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
_Ballaghmore_ is the name now applied to a lake (about a mile and
a-half from Enniskillen) in which was a crannog seemingly composed
entirely of earth and stones, in a soft depth of mud, surrounded with a
mass of aqueous vegetation. No piles were visible.
_Moinenoe (the bog of the yew)_ is a locality about a mile from
Enniskillen, and sometimes called Chanter Hill. It was the former site
of a lake which now in summer becomes a soft and treacherous swamp, and
such traces of the crannog as yet remain would be difficult to explore.
A single-tree canoe was found in the bed of the ancient lough.
_Breagho (wolf-field)._--Near a place of this name labourers when
cutting turf came upon a stockaded enclosure buried some twelve
or fourteen feet below the then surface of the bog; the crannog
was circular, and about thirty-five feet in diameter. A pair of
quern-stones, a large oaken, bowl-shaped vessel, split in several
places, and the sawn and perforated bones of a _Megaceros hibernicus_,
were the only “finds” recorded.
_Aughlish._--In a lake so called, about five miles from Enniskillen, in
the direction of Boho, there is a crannog, but the height of the water
precluded an examination. The tops of numerous piles are frequently
visible in summer-time.
_Killynure (the wood of the yews)_ is a small lakelet, distant a mile
from Enniskillen, on the Tempo road. It contains a crannog which is
usually flooded.
_Lough Acrussel_ is situated near Enniskillen. The crannog was found
standing in deep water; but after a continuance of dry weather the
piling all around could be distinctly seen, and the posts were, as a
rule, connected by horizontal beams. Near the centre of the island
there was a large flag-stone that had evidently been used as a hearth.
Upon sinking shallow trenches through portions of the work, bones
and teeth of animals of the usual character were discovered, as also
iron slag, wood charcoal in small quantities, and some thin pieces of
bronze, seemingly parts of a cauldron or dish. The plan of the crannog
was nearly a perfect circle, and its diameter sixty feet.[210]
_Lough Yoan._--In the summer of 1883, the crannog in this lake was
visited by W. F. Wakeman, who reported that its surface seemed covered
with bones of various animals, the larger of them having been broken
apparently for extraction of the marrow. There were several whetstones
and fragments of querns; but no traces of woodwork remained visible,
though possibly by digging through the sand and stones, of which the
shoal is chiefly composed, some discoveries might be made.
_Lankhill._--In this lake, situated near Enniskillen, a crannog
was discovered by W. F. Wakeman, by whom it will be described in a
forthcoming number of the _Journal Royal Hist. and Arch. Association
of Ireland_.
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