The Lake Dwellings of Ireland: Or ancient lacustrine habitations of Erin, commonly called crannogs.Wood-Martin, W. G. (William Gregory)
History
The Lake Dwellings of Ireland: Or ancient lacustrine habitations of Erin, commonly called crannogs.
Wood-Martin, W. G. (William Gregory)
Lake-dwellers and lake-dwellings -- Ireland
_Toome Bar._--In 1864 Robert Day, junior, gave the following
interesting description of sites of crannogs in this neighbourhood. The
bridge which spans the river at Toome forms a connecting link between
the counties Antrim and Derry. At this place Lough Neagh presents the
appearance of a great V, having the space between the points filled
with a sand-bank, known as Toome bar, and which is almost invariably
covered with from two to three feet of water. Barton, who published a
work on Lough Neagh in 1751, states that before the autumnal season the
water discharged at Toome was so very inconsiderable as not to afford a
depth greater than that which may reach to the ankle or the knee of a
person wading, and that on one occasion a man, taking advantage of an
inblowing wind, walked over dryshod. Strewn upon the bar, and imbedded
in it, were logs and balks of timber, some bearing the marks of fire,
while others still retained their upright position. They must have
been placed there artificially, as the bar of sand extends a quarter of
a mile into the lake, outside of which there is deep water, and if it
were by the force of the water they had been thrown up, it is equally
probable they would have been swept away by the first flood. From this
it may be inferred that there was on the spot, at a very remote period,
a crannog or lacustrine settlement. The large number of flint weapons
found on the surface, or imbedded in the sandy bottom, renders it more
than probable that they had been in use by the dwellers in this island
village. Flint is not found within seven miles of Toome, so that it
must have been carried to and manufactured in the crannog. The most
conclusive proof of their having been made on the site was furnished
by the presence of the large cores of flint from which the weapons had
been struck. Two rudely-shaped, barbed spear-heads were here obtained,
and four celts of the ordinary type, made from the trap rock, two
of them polished, but the others were made with less care, the edge
alone showing signs of careful working. Antiquities of great variety
belonging to the stone and bronze periods were found at the time the
river Bann was deepened; these were deposited in the Museum, R. I. A.
All the good specimens, evidently designed for special purposes, and
to which had been given certain and definite shapes, were made out
of rocks characterised by possession of all the essential qualities
needful for such articles; whilst the rude, ill-formed implements
were composed of shale, slate, schist, grit, or any other stone which
presented itself within reach. The greater number of the flint weapons
were formed by not more, probably, than three or four skilful strokes,
thus: one would strike the fragment from the core, two more would form
the mid-rib giving it a leaf-shape, and a fourth stroke would cause
the slight depression at the base intended to secure the weapon to its
shaft or handle. These opaque flint flakes, of the largest size and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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