Crannog

The National Monuments Service's description

This crannóg was listed as Kiltoom 7 and described by O'Sullivan (2004, 76-8) as following; 'Located on level, gently sloping grassy foreshore, 8m from modem lake-edge (to W), 10m to the earlier shoreline (to E). The surrounding former foreshore is quite firm (with a heavy
glacial-till subsoil immediately below the grass). It is relatively rocky, occasionally with
outcropping, rain-weathered boulders. A broad, shallow (natural) depression runs NE/SW to
the N of the cairn, and the foreshore slopes slightly more steeply to the lake to the W of the
cairn. The nearest archaeological site (WM007-117----) is a large low-cairn crannóg, 60m to
the N. Present remains consist of a circular, low-cairn crannóg (diam. 12m; H 1.4m). It is a level, low, cairn of small water-rolled pebbles and stones, with occasionally larger flagstones scattered about its upper surface, all retained within an irregular stone kerb. The sides of the cairn are sharply defined, differing from the grassy, stone-free surroundings. The cairn generally slopes down to the W and gradually to the edges, but there is a steeper edge to the cairn on E, S and W. The cairn is irregular inappearance. In the NE sector, it is more exposed (less grassy) and there it can be seen to consist of numerous closely-packed small stones (average size 20cm length, 15cm width, 10cm thickness) and larger pebbles (of limestone, sandstone and slate). In the SW sector, the cairn is dominated by larger, rounded boulders (average size, 1.7m in length, 60cm in width, 40cm in thickness). The cairn appears to be retained within a kerb of vertical limestone slabs along the NW, W and S edges (where it is exposed). There is also remnants of an internal ‘wall’ running across the outer edge of the SW and W sector, where large rectangular slabs lie end-to-end over the lower kerb. There is a small duckhide off-centre in SE sector. A stone causeway runs off from the ENE edge o f the cairn, oriented ENE/WSW. This causeway runs up the shore towards the former lake-edge, but disappears into the soil. It is quite carefully built adjacent to the cairn. A single, large slab lies across the causeway, 1.8m out from the cairn. The causeway measures 6m in length, by 0.7m in width'. (O'Sullivan et. al. 2007, 126-7)

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by Aidan O'Sullivan.

Date of upload: 6 March 2017

References

O'Sullivan, A., Sands, R. and Kelly, E.P. 2007 Coolure Demesne crannog, Lough Derravarragh, Co. Westmeath: a crannog and its landscapes. Bray. Wordwell.

O'Sullivan, A. 2004 The social and ideological roles of crannogs in early medieval Ireland. Unpublished PhD thesis. Department of History, NUI Maynooth.