Crannog

The National Monuments Service's description

Within the S sector of Lough Rea, c. 75m from the shoreline to the S and W. The surface of this small roughly circular island (diam. c. 20m) was covered with flat stones when inspected by Kinahan (1861-4, 425-6) in 1863 and they extended below the water level around its E and W sides. Short spurs extended off it to the N and SW. A number of parallel logs of round ash timber were visible below the water at NE and E and oak piles were noted at NW and NE. Kinahan (ibid., 426) carried out an excavation across the E side of the island and found numerous bones, broken and whole hazel nuts, two hones and an E-W running wicker wall. A dive in the late 1990s revealed traces of posts from the W to the NW of the crannog (information from K. McDonald). (Wood-Martin 1886, 225, 228-9)

Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG

Date of upload: 7 January 2020

References

Kinahan, G.H. 1861-64 On crannoges in Lough Rea. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 8, 412-27.

Wood-Martin, W.G. 1886 (Reprint 1983) The lake dwellings of Ireland: or ancient lacustrine habitations of Erin, commonly called crannogs. Dublin. Hodges, Figgis and Co.