Crannog

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on flat poorly drained land, on the floodplains of the nearby river located 200m to the W. Circular flat topped area (diam. 19m) enclosed by a wide fosse with no evidence of an outer bank or entrance feature. Field drains run off the four sides of this area which has natural bedrock protruding. Site may be non-archaeological and may have been formed when digging the field drains which decided to go around the natural bedrock rather than dig through the rock thus forming the circular area. Described in 1977 as 'a small circular enclosure surrounded by a shallow fosse. The fosse on the NW side is very poorly preserved & can only be traced with difficulty. There is no trace of a bank around the interior. There are slight remains of an outer bank on SE & SW. This however appears to be a result of deepening the fosse on these sides. The interior has very slight rises & hollows, but no definite features which might be of archaeological interest. Field drains run into the fosse on North, South, East & West. This site does no immediately resemble a ringfort and it is difficult to say what type of monument it is. It is approx. 19m in diam. E-W & 19m in diam. N-S. It is set in flat pasture land which is moderately drained. Some large boulders lie on the edge of the interior on the inside of the fosse. Other boulders lie in the adjoining field perhaps this is an area of rock outcrop. Possibly it is the site of a crannog' (SMR File 1977).
Only the S half of the site is indicated as a curving field boundary and not as an antiquity on the 1838 edition of the OS 6-inch map. This curving field boundary may be the result of land reclamation works. Alternatively if it was an archaeological monument, this feature may represent the remains of a levelled crannog. The land in which the potential monument is located was wet marshy land that appears to be a floodplain and is marked on the OS 6-inch maps as 'The Rushes'.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload/revision: 20 December 2011