Habitation site

The National Monuments Service's description

On Garret Island in Lough Gur and also to the S of the island on shallow reefs underwater. The island is 150m NW of the Knockadoon peninsula where extensive archaeological excavations have uncovered significant Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological monuments (Cleary 2018). The flint artefacts were collected by Ó Ríordáin during his campaign of excavation on Knockadoon in the 1950s (1954, 459). The lithic scatter (LI032-019----) on the island is evidence for settlement dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The site is one of three prehistoric settlement sites recorded on Garret Island (LI032-016/017/019----) which can be considered to be part of the same monument. Professor Frank Mitchell in 1948 identified prehistoric archaeological/palaeo-environmental deposits (LI032-016/017----) which were subsequently excavated in 1956 by both Mitchell and Liversage (1958, 67). The prehistoric settlement was recorded around a medieval castle site (LI032-018----). A causeway (LI032-021----) from the S end of the island leads SE to the adjacent shore on the Knockadoon Peninsula.
The island is depicted on the 1840 ed. OSi 6-inch map as a circular island (ext. diam. 30m) known as Garret Island. The surface of the island was recorded 1m above the lake level in 1840 (76.8m OD). The island is later depicted as a significantly larger area (170m N-S; 65m E-W) on the OSi 1897 ed. 25-inch map, the lake level is recorded 1.5m lower in 1897, the lake level today remains at c. 75m OD. The excavations on the island by Liversage and Mitchell (1958) have demonstrated that the lake level was lower in prehistory, possibly even lower than it is today.
The flint artefacts found around the island (Ó Ríordáin 1954) were recovered as stray finds and on lake bottom to the S of it (1954, 459). The island and the shallow reefs to the S of it are visible in the summer when the water level is lower and light conditions permit, see Google Earth orthoimage taken 28/06/2018. The reef is not visible on the most recent orthoimage taken 20/09/2020.

See attached Google Earth orthoimages

Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan

Date of upload: 2 November 2020

References

Liversage, G. D. 1958 An Island Site at Lough Gur. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 88, (1), 67-81.

Ó Ríordáin, S.P. 1951 Lough Gur excavations: the
great stone circle (B) in Grange townland. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 54C, 37-74.

Cleary, R. 2018 The archaeology of Lough Gur. Dublin. Wordwell.