Crannog

The National Monuments Service's description

Located in Drumaleague Lough, now a small lake (dims c. 300m E-W; c. 200m N-S) on the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell canal, but was much larger (dims c. 800m ENE-WSW; c. 230m N-S at E) in the nineteenth century, extending further W on the 1835 edition of the OS 6-inch map. A crannog (diam. c. 22m), discovered in the 1850s, was composed of alder logs laid horizontally (T 1m) overlying brushwood which contained a cache of animal bones (T 1.2m), and it was defined at the edge by a line of stakes. There were hearths at various levels. Another crannog (LE028-006002-) was found in the lake at the same time. The precise location of this crannog is not known. (Graves 1858-9, 133-4; 1859, 190; Wood-Martin 1886, 243)

The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 23 September 2008

References

Graves, Rev. J. 1858-9 What we learn from Wilde's catalogue of the antiquities in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 5, 110-48.

Graves, Rev. J. 1859 Ancient lake-habitations of Switzerland and Ireland. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 1st Series, 7, 179-94.

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.