Crannog

The National Monuments Service's description

Located in the N, bulbous (dims c. 330-c. 400m) end of Rahans Lough (L c. 1km N-S) c. 90-100m from the N and E shores. Five silver shillings of Queen Mary dating from 1553-4 but fused into a single mass were found on a crannog at Rahans in 1863 (Dolley 1970, 218), and since then some quernstones (Lucas 1962, 157), a number of bronze pins, a ploughshare, a hone and other articles from the lough that were acquired by the National Museum of Ireland from the Shirley collection (Lucas 1968), may have come from this feature which is depicted as a small island (diam. c. 10m) on the 1834 and 1907 editions of the OS 6-inch map. This is a small overgrown platform cairn (diam. 14m; H 0.7m over water) built around rock outcrop (L 5m) on the W side. There is no timber construction visible although it has been described thus (Boylan 1967, 362-3), but there were animal bones on the W shore.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of revision: 27 June 2017

References

Lucas, A.T. 1968 National Museum of Ireland: archaeological acquisitions in the year 1965. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 98 (2), 93-159.

Lucas, A.T. 1962 National Museum of Ireland: Archaeological acquisitions in the year 1960. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 92, 139-173.

Boylan, Rev. A. H. 1967 The parish of Magheracloone. Clogher Record, vol. 6, No. 2, 361-78.

Dolley, M. 1970. Medieval coin hoards from the Ulster mearing, Clogher Record, vol. 7, No. 2, 204-220.