Corlea Trackway Heritage Centre

The Corlea Trackway Heritage Centre interprets the significance of an Iron Age bog road dated to the year 148 BC which crosses the boglands close to the River Shannon. In 1984 the trackway of large oak planks was discovered in the bog at Corlea near the village of Kenagh in County Longford. Most of this track was in a Bord na Mona owned bog and was in an advanced stage of decay. Samples from the track were dated at Queens University in Belfast and this highlighted the importance of the track as the only example from Ireland dateable to the early Iron Age. In 1985 excavation work began which discovered four other trackways in the same bog. These were also investigated as well an additional sixteen tracks which were later found together along the western edge of the bog where they had been exposed by the activities of peat milling machines. The survival of these tracks through thousands of years greatly broadens our knowledge of early civilisations in Ireland.

The unique nature of the area was recognised by the building of an Exhibition Centre in 1994. This centre highlights the importance of the site in archaeological terms and has become a major atttraction in the Midlands. Inside the building, an 18 metre stretch of preserved road is on permanent display in a specially designed hall. Exhibitions in the centre are on Iron Age Trackways, archaeology and bog culture. Bord na Mona and the Heritage Service have carried out conservation work on the surrounding bog to ensure that it remains wet and that the buried road is well preserved.

VISITOR CENTRES

Corlea Trackway Heritage Centre