The Black Pig’s Dyke

We named our guest accommodation ‘Black Pig Lodge’ because of our close proximity to The Black Pig’s Dyke (in Irish: Claí na Muice Duibhe), an ancient linear earthwork, the path of which runs through nearby fields and woodland. We are just 700 metres away at its closest point. 

The dyke, also known as ‘The Black Pig’s Race’ or ‘Worm Ditch’ is believed to have been constructed from the [late] Bronze age and through the Iron Age, so somewhere between 1200 BC and 400AD; quite old. It would have been a substantial structure with (in these parts) two banks and a central ditch, approximately 9 metres wide and 6 metres deep. Some parts are still clearly visible and can be traced when walking along the nearby lane towards Kiltyclogher. In forestry just off this lane, one can actually gain access to the remains of the dyke, stand in what was the ditch and imagine just how impressive this construction must once have looked. 

Remnants of the dyke can be found in counties Leitrim, Longford, Cavan, Monoghan and Fermanagh, so, whatever it was for, it was an enormous building project and must have been seen as very important. It has been suggested that the earthwork(s) could have been the ancient border of Ulster. ‘The Black Pig’s Dyke’ may have linked up with other ancient earthworks; ‘The Dorsey’ in County Armagh and ‘Dane’s Cast’ in County Down, so altogether could have been a border between north and south but no concrete evidence exists. Another theory is that the dyke might have been built to prevent cattle rustling and/or as a channel for trade. 

Whatever the purpose, the dyke builders used natural features in their route planning, for instance, it runs from Lough Melvin (past us) to Lough McNean using those bodies of water as natural boundaries, and in some parts there are no earthworks to be found, as many areas would have been heavily forested, so another naturally occurring border. 

Various old folk tales put forward other explanations for the dyke, for example, it was created by a giant worm (hence Worm Ditch) or by the tusks of a huge black boar rampaging across the landscape (thus Black Pig’s Dyke). Interesting, fantastical and enduring, the folklore and other explanations put forward for the dyke’s existence certainly add to the mystery surrounding it.