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Earth Science Conservation Review
| Garvaghullion Bog | Tyrone |
| Site number: | 106 | ||
| ESCC: | IS | ||
| Locality Type: | Altitude: 80m, Inland exposure | Status: | ESCR |
| Grid Reference: | H365768 Centroid | ||
| Google maps: | 54.6385,-7.4347 | ||
| County: | Tyrone | Council area: | Fermanagh & Omagh District Council |
| Period: | Quaternary | ||
| Stages: | Holocene | ||
| Site Description | |
|---|---|
| Highlights: | |
The site provided a detailed pollen and tephra record. PAST AND CURRENT RESEARCH STATUS Over the last five years the bog at Garvaghullion has been investigated for its pollen record of the landscape of the past 1500 years and its tephrostratigraphical and tephrochronological history of the Holocene. The pollen analytical investigation is due for publication in the Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (Hall, forthcoming). The section of the bog complex at Garvaghullion cored for tephra studies has been almost completely destroyed. When we visited the site in 1993, the dome was intact and the surface very wet with a rich Sphagnum flora. Now all but about a tenth of the area is in commercial horticultural peat production, with deep drainage and the surface milled. The untouched portion still retains the remnants of a pool and hummock surface with still a reasonable range of Sphagnum species. The drains around this remnant are so deep that it will soon be drained dry and is probably not worth conserving. The peat harvesting operation is carried out by the land. THE FUTURE OF THE SITE The justification for nominating this site was for its high quality as a raised bog with an intact dome and for the earlier investigations for tephra research. As this bog is only part of a valley complex of bogs that may have been at least partly interconnected in the past, we suggest that attention be focused on the next intact section of the complex at Claraghmore (Key Site 107). There is however a separate issue concerning a prehistoric wooden trackway at Garvaghullion. When the bog was visited in the early summer of 1997, the land owner told us that the site had been examined by archaeologists as a trackway had been found. He did not know who the archaeologists were but he expected them to return to the site at some future point. He emphasised that he had no objection to archaeologists looking at it, "as long as they did not stop him cutting the bog for profit". We were shown some of the timbers, some already extracted, others in situ and disappearing under the bog surface. They did indeed look like something that could have come from a trackway. It is a well constructed track of crossed timbers laid on parallel rails and is at a considerable depth at over 1.5m. The DoE (Environment and Heritage Service) intend to excavate the site before it is destroyed by milling. Peat extraction has produced a large heap of bog pines and some bog oaks that may have value for dendrochronology. | |
| Notes: | |
For general information and references on the Late Quaternary and Holocene of Northern Ireland see the following site: Key Site 101 - Introduction to the Late Quaternary and Holocene of Northern Ireland For site specific information on the Late Quaternary and Holocene of Northern Ireland see the following sites: Key Site 102 - Sluggan Bog Key Site 103 - Garry Bog Key Site 104 - Fallahogy Bog Key Site 105 - Slieve Gallion Key Site 107 - Claraghmore Bog Key Site 108 - Glen West Bog | |
| Keywords | |
|---|---|
| Structures: | tephra |
| Relations: | Interglacial deposit |
| Geomorph: | raised bog |
| Paleoenv: | grassland, temperate forest, tundra |
| NonGeol: | A prehistoric wooden trackway has been uncovered a |
| Access | |
|---|---|
| Threats: | Commercial horticultural peat production and the associated deep drainage and surface milling. |
| Uses | |
| Uses: | All but one tenth of the area is in commercial horticultural peat production. Peat extraction has produced a large heap of bog pines and some bog oaks that may have value for dendrochronology. |
| Record type: | ESCR report | Recorded by: | Jonathan R. Pilcher and Valerie A. Hall, Queen's U |
| Entered by: | E M Porter | ||
| Last updated: | 6 Jun 2005 | ||
| Enlander, I., Dempster, M. & Doughty, P., 2026. Garvaghullion Bog, County Tyrone, site details. [In] Earth Science Conservation Review. https://www.habitas.org.uk/escr/site.php?item=106. Accessed on 2026-11-06. |
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