Public Works (OPW) established the age of the road. A section has been transferred for preservation at Craggaunowen in County Clare where there is an open air museum near the village of Quin.
At Craggaunowen a team of young people on an AnCo training course (An Comhairle Oiliúna, the national skills and training organisation) assist archaeologists with the installation. This scheme has been designed to provide,
Tuiscint eigin dóibh ar thábhacht na staire agus ár n-oidhreacht dúchais.
Preserved by the watery environment of the bog, the Iron Age timbers will rest on a bed of peat and sprayed with water to ensure they survive. Director of Craggaunowen Tomás Ó Casaide explains, the way it was constructed indicates that this was not a footpath,
Bhain siad úsáid as cairteanna air.
This episode of 'Súil Thart' was broadcast on 27 April 1986. The reporter is Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill.
'Súil Thart' was a weekly Irish language magazine programme presented by RTÉ journalist Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill.
Bringing news, features, reports and interviews from all over Ireland to viewers, a knowledge of the Irish language or lack of one should not deter viewers, as Ní Dhomhnaill explains in an interview with the RTÉ Guide of 11 April 1986,
"If you can use the camera well to tell the story, it will smooth the path of comprehension even for those who do not understand Irish so well. Beautiful pictures tell the same story in all languages."
First broadcast on 15 February 1986, it ran until 1989.
