"About 150 feet, in a south-easterly direction from this place, and in
marshy ground, were found a great many pile-heads, covered with grass
and vegetable matter; and after removing this covering they stood
as shown in the accompanying plan and scale. This is no doubt the
foundation of another crannoge or lake habitation. An area of 6 feet in
the centre seemed, so far as I examined, to have been laid with large
stones, and intersected with small trees and stakes. Beyond this space
I observed no stones, only the mud of the lake, and a few bits of small
trees. Three stones in the centre seemed marked by fire; and below
those I turned over, and under water, there was a good deal of charcoal
mixed with small bits of bone.
"In the neighbouring 'Loch of Flemington,' and covered with several
feet of water, are to be seen, when the water is frozen over, similar
remains of piles.
"In the east end of the small pond called 'Loch in Dunty,' about two
miles in a westerly direction from that of Flemington, are to be
observed three vestiges of piles about a foot above water; these,
notwithstanding the evidence of a Highlander living close by, 'that
the piles had been put into the loch in auld time, for the purpose of
steeping the lint,' are, in my opinion, of the same description, day
and generation, as those I have attempted to describe in the Loch of
the Clans."--(_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._ vol. v. pp. 116, 332.)
LOCH OF SANQUHAR, DUMFRIES-SHIRE.
In June 1863, Dr. Grierson of Thornhill announced, at a meeting of the
Dumfries-shire and Galloway Natural History Society, that an ancient
stockade had been found in a small loch near Sanquhar. He observed,
"that about five weeks ago, a man drowned himself in a tarn about two
miles north of Sanquhar. In order to recover the body, the water was
drained off, when it was found that a small island in the middle of
the loch or tarn was artificial, and had been constructed of stakes
with stones between, and had been approached by a zigzag line of
stepping-stones. It was thought that the loch might be altogether
artificial, forming, as it were, a moat or fosse to the little
fort."--(_Proceedings_, Session 1863-4, p. 12.)
During the summer of 1865, the members of the Society made an excursion
to this loch for the purpose of examining the crannog, the result of
which is described by the President (the late Sir W. Jardine, Bart.)
in his annual address, and from which the following extracts are
taken:[17]--
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