Crannog

The National Monuments Service's description

In boggy ground, at the W end of a former lake named 'Castle Lough' on the 1838 OS 6-inch map and below the former shoreline. Views are restricted due to the surrounding drumlins. A roughly circular low-mound crannog (17m N-S; 18.5m E-W; H 1.1m), indicated by a broken circle on the 1910-11 OS 6-inch map. The surface in the centre is fairly even with only a few stones exposed and it slopes gently down towards the edges. Two depressions were noted, the larger (7m N-S; 8m E-W; D 0.2m) at the SW edge, the smaller (1.5m N-S) at the SE edge. Just inside the E edge are two piles of stones, 1.5m apart (N pile: 1.65m N-S; 1.3m E-W: S pile: 2.45m N-S; 1.2m E-W). The piles, which face the lake, may represent an entrance. The edge of the crannog drops c. 0.45m sharply in all directions and is skirted by a 4m long chain of subangular stones (diam. 0.4m) along the NE arc. The crannog is generally overgrown with grass and surrounded by a band (Wth 7m) of high rushes that may indicate its full extent. A lacustrine enclosure (SL027-163003-) is c. 100m to NE.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005).

Date of upload: 18 January 2008