Crannog

The National Monuments Service's description

In a wet meadow, below the former shoreline of Lough Gara. It is surrounded by drumlins and therefore views are restricted. This high-cairn crannog, was excavated by Joseph Raftery between 1953 and 1955 (Raftery 1957, 10-15; Raftery 1994, 32-5) and prior to excavation was described as a large cairn or mound (36m x 29m; H 2.5m). The excavation showed that the crannog contained layers from the Late Bronze Age through to the medieval period. The base seemed to have been constructed by the piling of timbers and brushwood on a slight rise in the lake-bed. The Bronze Age levels contained a number of fireplaces. A hoard was found outside the crannog consisting of a wooden box in which were a necklace of amber beads, rings of bronze, tin and lead, tweezers, a bronze pin and six boar tusks. A dugout boat was found lying on the lake-bed beside the crannog (O'Sullivan 1998, 118). The crannog is now evident as a horseshoe-shaped cairn (25m N-S; 22.8m E-W; H c. 2.5m) with a scooped-out interior (10m N-S; 17.3m E-W), in the centre of which is a water-filled hollow (5.9m N-S; 11.7m E-W), probably resulting from the excavation. (Cross 1953, fig. 1; O'Sullivan 1998, 118-21; Fredengren 2002, KILA 018)

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

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 213/1955).