Crannog

The National Monuments Service's description

Described by O'Sullivan (2004, 117-8) as 'Originally located at east end of Twy Lough (a long, deep lake), formerly surrounded by water but now separated from the shoreline by marshes to east and southeast. The site was 130m from nearest original shoreline to south. This crannóg is a low cairn (diam. 27m; H 1.3m, 0.3m above water) of stone, earth and timber in shallow water at the east end of Twy Lough. The crannóg is a low, level cairn, with gradually sloping sides, apart from the east side where it slopes steeply into the water. The cairn has been heavily eroded by wave action on the west side, revealing a palisade of vertical wooden posts, set in irregular concentric rows 3-4 deep. There was no evidence for horizontal timbers. Animal bone was also common here and across the surface o f the site. The crannóg is heavily overgrown today with large trees and bushes and is surrounded by reeds. The crannóg was clearly used as a fishing station in the 18th-19th century. A small rectangular summer house (dims. 5.3m N-S x 3.6m E-W), with drystone walls, mortared and whitewashed interior walls and a possible fireplace at the east end sits in the middle of the island. There is also an old wooden jetty on the southwest side, 4m in length (in 1m depth of water), bound with rope and on stilts. This was probably associated with the summer house. Local folklore has it that this lake (apparently formerly known as Loch Lochraighi, 'lake of the lake-folk’) was the site of an event in the Life of Ciarán, when the saint cursed heathens and rabble on an island in lake that were disturbing the monastic community'.

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

Date of upload: 10 March 2017

References

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 Unpublished PhD thesis.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