‘To understand,’ says Sir William Wilde, ‘or appreciate the nature of these dwellings, we must bring back our minds to the period when the country around the localities where they occur was covered with wood, chiefly oak and alder, and when the state of society had passed from that of the simple shepherd or pastoral condition, to one of rapine, plunder, and invasion. Certain communities, families, or chieftains required greater security for themselves, their cattle, or their valuables than the land could afford, and so betook themselves to the water. With infinite labour, considering the means and appliances at their disposal, these people cut down young oak-trees, which they carried to the lakes and drove into the clay or mud around the shallows of these islands, which were usually, I believe, covered with water in winter; and having thus formed a stockade which rose above the water into a breastwork, probably interlaced with saplings, they floored with alder, sallow, or birch, to a suitable height above the winter flood, the space so enclosed, and on this platform erected wooden cabins. One large flag, at least, was also carried in for a hearthstone, or common cooking-place; and one or more querns, or hand-mills, have almost invariably been found in the remains of these crannogs.’ As far back as 1810 a lake-dwelling was discovered at Roscrea, but no special attention was given to it, as its precise nature was not understood. In 1839 the curiosity of Wilde and Petrie was aroused by the very frequent visits of a dealer bringing quantities of antiquarian objects for sale to the Royal Irish Academy. These, he said, had been found in the bog of Lagore, near Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath. A visit was paid to the spot, and a large collection of weapons, articles of personal and domestic use, objects of bone and wood were seen. This collection was unfortunately soon scattered, though some of it was secured for the Academy Museum. The Lagore lake-dwelling stood at a slight elevation above the surrounding bog, and consisted of a circular mound 520 feet in circumference. The waters of the lake in which it stood had been drained many years before, and during some subsequent operations on the stream, a quantity of bones were found; numbers of bone-gatherers came and carted off 150 loads, which were sent to Scotland for the manufacture of manure. The island was formed by ‘upright posts of black oak, measuring from 6 to 8 feet in height; these were mortised into beams of a similar material laid flat upon the marl and sand beneath the bog, and nearly 16 feet below the present surface. The upright posts were held together by connecting cross-beams, and (said to be) fastened by large iron nails; parts of a second upper tier of posts were likewise found resting on the lower ones.’