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
During the progress of drainage operations, five canoes became
exposed to view; they lay at the bottom in the same part of the lake,
with their bow in a north-westerly direction, all having the same
inclination or dip in the sandy or muddy deposit. A drawing was made,
with measured plans and sections of the most perfect of the “dug-outs”;
it was, however, split or fissured from starboard right through to the
stern; it measured twenty-two feet seven inches over all, its greatest
beam being thirty-one inches. It was formed out of one large trunk
of oak, and appeared to have been hollowed by means of fire; close
inspection showed that edged tools had been used in finishing it. The
bottom (two inches thick) was perfectly flat, and without keel, and its
perfectly smooth sides inclined outwards from the bottom. Two stout
ridges of solid timber, one near either end of the “dug-out,” served
to prevent the sides from collapsing, and between them and the bow and
stern cavities had been hollowed out of the solid trunk, seemingly
for the purpose of rendering the craft more buoyant. The port side
was several inches lower than the starboard--manifestly the effect of
accident. There were no traces of thwarts or benches; the sides had
neither row-locks nor thole-pins; the canoe must therefore have been
intended for propulsion by paddles. A horizontal hole, about one and
a-half inch in diameter, had been bored in the most forward and highest
part of the stern.
This entire fleet of ancient boats, together with several querns and
bones found in the locality, were, in 1868, at Brittas, the residence
of the Right Hon. General Dunn.[235]
_Cullina._--Mr. Louis Orr states that in 1872 he saw exposed by
turf-cutters in the bog of Cullina, about three miles from Maryborough,
the remains of a primitive wooden dwelling. “The building lay from
ten to twelve feet beneath the original surface of the bog, and
consisted chiefly of four upright posts, which formed the angles of a
square of six or seven feet across. These posts were about six feet
in height. A quantity of timber, consisting of planks and trunks of
trees, principally oak, lay scattered around, and some of the woodwork
appeared to have been charred by fire. Within what had been the area
of the hut was a trough made of oak, measuring three feet in length by
two in breadth.” A piece of thin metal (whether bronze or iron is not
stated), very much corroded, was also discovered. It was supposed to
have been a sword.
PROVINCE OF MUNSTER.
COUNTY TIPPERARY.
_Annagh_, in the parish of Kilbarron.--There is here (as stated by the
Rev. James Graves) a piled crannog, situated at the extremity of a
shallow spit--submerged except when the river Shannon is very low--and
at the outlet of a great circular spring or small lake, six or seven
hundred yards in diameter, which runs into Lough Derg. This site has
not yet been examined, but a map of the locality is here given.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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