[Illustration: Scoring on fig. 120.]

[Illustration: Plate XXII.

Fig. 121.

Fig. 122.

Fig. 123.

Fig. 124.

Scribed Pins from Ballinderry Crannog.]

In fig. 121 (plate XXII.) the acus is 7⅝ inches long, flattish, and

ornamented by cross notchings, which seem merely ornamental, although

at one side the character N is repeated many times; the pendant is

somewhat rectangular in form, and perforated with a round opening--its

rim ornamented with dots and lines. Fig. 122 (plate XXII.) is a pin

5⅜ inches long, with a large flat pendant, rudely and irregularly

decorated in front. The acus has no ornament, but about its centre

there is a square enlargement to keep it firm when inserted in the

dress, and this projection has ogham-like scribings on three of its

faces. Fig. 123 (plate XXII.) has an acus 3 inches long, with a small

circle as a pendant, ornamented with dots; one side of the acus has a

herring-bone pattern, the other bears scores--

[Illustration: Scoring on fig. 123.]

Fig. 124 has the acus 3½ inches long, and a circular ring for pendant;

the ring has scoring on one face--

[Illustration: Scoring on ring of fig. 124.] One side of the acus is

ornamented with the dot-and-circle; on the other (shown in the cut) is

a runic-like scoring--

[Illustration: Scoring on acus, fig. 124.]

There are cracks, or openings, in the rings at the head of each acus,

by means of which the pendants may have been introduced; but these

cracks are possibly the result of wear or straining, and it may be that

both pendant and acus were originally carved out of one piece, like

Chinese chains of ivory rings. From the same “find” came a pin with

acus 4¾ inches long, having a flat discoid pendant of considerable

size, both acus and pendant ornamented with the dot-and-circle; also

a plain bone pin 2¼ inches long, with a hole at the head for a wire

ring; another plain bone pin 3 inches long, with a flat head unpierced

for ring or pendant; and a pin of yew, 2¼ inches long, with a round

head.[125]

[Illustration: Plate XXIII.

Scribed Pins from the Crannog of Ballinderry.]

The scorings on these pins, though mostly mere ornament, seem in some

cases greatly to resemble Ogham and runic characters, but Professor

Stephens, of Copenhagen, to whom photographs of the runic-like

scribings were submitted, could not decide that they were actually

runes; and again, other examples of bone pins from Ballinderry,

preserved in the Museum, R. I. A., bear seemingly well-marked Ogham

scorings, yet Professor Rhys and Sir Samuel Ferguson were unable

to interpret them.[126] The pin given, plate XXIII., fig. 1 (full

size), bears ogham-like scorings on the front of its disc, no doubt

originally intended to convey a meaning, but up to the present no

key has been discovered by which they can be read; it is possible

they were intended as a charm of some kind. Fig. 2 (plate XXIII.)

was not in the Academy when Wilde compiled his catalogue: the head

of this pin is of stone, said to be agate, secured to the bone stem,

seemingly, by a small wedge of bronze. Near its termination, the pin

assumes an acutely quadrangular form, each face bearing an ogham-like

set of scorings; these may possibly also have been talismans. Pins

of bone, as well as of bronze, have been frequently found with rings

of that metal attached to them, of a more or less ornamental

type, but sometimes consisting of a mere piece of wire. Fig. 125,

from Lisnacroghera, represents a rude ring of this nature; and quite

recently a bronze pin, with similar attachment, was picked up from

the bed of Drumcliff river, county Sligo. A pin of unusual form, and

ornamented with two human heads, fig. 126, was brought to light in

the crannog of Loughravel; the material is dark-coloured bronze, cast

in the required form, but finished off with a chasing tool. In fig.

127 the ring, with which most pins are decorated, assumes the form of

a coin, or flattened disc with a notch at top to allow it free play

in the loop. In some specimens the disc of the coin is smooth and

plain, but in others, as that here represented, it is highly ornate.

Fig. 128 shows a rude plain specimen of the penannular pin, decorated

in the inferior enlargements.[127] Fig. 129 from Lagore, has a head

of singular fashion, and the bronze ornament claims special notice

“on account of the analogy of type which it presents as compared

with the remarkable silver pins found at Largo, in Fifeshire,” and

with the “Hammer-headed pins” in the Museum, R.I.A. Fig. 130,[128]

of similar form, is ornamented on its semicircular plate; the ground

had originally been filled in with enamel, as were probably the front

terminations of the tubes. It was found near a crannog in Craigywarren

bog, parish of Skerry, county Antrim. Fig. 131, from Lagore, is

unique; its entire length is 3 inches, and it has three rings passing

through apertures in the elongated head, which is the only part here

represented; its inferior extremity is decorated with a cross-like

ornamentation.[129] Fig. 132, from Ballinderry, is a plain pin, with a

wheel-like head, having a small hole in the neck, through which a ring

passed.[130] Crannogs and street cuttings are the principal localities

from which the small pins, figs. _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_,

_h_ have been procured, they vary in length from 2¼ to 7½ inches; fig.

d is from Ardakillen.[131] All the articles figured in plate XXIV.

were found at Lagore, and now form part of the Petrie Collection in

the Museum, R.I.A. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are of iron, of which material

very few ornamental objects have been found in Irish crannogs. No.

1 is remarkable as presenting a fine example of the torque pattern.

Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in form strongly resemble brooch pins of bronze,

which there is every reason to believe belong to an extremely remote

period. The bone pins, Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, are faithful

representations of the leading varieties of that article, as found in

Irish lake dwellings, and indeed in some pagan tombs. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4,

5, and 6 (plate XXV.), are believed to represent wooden pins for the

hair. No. 1 remains in a perfect state: the mouldings upon its lower

and thinner end were doubtless intended to keep the article in its

proper place, and prevent its slipping from the “back hair” of some

long-forgotten beauty. No. 2 is unfortunately imperfect, but it is of

interest on account of the boldness of the mouldings by which its head

is decorated. No. 3 is perhaps the most remarkable pin composed of wood

which has been recorded as found in a crannog: its decoration consists

chiefly of varieties of the divergent spiral, highly characteristic

of early Celtic art. No. 4 may possibly have been a hair-pin, but it

was more probably used as a bodkin. Nos. 5 and 6, with serrated edges,

seem well designed for the purpose of securing the hair in position.

Pins of this kind were probably used in pairs, attached together with

a string. No. 7 is a nondescript piece of wood, with two perforations;

and No. 8 represents a handle, probably belonging to a very small

wooden vessel. No. 9, shaped like one half of a wheel, is cut out of

the solid, and appears to have been very carefully worked. It is almost

impossible to form an opinion as to the character of this object:

possibly it may have formed portion of the head of a cross: if so, it

is the only relic of that kind hitherto reported to have occurred in a

crannog. Nos. 10 and 11 are noticed by Wilde as seal-like articles. The

former of these is solid; but the latter, from its thicker end to the

moulding, is hollow.[132]

[Illustration: Plate XXIV.

Iron and Bone Pins from Lagore.]

[Illustration: Fig. 125.--Bronze Wire Ring from Lisnacroghera. Full

size.]

[Illustration: Fig. 126. Bronze Pin, with human heads, found in the

Crannog of Loughravel. Full size.

Fig. 127. Flattened disc-headed Pin from Ballinderry. Full size.

Fig. 128. Penannular Bronze Pin from Lagore. Full size.]

[Illustration: Fig. 129.

Fig. 130.

Fig. 131.

Fig. 132.]

[Illustration: Fig. _a_.

Fig. _b_.

Fig. _c_.

Fig. _d_.

Fig. _e_.

Fig. _f_.

Fig. _g_.

Fig. _h_.]

[Illustration: Fig. 133.

Fig. 134.

Fig. 135.

Fig. 136.

Fig. 137.]

[Illustration: Plate XXV.

Articles of Wood.]

Shears composed of iron, and doubtless used for all the purposes of

modern scissors, are common in Irish crannogs. Some from Lagore are of

graceful form, resembling articles of the same class found in Roman

settlements: the one represented, fig. 133, is of very large size, 8½

inches in length. Figs. 134 and 135 differ but little from fig. 133,

and they all resemble the implements commonly used for shearing sheep

in the present day. Figs. 136 and 137 are small iron knives, with tangs

for insertion into horn or wooden handles; at Lagore, where these

articles were found, great numbers of blades, some not exceeding three

inches in length, were discovered.

[Illustration: Fig. 138.--Bone Comb from Ardakillen.]

Of combs, the most numerous specimens are from the crannogs of

Ardakillen, Ballinderry, Lagore, and Cloonfinlough: in some, brass

teeth have been substituted for those of bone that had given way,

showing that, at the time the repairs were made, that metal was easily

procured and worked. Strangely enough, the most usual decoration

consists of a series of dot-and-circle patterns. The same style of

ornamentation was observed upon many of the combs found in the lake

habitations of Switzerland, and amongst the waifs of Roman settlements

in Britain. In the remains of such articles, in Irish and in Scottish

lacustrine sites, there is a striking resemblance; indeed the bone

combs, figured in Munro’s work, are identical with many existing Irish

examples. Although the material is usually bone, yet specimens formed

of wood are not uncommon: the great majority of combs discovered in

Irish crannogs are highly artistic in design--the handle portion

sometimes presenting animal forms. Sir John Lubbock says: “It is

somewhat remarkable that, while even in the stone period we find fair

drawings of animals, yet in the latter part of the stone age, and

throughout that of the bronze, they are almost entirely wanting, and

the ornamentation is confined to various combinations of straight

and curved lines and geometrical patterns;” and this he believes

will eventually be found to imply “a difference of race between the

populations of Western Europe at these different periods.”[133] The

comb, fig. 138, was procured from the crannog of Ardakillen, near

Strokestown, county Roscommon. It is restored from the fragments, and

in its original state was (as delineated) about 10 inches long, and

1¾ wide, it is now shrunk to a length of only 5½ inches. The toothed

portions are in separate pieces, and by this contrivance the pectinated

portion, if worn or broken, could easily be replaced. The comb, fig.

139, is the finest specimen of its class preserved in the Museum, R.

I. A., it is 2½ inches long, and 1¾ deep. The three pectinated portions

are held together by flat sides, decorated with scrolls and circles.

The top shows a triple openwork ornamentation: the side pieces are

grooved at one end, for the purpose of receiving the clasp of a metal

tooth placed in substitution of one that had been lost. Fig. 140, of

the same class, is a specimen of a short, one-sided, highly decorated

comb, 2¼ inches long, by 1⅜ deep. It is formed out of a single piece

of bone, is of graceful outline, and decorated upon the sides with

a number of dotted lines and circles. The three elevated rivets

projecting above the toothed portion, fastened metal plates which had

been attached to the comb, either when it was originally made, or

after it had been broken and mended.[134] Fig. 141 is also formed out

of a single piece of bone, ornamented with a dot-and-circle pattern;

it was found in the same crannog. A third variety of comb, being

double-toothed, is of a type so modern, that it seems to call for no

special description.

[Illustration: Fig. 139.--Bone Comb from Ballinderry.

Fig. 140.--Bone Comb from Lagore.]

[Illustration: Fig. 141.--Bone Comb from Lagore. Two-thirds real size.]

[Illustration: Fig. 142.

Bronze Tweezers from Ballinderry.]

[Illustration: Fig. 143.--Stone Pendent Amulet from Ballinderry Crannog.

Fig. 144.--Nodule of Clay-slate from Ballinderry Crannog.]

Save combs, very few articles for the toilet have been brought to light

in Irish crannogs, compared with the numbers found in other countries:

the accompanying engraving represents, however, what appears to be

tweezers, 3 inches long, made of bronze, and decorated on the external

surfaces with dot-and-circle pattern.[135] This, and the two following

articles, are from Ballinderry. Fig. 143, a pendant or amulet,

ornamented with dots in circles (as represented in the engraving), is

carved out of soft stone, and the inscription which it bore is so much

defaced as to be now undefinable. It is 3 inches long, including the

handle, or loop, for suspension, 1¼ inch wide, and about ⅝ inch thick.

The inscription is at top, separated by a line from the ornamentation

in the central part: the back is plain. Fig. 144 is a flattish nodule

of clay-slate iron ore: at one side, dots, each with two concentric

circles in the shape of a double cross, scribed on it, surrounded by a

border of similar ornamentation; on the other face, there are a number

of the same circles, irregularly disposed (as shown in fig. 144),

and, at one side of it, a runic-like scribing. The stone measures 3

inches by 2½, and is about 1½ inches thick. It is, to a certain extent,

polished.[136]

[Illustration: Ornamentation on fig. 144.]

[Illustration: Fig. 145.--Bronze Amulet, or Ornament, from

Lisnacroghera.]

Fig. 145, found in the crannog of Lisnacroghera is a small bronze

object, considered by W. F. Wakeman to have been an amulet: “the

figures which it bears are curvilinear examples of a symbol known to

antiquarians as the swastica. There can be little or no question as to

the eastern origin of this form of cross.”[137]

From the tenacity with which craftsmen adhered to ancient designs

or patterns, it is difficult to assign even an approximate date to

many remains of articles suitable for personal decoration; however,

any brooch, pin, or other object, upon which interlacing tracery

is displayed, should not be referred to a period antecedent to the

introduction of Christianity into Ireland.

[Illustration: Plate XXVI.

Bronze Brooch from Lagore.]

[Illustration: Fig. 146.--Hinge Brooch of Bronze from Ardakillen.]

[Illustration: Fig. 147.--Bronze Fibula from Lough Ravel.

Fig. 148.--Penannular Ring, or Brooch, from Lough Ravel.]

[Illustration: Fig. 149.

Penannular Ring from Ardakillen. Two-thirds real size.]

Of bronze articles connected with personal adornment, few can equal

in design and workmanship the hinge brooch from Ardakillen, here

represented; it is considered to be of great antiquity. The decoration

on the enlarged ends partakes of the “Celtic trumpet pattern,” while

the central connecting curved strap, with a raised intertwinement,

like that seen on some sculptured crosses, and in the illumination of

ancient MSS., would appear to have been cast. The thin ornamented plate

in front is fastened by eight rivets to a stout flat plate behind,

which also overlaps the edges of the strap; its flat pin is hinged at

the back.[138] The very remarkable brooch, represented full size, plate

XXVI., was obtained by Petrie[139] soon after the first opening of the

Lagore crannog. The original discoverer stated that it was enclosed

in an ancient case or box of yew--this has unfortunately been lost.

The material of which the brooch is composed, is fine golden-coloured

bronze, so lustrous that, in places which have been rubbed or exposed

to friction, it is difficult to decide whether the article had not been

originally gilt. The pin is 6⅝ inches in length: the diameter of the

ring 3⅝ inches. The deeply set compartments, or panels, some thirteen

in number, into which the ring is divided, contain ornamentation

in what is generally designated the Celtic style: these designs,

various in character and admirably executed, remain as sharp as when

originally made. It is decorated on the front only. The ring, as is

usual, expands on one of its sides, so as to fill up nearly one-half

of the circle. The head of the acus is secured to the ring by a boldly

projecting loop. The thickness of the plate forming the ring is about

a quarter of an inch; the edges are plain. Another bronze brooch,[140]

in use amongst the crannog dwellers of Lagore, is smaller than that

shown on plate XXVI. The ring measures but 2 inches in diameter; the

head of the acus contains a series of circular concentric mouldings,

the intermediate spaces being deeply sunk; in the centre is a cavity

which formerly contained a setting. The ring is continuous, and one of

its sides expands, exhibiting circles (similar to those ornamenting

the head of the pin), in one of which a fine setting of amber still

remains; the other is now empty. There is no trace of enamel having

been used on this brooch. A beautiful bronze fibula, or brooch,

found on the site of the crannog of Lough Ravel, is here reproduced

(full size), from the engraving in the late _Ulster Journal of

Archæology_. This brooch, and one of silver from the same locality, are

distinguished by their peculiar bird-head ornamentation on the superior

extremity. From the same crannog came the penannular ring or brooch

(fig. 148); and, from Ardakillen, a small penannular ring (fig. 149),

of most curious torque pattern; indeed, penannular rings of bronze,

of various sizes, sometimes highly decorated in very primitive style,

are of not unfrequent occurrence in Ireland: they are supposed by some

writers to have been used as a kind of money; others have pronounced

them to be finger-rings, or bracelets, according to their size; similar

objects are met with in gold, and, like their bronze prototypes, have

greatly puzzled the learned in antiquarian matters. At the crannog of

Lisnacroghera were found two penannular rings, formed of very thin,

golden-coloured bronze. They are hollow, and consequently extremely

light, so that they could scarcely have served as money: and the

smallness of their diameter, which is only 1⅜ inches, shows that they

could not have been bracelets. The following articles are also from

Lisnacroghera. Fig. 151, a bronze stud--use problematical. Fig. 152, a

plain bronze rivet. The circlets of bronze, figs. 153, 154, 155, may

have been either the rings of brooches or pins, or perhaps buckles

which had lost their tongues. Fig. 155 still retains traces of red

enamel in its chevron, or wavy ornamentation.[141]

[Illustration: Fig. 150.--Hollow Bronze Penannular Rings from

Lisnacroghera.]

[Illustration: Fig. 151.--Bronze Stud.

Fig. 152.--Bronze Rivet.]

[Illustration: Fig. 153.

Fig. 154.

Fig. 155.

Bronze Circlets.]

Touchstones would appear, from their make, to have been worn about the

person, several being pierced with a hole, seemingly for attachment of

a string. Sir W. Wilde remarks that they have been found both flat and

four-sided, and with and without perforation. They are formed generally

of black Lydian stone or of jasper, either material being suitable for

gold-testing. Lydian stone, or black chert, is “an impure flint, found

in the central portions of the carboniferous limestone of Ireland,

and at the base of the Kilkenny coal formation. It is of a dull dark

colour, approaching to black; is more opaque, brittle, and stone-like,

than flint; never possesses the same translucency, and does not so

readily chip into conchoidal fragments: but, next to flint, it is one

of the hardest of the siliceous rocks, and hence was used occasionally

for forming tools and weapons by the inhabitants of those districts

where flint was rare. Lydian stone, ‘Lapis Lydius,’ or, ‘Lapis

Hibernicus,’ as it was denominated by the old Dutch writer De Boot, so

long ago as 1647, is the true touchstone of the ancients.”

[Illustration: Fig. 156.

Pipe-clay Crucible.]

Few ornaments of silver, and still fewer of gold, have been brought

to light in crannogs, the antiquities of which consist mainly of the

more homely class of bone, bronze, and iron articles for personal

adornment; yet numerous gold ornaments have doubtless been discovered,

but remained unrecorded, from fear of detection on the part of the

finder, before the Treasury Minute respecting “Treasure Trove” came

into operation. Antique articles of gold have been turned up in the

bogs of Ireland, and in various parts of the country. Is it likely

that the inhabitants of “island fortresses” should alone be devoid of

the precious metal, especially as in them have been found both small

earthen crucibles--so diminutive as to have been useful only for gold

or silver smelting,--and also small pipe-clay cupels for refining

purposes, like those used in the present day for the assay of gold and

silver? Fig. 156 represents a pipe-clay crucible from the crannog of

Lagore, 2 inches broad, and 1 inch high. A well authenticated instance

of the discovery of the precious metal in a crannog, was that of

“several gold pins,” at Loughtamand, county Antrim;[142] and, in the

autumn of 1870, a beautiful, almost unique, specimen of early Irish

art came to light on the site of the former lake dwelling of Lough

Ravel, county Antrim. The accompanying woodcut is the size of the

original. This silver brooch, or fibula, represents two bird-headed

serpents joined together: both sides of the ornament are alike; the

silver is slightly thinner than a shilling piece; the pin is missing.

In the design there seems to be a resemblance to some of the initial

letters in the “Book of Kells,” and other early Irish MSS., so that its

probable age is not later than the tenth century.[143]

[Illustration: Fig. 157.--Silver Brooch from the Crannog of Lough

Ravel.]

[Illustration: Fig. 158.--Stone Ring. One-third size.

Fig. 159.--Stone Ring. One-half size.]

[Illustration: Fig. 160.

Jet Bracelet, or Ring. One-quarter size.

Fig. 161.

Glass Bracelet, or Ring. One-third size.]

Figs. 158 and 159 are good examples of stone rings, the former 2½

inches in the clear; the latter, 2¾ inches. Fig. 160, drawn one-fourth

the real size, is a bracelet of jet, from Lough Eyes, restored from the

fragments; and fig. 161, restored from existing remains in the Museum,

R.I.A., is of blue-coloured glass, decorated with spots and a cable

pattern.

[Illustration: Plate XXVII.

Beads, composed of various materials, from Ardakillen, Lagore,

Ballinderry, Drumdarragh, Cloonfinlough, and Lough Eyes.]

Beads of stone, bone, jet, earthenware, and wood, occur in crannogs;

also beads of amber, of which many are in modern use amongst the

peasantry as prayer-beads. O’Flaherty, in his _Iar Connaught_, states

that amber was procured in more or less quantities on the coast of

Galway. Ornaments of glass, from the most simple and unpretending plain

blue bead to that studded with settings of enamel or vitreous paste,

so varied in colour and of so much beauty in outline that they might

be worn at the present day, are still met with in crannogs, as well as

in pagan sepulchres. Blue appears to have been the favourite colour,

but some are pale green, white, yellow and red, with spirals and

decorations of varied colours; whilst others have a dark groundwork,

and are studded with fragments of red, green, yellow, blue and white

enamel. All the beads figured in plate XXVII. are drawn full size. No.

1, formed of stone, presents an average specimen of its class. No.

2 is from Lagore, where a considerable number, but of smaller size,

occurred. No. 3, composed of bone, is probably the largest bead of that

material found in any crannog: usually, they are scarcely the size of

an ordinary pea. No. 4 is a pendant of black opaque glass; it probably

formed the centre of a necklace. One resembling it, but composed of

stone, may be seen in the Petrie Collection, R.I.A. No. 5 is a small

bead of blue glass; its form is one of rare occurrence. No. 6, of plain

cylindrical outline, was accompanied by several others of the same

class: in colour it is a dull green. No. 7, a small globular bead of

glass: colour deep blue; and No. 8, of similar shape, is composed of

opaque white glass, or porcelain. No. 9 is a beautiful bead of green

glass, presenting in dark-blue the dot-and-circle pattern; the spaces

between the dots and their surrounding circles are pure white, so that

a very pleasing effect is produced. No. 10 is an unusually long bead,

of material similar to No. 6. No. 11 is a curious bead, through which

passed a piece of bronze wire, which probably formed the loop of a pin.

No. 12 is formed of dark-green glass, relieved by yellow ornamentation,

as shown in the representation; and No. 13 is of dark-blue opaque

glass, or paste, with chevrons of white glass, or enamel, passing round

it. No. 14 is formed of white glass, or porcelain, ornamented with

a pattern in black, and the opening for the string unusually large.

No. 15 is composed of very light-coloured blue glass; and No. 16 of

pure crystal. No. 17, formed of jet, was accompanied by fragments of

bracelets of the same material. No. 18, apparently formed of fine

clay, its colour what artists call Venetian red, is in the Petrie

Collection. No. 19 is, undoubtedly, most curious, not on account

of its form or design, which is common, but in regard to its being

made of lead--perhaps the only example of a bead of that material

discovered in Irish crannogs. No. 20 is a fine specimen of the amber

bead, so often discovered in connexion with very early remains. No.

22 is also an amber bead, of rather unusual form, being almost flat,

like a wheel. Nos. 23 and 24 were picked up by W. F. Wakeman, from the

shores of one of the crannogs of Lough Eyes, but at a time subsequent

to the publication of his Paper on that locality.[144] The collection

of glass and enamel beads in the Museum, R.I.A., contains one of long

cylindrical form, composed of blue, white, and yellow enamel; it is ¾

of an inch long, is decorated with a blue and white band round each

extremity, and has yellow spots on the centre: it is of the same

character as No. 41, represented by fig. 162. No. 21, one of the most

beautiful beads in the collection, fig. 163, measures half an inch

in the longest diameter, and is composed of clear glass, with bright

yellow spirals of opaque enamel covering its sides. No. 27, represented

by fig. 164, is an opaque bead of glass, light-green in colour: the

aperture is rather large, so that it may have been used as a necklace,

or pin-bead; it is grooved in melon-form. Two beads, composed of green

glazed-ware, and also of melon-shape, may be seen figured at page 178,

in Munro’s _Scottish Lake Dwellings_. Nos. 20, 21, and 27, Museum, R.

I. A., are from the crannog of Lagore.

[Illustration: Fig. 162.

Bead from Lagore.

Fig. 163.

Bead from Lagore.

Fig. 164.

Bead from Lagore.]

[Illustration: Fig. 165.

Fig. 166.

Fig. 167.

Beads from Lisnacroghera.]

[Illustration: Fig. 168.

Fig. 169.

Beads from Lough Ravel.]

[Illustration: Fig. 170.

Glass Bead from Ballintlea.]

The three following beads here described are from the crannog of

Lisnacroghera. Fig. 165, of opaque blue glass, very dark in colour,

but relieved with white streaks of the same material, crossing each

other obliquely. Fig. 166, of ordinary blue glass, quite plain; and,

fig. 167, an elongated cylindrical bead of amber.[145] In Wilson’s

_Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, and in Keller’s _Ancient Lake

Dwellings of Switzerland_, may be seen representations of beads,

greatly resembling one from the crannog of Lough Ravel, county Antrim,

as shown in fig. 168. Fig. 169, from the same locality, is somewhat

similar, but the yellow, raised and rope-like decoration which

encircles it does not form an integral part of the glass; it has been

produced by laying the colour on the surface, instead of its being

fused into the glass. The bead, fig. 170, although from the lands of

Ballintlea, near Timahoe, Queen’s County, is of the same class as many

discovered in crannogs. At top and bottom it exhibited indications of

friction, showing it had been strung with others as a necklace, or some

article of personal adornment. It is formed of sea-green glass, moulded

to represent interlaced cords, the strands composed of threads of white

glass; round the upper and lower rims there are small knobs of opaque

yellow glass. That these beads are of native Irish manufacture

is extremely probable, as, in two instances at least, lumps of blue

glass in an unfashioned state have been discovered in connexion with

crannogs, which also yielded beads of exactly the same colour and

material. The majority of the beads present internal evidence of the

manner in which they were made: “the glass has at first been in the

form of a rod, then a portion, when in a soft state, was bent into the

form of a bead, and sufficiently heated to cause the ends to unite.…

When the ornamentation is composed of a spiral rod, it has been laid

on in the same way, and the line of junction can be made out in every

case.”[146]

[Illustration: Fig. 171.--Bone Harp Pin from Ardakillen. Half-size.]

[Illustration: Plate XXVIII.

Harp, from the Crannog of Ballinderry. Woodwork restored.]

_Music._--It has been remarked that, in order to form a just

estimate of the character of any particular people, it is necessary

to investigate the pastimes and amusements most prevalent amongst

them; war, and other contingent circumstances may place men at

different times in different points of view, but when we follow them

into the retirement of their homes, we are most likely to see them

in their true state. In crannogs few musical instruments have come

to light, owing probably to the perishable materials of which they

were usually composed, yet enough remain to prove that, in time of

peace, the sweet sound of the harp, and in war, the hoarse bray of

the trumpet, resounded over the waters of the lakes. Portions of

ancient harps have not unfrequently occurred in crannogs, but no

fairly perfect example has as yet come to light. Some harp pins are

formed of bronze, and several of bone were found at Ardakillen. In the

Museum, R.I.A., there are upwards of twenty harp pins, the majority

obtained from crannogs: they vary in length from 2⅛ to 4⅛ inches,

are square in the head, and perforated in the smaller extremity,

for holding the wire string. In the accompanying plate XXVIII., is

figured (1) an Irish harp as restored: it stands at present 37 inches

in height, all the metal portions were discovered in the crannog of

Ballinderry, county Westmeath, and the proportions and form of the

modern woodwork were regulated by the size and form of the original

metal work; the thirty-five pins show the number of strings that were

formerly attached. Although the style of decoration is of a very early

character, yet as the letters I.H.S., surmounted by a cross, appear

engraved on a brass plate in front of the instrument, the work cannot

be older than the sixteenth century. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, convey a

clear idea of the kind of ornamentation on the metal fittings, and No.

7 (from Drumdarragh crannog) represents a harp pin of the usual kind.

[Illustration: Fig. 172.--Trumpets in the Museum, R.I.A.]

[Illustration: Fig. 173.--Showing riveting of Trumpet. Full-size.]

[Illustration: Plate XXIX.

BRONZE TRUMPET, NOW IN THE MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY.

FOUND IN THE CO. DOWN, A.D. 1809.

Figures 2 and 3 side view of Trumpet, scale one and a-half inch to a

foot; Fig. 4 shows the joining of the plate, and of the two lines of

rivets of Fig. 2; Fig. 3 is similarly rivetted.

Fig. 1 section of fig. 2 at larger end, full size, showing strap and

rivets.]

In 1809, at Ardbin, parish of Annaghclone, county Down, both joints of

a very large and perfect curved bronze trumpet, or bugle-horn, were

disinterred from a peat bog that had been a sheet of water about the

middle of the last century. As conclusive proof of there having been

a crannog in this former lake-bed, a stratum of burnt oak, a canoe

scooped out of a single tree, together with four short paddles, were

dug up from the peat. Of the trumpet, the remains--minutely described

in the _Newry Magazine_ for 1815--are now in the Museum, R. I. A.,

and in the accompanying engraving (fig. 172) the outside trumpet is a

representation of this instrument. As may be observed, from comparison

with the various other horns in the Museum, it is by far the largest

of that collection, and is probably (as asserted by Wilde) the finest

of its kind discovered in Europe. The trumpet is given on a larger

scale in plate XXIX.: “it measures 8 feet 5 inches along the convex

margin, and consists of two portions, each formed of very strong

sheet bronze of a yellowish red colour, and joined along the seam.” It

is 3½ inches wide at the open of the large end, and ⅝ at the upper;

the small tube has parallel sides, and is about the size of the small

extremity of the larger. By what means the two were joined together, or

whether a mouth-piece was attached to the small extremity, is unknown,

yet a variety of loud martial tones can be produced by the lower

fragment. “The riveting of the edges in this instrument is the most

perfect thing of its kind yet discovered, and is well exhibited in the

accompanying cut, drawn the natural size from portions of its external

and internal surfaces. The bronze strap which covers the joining on

the inside is studded with small circular-headed studs, riveted on the

outside, as shown in the lower section of the cut. There is no strap

externally; and the perfection of the riveting has long been a subject

of admiration to the curious, there being as many as 638 rivets in the

lower portion.[147] By what means they were introduced throughout,

or what description of mandril was employed for riveting them upon,

is still subject of speculation.”[148] To judge from its size, this

kind of war trumpet should give no uncertain sound. It is stated by

Polybius, that on the continent “the parade and tumult of the Celts

terrified the Romans, for there was amongst them an infinite number of

horns and trumpets,” &c. And in describing the Celtic Gauls, Diodorus

Siculus says, “they have amongst them trumpets peculiar as well to

themselves as to other nations; these by inflation emit an hoarse sound

well suited to the din of battle.”

_Chess, &c._--In early Irish MSS. frequent mention is made of chess

as a favourite amusement of the Celtic people; and in “The Dialogue

of the Ancient Men”--a valuable tract contained in the _Book of

Lismore_--there is a curious passage relating to a game of chess, the

players being Finn Ban Mac Breasel, son of the king of Leinster, and

Guaire Goll, one of Fionn Mac Cumhail’s chess-bearers; the wager was

three ounces of gold, and the players quarrelled as usual. The passage

is here given as a record of the prevalence of this game at a remote

period: “And these two played for three days, and Guaire did not win

one game during that time. And he threw down his wager, and insulted

and abused the other man, and he said ‘he was not a servant in service,

nor a vassal in vassalage, nor a hero in heroism;’ and Finn Ban raised

his fist, and gave Goll a blow that brought three front teeth out of

his upper jaw, and they fell together on the back of the chess board.”

Another anecdote in proof of the prevalence of the game may be found in

O’Curry’s _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish_; in it the scene

is also laid in the pagan age, but anterior to the time of the famous

Finn Mac Cumhail--[149] “It was a century before the Incarnation, that

Eochaidh Airemh was monarch of Erinn, and his queen was the celebrated

Edain, a lady remarkable not only for her beauty, but for her learning

and accomplishments. One day that Eochaidh was in his palace at Teamair

(according to this ancient story), a stranger of remarkable appearance

presented himself before him: ‘Who is this man who is not known to

us, and what is his business?’ said the king. ‘He is not a man of any

distinction, but he has come to play a game at chess with you,’ said

the stranger. ‘Are you a good chess-player?’ said the king. ‘A trial

will tell,’ said the stranger. ‘Our chess-board is in the queen’s

apartment, and we cannot disturb her at present,’ said the king. ‘It

matters not, for I have a chess-board of no inferior kind here with

me,’ said the stranger. ‘What do we play for?’ said the king. ‘Whatever

the winner demands,’ said the stranger. They played then a game, which

was won by the stranger. ‘What is your demand now?’ said the king.

‘Edain, your queen,’ said the stranger, ‘but I will not demand her till

the end of a year.’ The king was astonished and confounded; and the

stranger, without more words, speedily disappeared.” It is clear that

chess is a game of great antiquity,

“Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale

Its infinite variety.”

From the crannog of Lagore was obtained a thin stone or slab of

squarish form, measuring about 14 inches on either side. It presented

upon its upper surface a number of squares as on a chess-board.[150]

The material for this purpose, however, varied considerably, for in the

“Annals of Clonmacnoise” it is stated that when _Muirchertach_ of the

leathern cloaks (who lived in the middle of the tenth century) carried

off the body of Cerbhall, king of Leinster, he caused a chess-board to

be formed out of his bones. Instances of utilizing the osseous remains

of a dead adversary were, in ancient times, not uncommon. The old

Vikings, in imitation of their gods, quaffed their ale out of goblets

composed of the crania of their enemies.

[Illustration: Fig. 174.]

In Irish lacustrine sites a number of discs, formed apparently of

deer’s horn, or bone, have been frequently met with; these articles,

as a rule, are ornamented on one side only with the dot and circle

pattern, such as appears upon combs and other objects of bone; many

were found at Lagore, Cloonfinlough, Ballinderry, &c., and they

resemble one from the Loch of Forfar, figured in Munro’s _Ancient

Scottish Lake Dwellings_. The term “whorl” has been very generally

applied to these discs, the supposition being, that their use

was to aid in the rotation of the distaff or spindle. Some Irish

archæologists, however, have suggested the idea of their being rather

draughtsmen, or counters for a game; and English antiquarians have

pronounced a similar opinion with regard to ivory discs discovered in

that country. The latter suggestion certainly carries with it a great

degree of probability; and although the game of draughts as now played

cannot claim great antiquity, yet there were other pastimes in which

little stones, shells, or nuts were employed by the ancients; but, as

the arts of man progressed, “stones and shells were laid aside, and

ivory counters became their substitute.” Croften Croker in his tour

through Ireland early in the present century observed two peculiar

games then almost universal amongst the peasantry; one of them was

played on lines usually marked on a board with chalk, as shown in

fig. 174. “Each player is provided with three counters (_small black

and white pebbles or shells_) which are simply deposited on the

board in turn; the game is won by getting these three counters in a

straight line. The centre point is considered the most advantageous,

and is always taken by the first player: when all the counters are

deposited, moves are made from one point to the next should it be

unoccupied, and so on until a careless move on either side decides the

game, by allowing the adversary to form his three counters in a row.”

The unperforated discs ornamented on one side only it may be fairly

surmised had served either in draughts or in games of that nature.

Fig. 175 represents a specimen of this class found in a “souterraine”

at Drumcliff, county Sligo, in company with calcined bones and traces

of iron remains; it seems to be identical in style, size, and material

with those found in crannogs, as for example fig. 176, from the crannog

of Cloonfinlough, ornamented with a border of circles with dots in the

centre surrounding four groups of similar circles: each group consists

of four circles. Fig. 177, from the same locality, is plainly decorated

with five circles arranged in a cruciform pattern. Both these articles

are stained a dark-brown colour.[151]

[Illustration: Fig. 175.--Unperforated Bone Disc from Drumcliff, Co.

Sligo. One-half size.

Fig. 176.

Fig. 177.

Unperforated Bone Discs from Cloonfinlough. Full size.]

[Illustration: Fig. 178.--Perforated ornamented Bone Disc from Lagore.

One-half size.

Fig. 179.

Fig. 180.

Perforated Bone Discs, with Spike, from Lagore. One-half size.]

With regard to the perforated discs, it should be borne in mind that

they were of the same size as the _unperforated_, were decorated with

similar designs on one side only, and that it is almost incredible

so much trouble should have been bestowed on the ornamentation of an

object intended to serve merely as a spindle whorl, as for example on

the accompanying examples from Lagore. The more natural inference seems

to be, that these discs were employed in some game--say chess--the

perforations being intended for reception of the upper parts, marking

the distinctive character of the various pieces used in the game. Nos.

10 and 11, plate XXV., may possibly have been these distinctive upper

portions. An object similar to fig. 180 is described in the _Catalogue

of the Museum, R.I.A._, as a “whorl,” in which a portion of the lower

end of the bone spindle still projects; but might it not equally be

supposed to represent a chessman--possibly a pawn--judging from the

simple outlines of its projecting portion?

Plate XXX., Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, from Lagore, and now in the Petrie

Collection, R.I.A., are all perforated. Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11

are discs formed of bone or horn, varying in thickness from ¼ to ⅛ of

an inch; No. 6, however, is scarcely ¹⁄₁₆ of an inch. All these are

unperforated, therefore could not have been used as “spindle-whorls.”

No. 11 is quite plain, the other specimens are ornamented, but only

on one side; all the above are of bone; Nos. 12 and 13--both of them

composed of stone and perforated--also came from some of the crannogs

in the neighbourhood of Strokestown, and the latter is a good specimen

of the so-called “whorl” commonly found in the northern counties, where

hundreds of them have been discovered in a great variety of places, in

carns, crannogs, plough lands, &c.

[Illustration: Fig. 181.--Stone Chessman, in the British Museum.]

Fig. 181, from Cloonfinlough, is, it is believed, a unique specimen of

a stone chessman, rounded in the body, diminishing towards the top,

and flattened at both extremities. It is 1³⁄₁₆ inch in height, ¾ inch

in diameter, and is polished; the material beautifully veined, yellow,

pale brown, and white.

[Illustration: Plate XXX.

Stone and Bone Circular Discs from Crannogs.]

_Ogham._--It is a disputed point, with regard to Ogham inscriptions,

whether the signs represent a very ancient alphabet, or are merely a

mediæval invention, or cipher. Some allusions to be found in old Irish

MSS. refer them to ante-Christian times; but it may also be observed,

that in similar writings frequent mention is made of a man’s _Ogham

name_ as being scribed on a stone raised in commemoration of him;

such name must therefore be inferred to differ from that by which he

was ordinarily known. Now, if Ogham be viewed as a cipher, dating

only from the early monkish period of Christianity, the _Ogham name_

may mean simply what in the present day would be termed _the name

in Religion_. It is, however, immaterial for the present purpose to

which category Ogham characters be assigned, for in either case they

belong to the metallic age, as probably no race in the stone age had

attained the art of communicating ideas by means of an alphabet. Even

in the present day, when seeking to civilize barbarous tribes, it is

found essential, for the purpose of imparting information, to adapt

their languages to an alphabet. Ogham may be briefly described as an

arrangement of strokes, or indented lines or notches cut on the arris,

though sometimes found on the flat of the stone or other material, when

a straight line is substituted for the arris. The letter is denoted by

the length of the stroke or notch, its position, whether above or below

the arris or line, or appearing both above and below, and likewise the

number of strokes or notches grouped together. Oghamic scribings have

been found on a stone in the crannog of Ballydoolough, and on bone pins

and other ornaments in the crannogs of Ballinderry and the Strokestown

group. Ogham appears to have been employed not only for mortuary

inscriptions carved on pillar-stones erected over celebrated warriors,

but also, in the same manner as we now use the Roman alphabet, for

communication by messengers, &c. On one occasion a celebrated mythical

Irish hero, named Cuchullain, when traversing a forest saw an inscribed

pillar-stone, and hung round it a verse in Ogham character, carved by

him upon a withe.[152] The MS. from which this anecdote is quoted was

compiled about the year 1106. The same hero is elsewhere represented as

sending information to Meave, queen of Connaught, by means of cutting

or scribing on wands; the son of a Scottish chief is described as

cutting Ogham characters on a spear. The date of the latter incident is

assigned to the commencement of the Christian era. Another instance is

mentioned, partaking however more of the nature of a regular letter. In

A.D. 408, Corc, son of the king of Munster, was driven by his father

into exile; he fled to the court of Scotland; but, before appearing in

the king’s presence, an Ogham inscription on his shield was discovered

and deciphered by a friend, who thus saved the prince’s life, the

inscription being to the effect that, should he arrive at the Scottish

Court by day, his head was to be cut off before evening, and if by

night it was to be cut off before morning.[153]

It is almost needless to add, that all Ogham mortuary scribings are in

very antique language, thereby adding considerably to the difficulties

attending any attempt at translation of these archaic inscriptions. The

Gaelic of to-day, where it yet lingers, is to the ancient dialect much

what modern English is to the Anglo-Saxon of olden times. The oldest

lettered characters of the Irish lake dwellers are Ogham or runic-like

markings on stones, amulets, pins, and brooches. An important “find” at

Ballydoolough consists of a block of hard reddish sandstone, measuring

2 feet 1 inch in length, by 4½ inches in breadth, and 6 inches in

depth. On it are well-marked Ogham characters, and these, when read by

the light of the Ogham alphabet, would seem to spell the word B A L H U.

[Illustration: Fig. 182.

Ogham found at Ballydoolough Crannog.]

In the comparison of Irish and Gaulish names by Professor Adolph.

Picket[154] is found the Celtic name “Balanan” (BALANU), which seems

very like that on the stone. At the thicker end of this stone, just

before the commencement of the Ogham, a slightly-marked cross of

peculiar form may be traced;[155] and the accompanying illustration

represents, full size, a fragment of an ornamented stone, from

Ardakillen, inscribed with Ogham-like scores.

[Illustration: Fig. 183.--Scribed Stone from the Crannog of Ardakillen.

Full size.]

_Money._--The precious metals, shaped for purposes of traffic, at once

stamp crannog “finds” with a modern, or at least with an historic

date. Very few coins, however, have come to light; the most numerous

are of the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth, some of them being forgeries.

In the crannog of Cloonfinlough the coins varied in date from one of

the Emperor Hadrian to a specimen of the brass money of James II. One

coin was discovered under such strange circumstances that it claims

special mention:--In the lake adjoining the glebe house, in the parish

of Aghnamullen, county Monaghan, there are two islands, and about the

year 1850 one of them was for the first time ploughed, and many curious

antiquities turned up. In 1863, the rector then in possession, while

seated on the island, and peering into the water, observed what to him

appeared a button on the leaf of a water-plant growing up from the

bottom of the lake; on pulling the leaf, this proved, however, to be

an ancient coin--a half groat of the reign of Edward III. The natural

growth of the aqueous vegetation had thus lifted to the surface of the

lough some of its buried treasures.[156]

Strange as is this incident, it is surpassed by one related in

connexion with the discovery of a silver penny of King John. It appears

that upon preparing a fish of the bream species, taken in Dalkey Sound,

the coin referred to was found in its stomach, and as it is on record

that some time during the reign of John, a ship containing a large

sum of money was sunk close to the place where the fish was captured,

it is but reasonable to suppose that the coin in question had formed a

portion of the lost treasure.

[Illustration: Fig. 184.--Cheek-pieces of Bits.]

_Horse Furniture._--At Ballinacarriga, near Moate, county Westmeath,

the peaty mould of a lake, now almost dried up, has at various times

yielded numerous objects of interest. One of them (plate XXXI.) is

thus described by Alderman Day, F.S.A.:--“It somewhat resembles in

shape the wooden forepart of a cavalry saddle of the present day, but

here the likeness ends; this piece of horse furniture is covered with

interlaced knot-work of the choicest kind, similar to the well-known

ornamentation upon our ancient Irish crosses. The timber composing it

is yew, which fortunately was preserved by being deposited in the peaty

mould of the lake bottom. The centre of the pommel is pierced by a very

Moorish-looking horse-shoe ornament, and both sides of the timber are

carved in compartments, no two of which are alike in their filling up

of scroll and net-work. Even the top of the pommel, of both near and

off side, differs in the pattern of the ornament. The points of the

pommel at both sides are pierced with two holes, where the mark of the

fong is apparent, by which the forepart was secured to the lateral

boards which formed the seat of the saddle, and both points are grooved

for the reception of these boards.” Bridle-bits, or cheek-pieces, were

discovered in Loughran Island, in the river Bann: of these, one is

quite plain, and the other remarkably slender; it measures 6 inches

across--the two metal rein-straps still remain on the posterior

loop. The third, fig. 184, represents a fragment merely, of one that

had borne ornamentation.

[Illustration: Plate XXXI.

Forefront of Ancient Irish Saddle. Back and Front view.]

[Illustration: Fig. 185.--Cheek-pieces of Bits from Lough Faughan and

Ardakillen. Two-thirds real size.]

[Illustration: Fig. 186.--Iron Bit from Lagore. One-fourth real size.]

Fig. 185 represents cheek-pieces from the crannog of Lough Faughan,

and from Ardakillen. The bit proper, by which cheek-pieces of this

class were connected, appears to have been almost invariably composed

of iron. A perfect specimen with bronze mountings is represented in

Shirley’s _History of County Monaghan_. An example of the iron bit

which is supposed to have succeeded that composed of bronze and iron

is here given. It came from Lagore, as did also several flat pieces of

iron, which there is reason to believe had been attached as ornaments

to some article of horse trapping. They measure 3 inches or so in

length, by about ¾ of an inch in breadth, and are most curiously

decorated in enamel of various colours, the patterns being geometrical

interlacing figures in the style known as _Opus Hibernicum_; at the

time of their discovery, they presented the only examples of enamel

on iron which had then been noticed, and some of them may now be seen

in the Petrie Collection of the Museum, R. I. A. It is not known when

enamel was first used in Ireland. Some writers refer its invention to

the Gauls, on the authority of a passage from Philostratus (who lived

about the commencement of the third century), to the effect that the

barbarians bordering on the ocean knew how to spread colours upon hot

metal so as to become on the cooling of the material as hard as the

substance over which they were laid. Fig. 187 represents a small plate

of iron, covered with a rich pattern in enamel--vermilion, yellow,

and black; and fig. 188 is an ornament of mixed metal supposed, like

the preceding, to belong to a piece of horse furniture: it is inlaid

with red, brown, and yellow enamel, and “exhibits also specimens of a

remarkable glass-mosaic in chequered work of blue and white, encrusted

in cavities chiselled out on the face of the metal. This kind of

ornament is found occasionally on ancient Irish works in metal, it

bears much resemblance to some antique ornaments discovered with Roman

remains, and it occurs on the curious bronze basin found in the bed of

the river Witham near Lincoln.”

[Illustration: Fig. 187.--Enamelled Plate of Iron from Lagore. One-half

size.]

[Illustration: Fig. 188.--Inlaid Ornament of Mixed Metal from Lagore.

Two-thirds real size.]

_Miscellaneous Articles._--It would be impossible to classify all

the articles brought to light on lacustrine sites; indeed the use

to which some of them were, or could be, applied must now be purely

conjectural, so widely do the habits of life in the present advanced

state of society differ from the rude and primitive existence of the

lake dweller. To the representation of objects, whose use could not

now be defined with any degree of accuracy, have been added--since the

work went to press--a few plates of miscellaneous articles that fell

under the writer’s observation in the interval. They are of interest,

as throwing still further light on the details of the lake dwellers’

ordinary pursuits.

Amongst the debris of crannogs have been found several designs carved

upon the polished surface of the larger bones of mammalia. Sir W. Wilde

observed that clear, sharp, and accurate impressions might be made

from some of these carvings in the same way that proofs are taken from

a woodcut. In some instances the pattern is elaborately finished, and

would answer equally well “as a design for the panel of a stone cross,

the decoration of a doorway, or cornice of a round tower, a compartment

of a brooch pin, the capital of an early ecclesiastical archway, the

illumination of a MS., or the graving of a piece of warlike furniture.”

An example of this kind of decoration is shown on plate XXXII., fig.

1; it is the leg bone of a deer, 8½ inches long, highly polished, and

covered with carvings; its precise use is as yet conjectural. Figs. 3,

4, 5, are _fac-similes_ of the embossed patterns on this bone.

[Illustration: Plate XXXII.

Fig. 1. Decorated Bone from Ardakillen. One-third real size.

Fig. 2. Decorated Bone from Lagore. One-third real size.

Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Embossed Patterns on fig. 1. Real size.

Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 9. Ornamentation on Bone from Lagore. Real

size.

Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 12. Ornamentation on Bone from Lagore. Real size.

Decorated Bones from the Crannogs of Ardakillen and Lagore. Use

unknown.]

Another carved leg bone of a deer (plate XXXII.), fig. 2, is stained

a dark brown colour, probably by lying in peat; its polished surface

shows how much it had been handled. Upon the surface of this bone there

are various devices traced with a graver or other sharp tool. Figs.

6, 7, 8, 9, represent these (full size), and figs. 10, 11, 12, are

characteristic of Celtic animal ornamentation.

[Illustration: Fig. 189.

Fig. 190.

Fig. 191.

Fig. 192.

Fig. 193.

Plates of Bone, decorated, use not known.]

In the Museum, R. I. A., there are eight thin plates of bone,

varying in length from 1 to 5½ inches; they are of every variety of

shape--square, triangular, irregular, but the majority oblong. In some

respects they resemble in form, size, and ornamentation, the class of

small stone articles supposed to have served as toys, amulets, or in

some kind of game. According to Wilde, however, their more probable use

was either for the decoration of small caskets, or for dress fasteners.

They are generally perforated in several places, and the foregoing

illustrations display great variety of outline. Their outer surface,

smooth and convex, was more or less decorated with a number of circular

indentations and dotted lines. Most of the specimens were found in the

crannogs of Ballinderry and Ardakillen.

[Illustration: Fig. 194.--Rude Bone Spoon found at Clooneygonnel.

Two-thirds real size.]

Spoons formed of thin cuticular horn are not of unusual occurrence. The

specimen represented, fig. 194, is one of two such articles found in

the crannog of Clooneygonnel, and shaped out of the concave epiphyses,

or joint surfaces of the vertebræ of some large mammal. A wooden handle

had probably been originally attached to it.[157] Fig. 195, from

Ballinderry, is a curious, rudely formed object of bone, perforated

with four holes; its use unknown.[158]

[Illustration: Fig. 195.--Spatula-shaped Bone from Ballinderry.]

[Illustration: Plate XXXIII.

Miscellaneous Articles found in Crannogs.]

Plates XXXIII. and XXXIV. contain representations of miscellaneous

crannog “finds” from Randalstown and Lough Guile, county Antrim, and

Ballykinler, county Down: when not otherwise specified the articles are

from the first-named locality. Plate XXXIII., 1, a piece of pottery

(¼ size) that seems to have formed part of an earthen vessel; it is

coarse, strong, well made, and graceful in design; other fragments

were met with, and judging from the appearance of fire on the outside

of one, it had been used for cooking purposes. 2. A remarkable object

of granite (½ size); two of similar form were found at Ballykinler

crannog. 3. A paddle or oar made of oak, its length 3 feet 7 inches

by 4½ inches in breadth. 4. A wooden scoop; total length 12 inches,

the handle 4 inches, thickness 1½. 5. A wooden vessel found with a

canoe; its diameter 7 inches, depth 3, and thickness 1 inch; it would

be adapted for baling out a boat. 6 seems to be a netting needle (½

size); it is made of iron. 7. A battle-axe; length from face to end of

projection at back 7 inches, length of face 5½ inches, breadth 1 inch

at the one end, and at the other 1½ inches. 8. Iron sock of a plough;

length 7½ inches, greatest breadth 4 inches; it terminates in a point.

The following objects are all drawn one-half size:--9. A knife, the

only specimen met with at Ballykinler crannog, having a handle. The

haft is of goat’s horn, and the blade like a penknife of large size;

it does not seem applicable to any ordinary domestic purpose, but it

may have been used for bleeding or operating on animals. 10. A wooden

instrument--of which two were found--made of soft, long-grained wood

of the pine kind; they might have been used for coarse knitting. 11.

An instrument of similar wood, use unknown. 12. There were several

like No. 12, formed of soft wood; they might have served as fastenings

for mantle or hair. 13. An instrument of bone, neatly made and

polished, which might have been used as a pin. 14. A pin, made of a

close-grained, hard, white wood, probably holly; several of these were

brought to light. 15. An article of iron, use unknown. 16. A pin of

iron; several of these were found. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, are pins

of bronze. There were a great number resembling No. 17, also several of

No. 19. 24. A large button made of bronze; the eyes are not fastened

in but cast. 25. A crucible, seemingly of foreign manufacture, and

unused; but several were met with greatly calcined. 26, 27, 28, seem

to be fastenings for leather or other garments; they are of very thin

bronze. 29 is a comb made of bone and riveted with iron (found at

Ballykinler crannog).

Plate XXXIV., 1, is a pointed and socketed iron instrument from

Ballymena. 2, drawn about half-size, is evidently a lamp of late, or

perhaps mediæval form, composed of iron, and the workmanship good; it

had an upright handle pierced by an oblong hole, with another hole in

a projection at end of handle. A gentleman saw a lamp of this class

in use near Carrickfergus in the year 1840, as also in the islands

off the coast of Ulster. 3 is a canoe paddle made of oak, and about

3 feet in length; 4 is of stone, and was found in a crannog in the

county Down; 5 is a “spindle-whorl” (so called) made of jet, and

having indentations on it for a thong or string; 6 is a flint knife

(full size); the form is rather unusual, flint knives being generally

straight; 7 is a full-size representation of the smallest of two bronze

knives; the other differs from it in being 1 inch longer, and the shape

not so curved; it should however be observed, that these two articles

are supposed by some authorities to be modern forgeries. 8 is a bronze

instrument about 6 inches long, and very sharp at the point; the metal

and workmanship being similar to the knives, it therefore may also be

spurious. 9. A lozenge-shaped “spindle-whorl” of jet. This and the

three preceding are said to have come from Lough Guile. 10 is a stone,

natural size, perforated with two holes crossing at right angles, and

at each end a hole going a short way in. It is suggested that it may

have been the axis of a small wheel, “the arms being inserted through

the holes in the body of the stone, while it worked on two projections

inserted into the holes at the ends.”[159]

[Illustration: Plate XXXIV.

Miscellaneous Articles found in Crannogs.]

A pair of scales were found at Loughtarmin, and several at Lagore.

At the latter place were also a number of sewing-needles, composed

of various materials: the majority were of bone, about six or eight

of iron, and four or five of bronze. Those made of metal were

comparatively small and fine. Needles of the same kind have been met

with in the great crannogs of Ardakillen and Ballinderry.

At Lagore was found a bronze object, use unknown, fig. 196. In one

part it is ornamented with a beautiful chased design, once probably

enamelled. In the same crannog there was a square iron pipe, 2½ inches

in length, to which a long hook was attached.

[Illustration: Fig. 196.--Bronze Object found at Lagore. Full-size.]

[Illustration: Fig. 197.--Iron Pipe with Hook, from Lagore. Full-size.]

All the articles figured on plate XXXV. were found in the crannog of

Cloonfinlough, and are now in the British Museum. No. 1 (one-fourth

real size) represents a leaf-shaped dagger, skean, or knife, of an

extremely early type; it is a characteristic specimen of its class.

Similar weapons have, in Ireland, frequently occurred in company

with socketed celts, paalstaves, spear-heads, and other implements

of the so-called “Bronze Age.” The handle is very small, perforated

for insertion of a rivet, and probably the haft had been originally

prolonged by the addition of a piece of bone, horn, or wood, secured

to the bronze by means of the rivet. No. 2 (full-size) is an _eo_ or

brooch of bronze of a not unusual design, having a long pin and broad

flat ends, with a sunk lozenge in each, filled with a hatched pattern.

This form of dress-fastener must have remained unchanged during many

ages, for whilst it seems to have been common in the later “Iron

period,” it has also occasionally been found under circumstances which

point to much earlier days and usages. One example was discovered in

a cinerary urn amongst calcined bones. No. 3 (full-size) is a pin of

bronze with a crozier-like termination, ornamented with a series of

minute indentations, arranged without any regular pattern. A number

of these objects have been discovered in Christian cemeteries in

Ireland--as at Clonmacnoise and the Arran Islands. No. 4 (full-size)

is a very small arrow-head of iron; traces of a rivet hole are yet

discernible. No. 5 (one-third real size) is a ring made from the crown

of a stag’s horn, and polished on the interior; its use unknown. No.

6 (one-third real size) represents a double-bladed axe-head; similar

implements occurred at Lagore and at Drumdarragh; they belong to the

late “Iron period,” and vary greatly in dimensions. No. 7 (one-third

real size) is a single-piece shoe of leather, joined at the heel and

toe; at each side is a slit for a thong or strap to be brought over

the instep. Articles of this kind were used amongst the Irish down to

a very late period. Some specimens, highly decorated in early Celtic

style, have been figured by Wilde.

[Illustration: Plate XXXV.

Objects of various Materials from the Crannog of Cloonfinlough, and now

in the British Museum.]

_Fishing Implements._--It is probable that on account of the smallness

of their size, many bronze fishing-hooks may have been overlooked

by searchers amongst crannog sites, though a number of specimens

formed of iron occurred amongst the relics of ancient Dublin during

the excavations made many years ago in Christ Church-place, and

Fishamble-street. Several implements of iron, evidently designed for

the capture of fresh-water prey, have been found on the sites of

crannogs, and may now be seen in the Museum, R. I. A. Plate XXXVI.

No. 1 is the head of an eel-spear, one of several exhumed from the

debris of the Ardakillen crannogs; no trace of the handle remained.

The implement consists of nine barbed prongs (the wings of the heads

nearly touching each other) set in an oblong-shaped socket, composed

of extremely thin iron plates or bands, that measure in width 5½

inches, in depth 2¾ inches, and are of sufficient strength to receive

and secure the prongs; these average somewhat less than a quarter of

an inch at their greatest diameter, which occurs near the head. The

socket in its various parts is secured together by a number of rivets,

irregularly set; from it descends a shaft measuring 4¾ inches. It is at

first quadrangular, but midway assumes a cylindrical form, resembling

sockets of crannog spears of the later “iron period,” and like

them secured to wooden handles by a rivet. The implement presents

altogether a rough and bizarre appearance. No. 2 is a smaller example

of an eel-spear, with socket, and having only eight barbed prongs. No.

3 is another form of fish-spear, or gaff. It measures 9½ inches in

length, and is furnished at its pointed head with two long narrow barbs

designed for holding. Unlike the spear and arrow-heads used in war, or

in the chase, this implement was secured to its wooden shaft by a tang.

Nos. 4, 5, 7, and 8, are darts or spear-heads of the same class. Save

in size, they differ very slightly from No. 3, but are considerably

eroded by the moisture of the bog-stuff in which they were embedded.

No. 6 is a highly-finished head of the fish-spear class, though at

first sight it might almost be taken for an arrow-head. Its barbs were,

however, evidently intended to hold any substance into which they might

be struck; the tang is solid and octangular, and just at the point

where it joins the head there are three rather deep transverse notches.

No. 9 is an ordinary iron fish-hook.

[Illustration: Plate XXXVI.

Fishing Implements of Iron from Crannogs. Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and

8 from Ardakillen or Strokestown Crannogs. No. 9 from Lagore. All

one-third real size.]

_Historical Notices of Crannogs._--According to Keller, Swiss

“_Pfahlbauten_,” or pile dwellings, attained their highest development

about fifteen hundred years B.C. This statement he founds on the

absence in them of traces of winter corn, hemp, and domestic fowl

(unknown to the Greeks till the time of Pericles). These lacustrine

sites appear to have been abandoned about, or perhaps before, the

commencement of the Christian era; whilst on the other hand, although

we have no account of the first erection of crannogs in Ireland, and

must therefore consider their origin to date back from prehistoric

times, yet we have undoubted proofs of their continued use down to the

close of the seventeenth century; although now where

“… swells the wave

All other sounds are still,

And strange and mournfully sound they;

Each seems a funeral cry

O’er life that long has past away,

O’er ages long gone by.”

In Connaught, next after Ulster, the greatest number of lake dwellings

have been discovered, but a list of them could have only temporary

value, as further explorations might greatly change, or even reverse,

the numerical superiority of the crannog sites in Ulster. It is

only of late that Munster can be said to be embraced within the

lake-dwelling area, whose ambit now includes the entire kingdom. From

the present stand-point, the northern province, however, seems to have

been _facile princeps_ the home of the lake-dweller. Its population,

even to the close of the seventeenth century, followed a life of rude

and primitive character. The waters of the Erne, its tributaries and

lakes, stretched for a distance of nearly sixty miles; the counties of

Monaghan and Cavan of the present day formed then a district of low

wooded hills, interlaced with a perfect net-work of bogs and lakes,

through which ran but one road--that by Carrickmacross in the barony

of Farney--whilst the Few mountains, at that period wooded, served to

complete a “scientific frontier” of nature’s own formation. The term

“Lake Country” has often been applied to the county Fermanagh: indeed

the whole territory would seem at no very remote date to have been a

watery maze. Upon almost every side may be observed either marshes that

had once been lakes, or else sheets of water varying in size, from what

may be termed lakes to mere lakelets; and at a period when the whole

neighbouring country was one mass of wood these inland loughs served as

tolerably secure retreats. At the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion of

Ireland castles on terra firma seem to have been but lightly esteemed

by the northern chieftains, for the conqueror of Ulster had erected

many strongholds to secure the subjugated territory, more especially

in the country of Mac Mahon, who “with solemn protestations vowed to

become a true and faithful subject, whereupon de Courcy gave him two

castles with their demeanes to hold of him. Within one month after

this Mac Mahon brake down the castles, and made them even with the

ground. Sir John de Courcy sent unto him to know the cause: his answer

was, that he promised not to hold stones of him, but the land.” Later

on one Thomas Pettiplace, in answer to an inquiry from the Government

as to what castles or forts O’Neil was possessed of, in a letter of

the 15th May, 1567, states:--“For castles I think it be not unknown

unto yr honors he trusteth no points thereunto for his safety, as

appeareth by the raising (_razing_) of the strongest castles of all

his countries, and that fortification that he only dependeth upon _is

in sartin ffreshwater loghes_ in his country, which from the sea there

come neither ship nor boat to approach them; it is thought that there

in ye said _fortified islands_ lyeth all his plate, wch is much,

and money, prisoners, and gages, wch islands hath in wars before

been attempted, and now of late again by ye Lord Deputy Sr Harry

Sydney, wch, for want of means for safe conduct upon ye water,

it hath not prevailed.” Of the unsuccessful attack on the crannog or

stockaded island, to which allusion is thus made, the account forwarded

by Sir Henry Sydney to Elizabeth, dated Drogheda, 12th November,

1566, is here given:--“On Thursday, the 17th of the last September,

I, your Highness’ Deputy, accompanied with the Earl of Kildare, the

Marshal Francis Agarnde and Jaques Wingefelde, with the rest of the

captains and soldiers of your Highness’ army--each man in his calling

as willing to serve your Majesty as ever I saw men--issued out of this

town of Drogheda, and encamped in the confines of the English Pale

and O’Hanlon’s country, at a place called Roskeaghe, where we were

forced to remain, for sundry necessary things not come as then out of

the English Pale, four nights. So, on the 21st of the same month, we

removed and marched towards Ardmach, and in the way, having occasion

to encamp hard by a logh, in which was an island, and in the same,

by universal opinion and report of divers of that country, a great

quantity of the rebels’ goods and victuals kept, only without guns,

as it was thought, not greatly strong as it seemed, being but hedged

about, and the distance from the main not being passed five-score

yards, the army coming timely to the camp, divers soldiers were very

desirous to attempt the winning of it, which was granted to them, I the

Deputy making choice only of such as could swim; nevertheless there was

prepared for them a bridge which floated upon barrels, whereupon they

went but disorderly, for many more went than were appointed, among whom

Edward Vaughan, a gentleman of Wales, who being none of the army, but

come over to serve this journey, as many more gentlemen and others of

that country and the marches of the same did, was one who, unwitting

to me your Highness’ Deputy, being gone from the place where the

bridge did lie, to stay the shot of the army, least they should hurt

their followers, with divers others not appointed, stepped upon the

bridge and rowed away, which overcharge of men caused the bridge more

to sink than else it would, and yet not so much but that it floated

still and carried them over, but in such sort as the fireworks conveyed

with them miscarried, so they were able therewith to do nothing. They

found the place better manned than it was thought, and they of better

courage than before that time the like men had ever shewed themselves

in the like place. They found the hedge so bearded with stakes and

other sharp wood, as it was not without extreme difficulty scaleable,

and so ramparted as if the hedge had been burned--for doing whereof

the fireworks failed--without a long time it was not to be digged

down. Yet some scaled to the top, whereof Edward Vaughan was one, who

being pushed with a pike from the same, fell between the hedge and

the bridge, and being heavily armed--albeit he could swim perfect

well--was drowned, and two others hurt upon the rampart and drowned;

one other slain upon the bridge with a shot; a man of mine, the Deputy,

slain upon the main with a shot; and Anthony Deringe, a servant of the

Earl of Leycester’s, stricken through the thigh without perishing any

bone, and is perfectly recovered; the rest, unhurt, returned upon the

bridge to the land. We write of this trifle thus largely to your Most

Excellent Majesty least some malice or ignorance might inform the same

contrary to the truth; and as many of us as were at the journey by

these our letters affirm this to be the truth, and the whole truth, of

that fact.”

Extracts that here follow, from notices of crannogs contained in native

annals,[160] trace back their existence in Ireland during a period of

over a thousand years from the seventeenth century.

After the surrender of Charlemont, Sir Phelim O’Neil “retired to a

fortified island called _Raghan_ (? Roughan) _Isle_, and was there

captured in February, 1653, by William Lord Charlemont.”[161]

A small lake situated somewhat to the north-west of the village of

Desertmartin has given title to the barony of Loughinsholin, lying

south of the city of Londonderry; it was so named from _Inis Ua

Fhloinne_ (O’Lynn’s Island), a stockaded dwelling near its eastern

margin. The lake itself is now known as Lough Shillen. The oak piling

that formerly surrounded the island was removed for firewood, leaving

a mere bank covered with reeds and low bushes. In Father O’Mellan’s

Journal (written in Irish) of the rebellion of 1642, he mentions

two attacks on the island by the English, in the years 1642, 1643;

and again in 1645, its final abandonment and destruction by fire on

the part of the Irish, owing to inability to hold out from want of

provisions. He states that on the “27th April, 1642, the Coleraine

detachment (_i.e._ the English) came upon Cormac O’Neill, son of

Fedhlim Oge, at Rayleagh, and robbed and killed his people, namely

the Clann William; thence they proceeded to _Lough-inis-olyn_, and to

Moneymore, until the two forces were near one another. They collected

a great deal of spoil, and the creaghts fled to Dungannon. After

plundering far and near, the English returned to Lough-inis-olyn. They

sent Rory Ballagh O’Mellan to demand the island from Shane O’Hagan, son

of John, son of Edmond Oge. It was refused them. They then fired three

shots from a cannon, which they had with them, and departed from the

place, returning to their homes laden with spoil.”

Again, on “August 25, 1643, Inis-O’Luin was garrisoned by Shane

O’Hagan. The enemy came and called on them to surrender, which they

refused to do. They then stopped up a stream which ran out of the lake,

and turned the course of another into it, so that they contrived to

flood the island. The garrison kept watch in the island house, and one

of their men was killed by a cannon ball while on watch. However, they

refused to surrender the island on any terms. One man in attempting

to swim away had his legs broken. The enemy at length departed.” The

latest entry occurs under date 7th March, 1645, when “The people of

O’Hagan burned Inis-O’Lynn, for want of provisions, and followed the

general eastwards.”[162]

The crannog of _Mac Navin_,[163] county Galway, was taken in the year

1610; it is previously mentioned under date 1601. G. H. Kinahan, who

searched for but could find no trace of this crannog, imagined its

site must have been somewhere in the large alluvial flat and bog that

extends south of the townland of Crannagh, in the parish of Tynagh,

county Galway. This supposed site lies about four miles E.N.E. of the

crannog of Ballinlough. The difficulty experienced in identifying the

site is the more remarkable as the descendants of the sept of Mac

Navin still reside in the locality, and the crannog was inhabited up

to a very late period.[164] In 1603, after the subjugation of Leitrim

by the Crown, “O’Rourke was obliged to remain with a small force in

the woods, in the remote glens and on the islands in the lakes in his

country;” whilst the same year Hugh Boy O’Donnell was conveyed by his

adherents to the retirement of a crannog, to be healed of his wounds.

This retreat, called “_Crannog-na-n-Duini_, in Ross Guill, in the

Tuathas,” was situated in the parish of Mevagh, county Donegal, between

Redhaven and Sheephaven. In 1599 the crannog of _Lough Gur_, county

Limerick, was taken from the “Queen’s people” by the Earl of Desmond,

then in rebellion against Elizabeth. Sir George Carew relates that

the Lord President of Munster, who reconnoitred the crannog for the

purpose of its recapture in the following year, _i.e._ 1600, observed

two small islets (the crannogs) and one large island; this latter “he

found to be a place of exceeding strength, by reason that it was an

island encompassed with a deep lough, the breadth thereof being, in the

narrowest place, a caliver’s shot over. Upon one side thereof standeth

a very strong castle, which at this time was manned with a good

garrison, for there was within the island John Fitz Thomas with two

hundred men at the least.”[165] “After much parade in the preparation

of ordnance to reduce Lough Gur, its surrender was purchased for sixty

pounds from Owen Grome, who had been entrusted with its defence.”[166]

There yet lingers here “the reflex of a legend past,” for it is

supposed that beneath the waters of the lake lie enchanted the grand

old castle of the Desmonds, the great earl himself, his beautiful

countess, and all the retinue that surrounded him in the days of his

splendour. “In one of the lakes is a small island, rocky and wooded,

which is believed by the peasantry to represent the top of the highest

tower of the castle, which sank under a spell to the bottom.”[167]

In a plan-drawing of the siege of Enniskillen castle, in the year 1592,

the remains of a crannog appear in the river close to the castle, where

seemingly a circle of stakes encloses a diminutive island.[168] The

survey or maps of the county Monaghan, made by one Francis Jobson in

1590, though meagre, and certainly--as its designer expresses in an

apologetic note to Burghley--“nothing perfect,” is nevertheless highly

interesting by reason of the rude sketches of the water-laved abodes

of the chiefs of Monaghan. Each barony possessed one, designated “the

island”; that in Farney was at _Lisanisk_, written _Lysonske_, and

it is marked on the map as “The Island, Ever M’Cooley’s house.” In

the year 1843 traces of this structure were discovered; the former

artificial island was then a peninsula, having been joined to the

shore. Seven feet below the surface of the ground, and two feet below

the water level, a double row of piles was disclosed, formed of young

trees with the bark still adhering, and from six to twelve inches in

diameter; the area thus enclosed was an oval sixty feet by forty-two

feet.[169] In Jobson’s map several crannogs are represented in _Lough

Mucknoe_, barony of Cremorne; also “Mac Mahoun’s house,” or crannog,

is shown in _Lough Monnachin_. According to the same authority, a

sub-chief of the present county Monaghan, named Mac Kenna, resided in

a crannog either on the lake of _Glaslough_ or that of _Erny_ in the

parish of Donagh. The map is so rough that it is difficult to decide

which of the lakes is intended. Francis Jobson likewise represents the

residence of a chieftain named Brian Mahon, as a crannog on _Lough

Rouskey_, in the parish of Killeevan. In 1588 Aedh O’Donnell and nine

of his followers were murdered in the crannog of _Mongavlin_, parish

of Taughboyne, county Donegal. “The crannog is not now traceable, nor

is there any water in the locality in which such a structure could

have existed, with the exception of Lough Foyle, on the margin of

which Mongavlin is situated.”[170] In 1571 the Mac Dermots burned

_Inis-Floinn_ and _Inis-Mic-David_,[171] situated somewhere on the

borders of Roscommon and Sligo. The statement that the islands were

burned seems to sufficiently demonstrate their artificial character.

In the sixteenth century the island fortress of _Inishrush_ was held

by an Irish sub-chief named Brian Carragh; and Dr. Reeves quotes a

document from the State Paper Office, in which allusion is made to

it in the form of a letter to a Captain Piers, dated 10th December,

1566. The writer says:--“Als mony as we migt drywe and dreaf ower ye

Ban all ye carycht yt Brean Karriche hade … and ane innyse (i.e.

_Island_, namely _Inishrush_), yt Brean Karriche hade of befair and

Oneiles servand tuk yt, and now we have gotten ye innys agane, and

that harchips I behuffit to Sla yame to be meet to my arme.” The

crannog of Inishrush (_i. e._ the island of the wood), or perhaps,

peninsula, has long ceased to bear that name. It is a small island in

the middle of a marshy basin called Green Lough, in the townland of

Inishrush, barony of Loughinsholin, county Derry. Some years ago this

marsh was a sheet of water about half a mile in circumference, the

drainage of which was effected by means of a deep cut that carried its

contents into the Clady river. About the centre of the lakelet was

a circular artificial mound composed of clay and gravel, the sides

gradually shelving downwards. It was girt with a circle--about one

hundred and fifty feet in circumference--of oak piles, most of them

still in position. Horizontal beams of oak were mortised in the upper

ends, and upon this framework rested seemingly the foundation of a

wooden house securely attached to the supporting timbers. An artificial

causeway, leading from the western margin of the lough, appears to have

formerly connected the crannog with terra firma. The sole discovery

made was a fragment of chain-armour. The lake basin became again partly

submerged owing to neglect of the drainage, and when Dr. Reeves visited

the locality in 1859, he failed to reach the crannog. It remained,

however, above water, prominently covered with a luxuriant growth of

grass.[172]

In 1560 O’Rourke was drowned “whilst going to sleep on a low

sequestered crannog in _Muinter Eolius_,” county Leitrim. Under heading

of the year 1544, crannogs in the county Antrim are referred to in the

_Annals of the Four Masters_:--“O’Donnell marched with a force into the

Routes, and took (i.) _Inis-an-Lochain_, on which was a wooden castle

and an impregnable fortress in the possession of Mac Quillan; and after

O’Donnell had taken the castle he gave the castle to O’Kane. On the

same expedition O’Donnell took the castle of (ii.) _Baile-an-locha_,

and he found much property, consisting of arms, armour, brass, iron,

butter and provisions, in those castles. O’Donnell also took after

that (iii.) _Inis-locha-Burrann_, and (iv.) _Inis-locha-Leithinnsi_,

in which he likewise found much property.” (i.) _Inis-an-Lochain_ (_i.

e._ the island of the little lake) lies in the river Bann, about a

mile and a-half to the south of Coleraine. It is now called Loughan

Island. The crannog had been erected, or perhaps, _re_-erected in 1170.

(ii.) _Baile-an-locha_ (_i. e._ the village of the lake), anglicised

Ballylough, and (iv.) _Locha-Leithinnsi_ (_i. e._ the lake of the half

island), now known as Lough Lynch, are both situated in the parish of

Billy. Lough Lynch originally covered about twenty acres, but has been

drained, and the former island is now accessible by dry land. This

crannog “is shown as the birthplace of Colkitto, a chief who figured

in Montrose’s wars,” and who has found a place in Sir Walter Scott’s

“Legend of Montrose,” as well as in one of Milton’s sonnets, written on

the critics who cut up the title of his book “Tetrachordon:”--

“‘Bless us! what a word on

A title-page is this!’ And some in file

Stand spelling false, while one might walk to Mile-

End Green. ‘Why, it is harder, sirs, than Gordon,

Colkitto, or Mac Donnel, or Galasp.’

These rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek

That would have made Quintillian stare and gasp.”

Colkitto’s real name was Alexander Mac Donnell, a relative of the Earl

of Antrim. (iii.) _Inis-locha-Burrann_ was situated in the parish of

Ballintoy; the lake is now drained, and the place known by the name of

Loughavarra.[173]

In 1541 the eastern crannog in the lake of Glencar, on the borders

of Sligo and Leitrim, was taken by one sept of the O’Rourkes from

another. Shortly afterwards the dispossessed proprietor attempted to

set fire to the “fortress,” but was discovered, pursued by boats, taken

prisoner, and hanged. In the summer of 1540, O’Donnell besieged the

crannog of _Loch Betha_, now Lough Veagh, county Donegal. He encamped

round the lake shores, but failed to take the stronghold. In the autumn

he, however, defeated his opponents, and “broke up and completely

demolished the crannog.” Previous mention is made of it as the scene of

strife in the year 1524, when Eoghan O’Donnell took Niall O’Donnell’s

“town” (_i.e._ the crannog of Loch Betha); whilst in 1257 O’Donnell

was confined to this crannog during twelve months from wounds received

in a battle near Sligo. In 1512 the crannog of Mac Gauran was taken by

Mac Guire. In 1495 Mac Gauran, a chief of Tallaghaw, in the present

county Cavan, was drowned in _Loch Crannoige_ of _Coill-an-mhuilinn_

(_i. e._ Lake Crannog of the Wood of the Mill), now Ballywillen Lough.

In 1477 a violent tempest swept over Ireland which did great damage,

especially to crannogs. Had these structures not been very numerous,

the chroniclers would scarcely have drawn special attention to the

havoc thus wrought. In 1455 Torlogh Mac Guire took and plundered the

crannog of Mac Clancy on Lough Melvin, county Leitrim. In 1452 O’Hanley

was murdered by his own tribe in the crannog of _Loch-Leisi_ (stated by

O’Donovan to be now called Muckenagh Lough), in the parish of Kilmeam,

county Roscommon; whilst in 1246 it is of record that O’Conor made his

escape when a prisoner from the same lake-dwelling, after drowning

his guards. In 1368 an O’Conor was taken prisoner in the crannog

of _Ardakillen_, parish of Killukin, county Roscommon, and in 1388

another O’Conor burned this crannog and the Island of _Loch-Cairgin_

(_i. e._ Cargin’s Lough[174]), near Tulsk in the same county. In

1365 Brian Mac Mahon, chief of Oriel, invited his father-in-law to a

banquet, where he made him prisoner, and “put him in a lake to conceal

him”[175]--evidently meaning his confinement in a crannog--for Mac

Geoghegan states that the captive was committed “to a strong place

on a lough to be kept.” In 1247 Mac Costello took and garrisoned the

crannog of _Cloonloch_ (now Lough Clean), county Leitrim, and expelled

the proprietor, Mac Rannall, who, however, succeeded in recapturing his

stronghold.

In 1223 William de Lacy, one of the great Anglo-Norman settlers in

Ireland erected “the crannog of _Inis-Laodhachain_, and the Connacht

men entered forcibly upon it, and let out on parole the people who

were in it.” This erection of a lake-dwelling by a Norman baron is

an instance of the habit laid to the charge of many of the English,

of forsaking their own language and usages, and of living according

to the manner of the Irish amongst whom they dwelt. “The names

_Inis-Laodhachain_ and _Loch-Laodhachain_ are now obsolete.” In 1220

“Walter de Laci came to Erinn, and performed a great hosting to the

crannog of O’Raighilligh.[176] He went upon it and obtained hostages

and great power.” The crannog here referred to “appears to have been

situated in Lough Oughter, county Cavan, where the old castle of

Cloch-Uachtair (or Cloch-Oughter) now stands. In a letter from Guy de

Chatillon to Henry III., dated July, 1224, Grennoch Oraely (as the name

is therein written) is stated to have been captured from William de

Lacy by Oraely, Walter de Riddelsford, and Richard Tuit, on the same

day on which the castle of Kilmore (county Cavan) was taken, from which

it appears to have been in the neighbourhood.”

There is evidence that some crannogs were constructed by the Northmen,

for in 1170 the chief of a small territory in the barony and county

Monaghan “was killed by the men of a fleet which came from the

Orkneys, in the island which had been constructed by themselves in

_Loch-Ruidhe_, i. e. Inis-Lachain.” There is no lake in Ireland now

known by that name; but to the south of Coleraine there is a small

island in the river Bann called “the Loughan,” which bears all the

appearance of having been artificially constructed.[177] In 1150 an

Irish chief was killed “on the island of _Loch-Laighaire_.” This

crannog lay in the country of the “_Sliocht O’Neills_,” and, as appears

from subsequent references, was situated to the south of Lifford,

in the barony of Clogher, county Tyrone, and was the residence of

that branch of the O’Neills. It is written _Loch-Laoghaire_ and

_Loch-Laighaire_, i. e. Leary’s Lake, said to have been so called from

“Leary the Victorious,” one of the heroes of the Red Branch Knights of

Ulster, in the first century; but for nearly two hundred years it has

been generally known under the designation _Corcreevy_, i. e. wooded

hill. In 1845, when the water had been drained off, the crannog was

here discovered. There are several allusions to it in the Irish Annals.

In 1325 “O’Donnell, the son of Brian O’Neill, Lord of Tyrone, died at

Loch-Laighaire. In 1431 Nachtan O’Donnell went to assault the castle of

Loch-Laighaire, and took it from Turlough O’Donnell, and all the spoils

that were in it he carried off.” In 1436 the crannog had been seized by

the O’Neills, when some of the same sept summoned Mac Guire to their

assistance and “commenced constructing boats to go to the crannog, but

the sons of Bryan, who were then in the crannog, came to the resolution

of delivering it up.” In 1500 Hugh Roe O’Donnell “burned the crannog of

Loch-Laighaire;” whilst in 1509 there is a notice of a fight between

two septs of the O’Neills on the shores of the lake.

In 1025, it is stated in the _Annals of Loch Cé_, that a predatory

expedition was made by the inhabitants of Fermanagh, on which occasion

they burned the crannog on _Loch-n-Uaithne_ (Lough Ooney), “and slew

seventeen men on the margin of the lake.” Lough Ooney lies in the

county Monaghan, in the barony of Dartry, the chiefs of which territory

had their principal residence on this lake, whence they were sometimes

designated “Lords of Loch-n-Uaithne.”

In the enumeration of various kinds of fortresses repaired by Brian

Borumha, crannogs are included, as recorded in a well-known Irish ms.

entitled “The Wars of the Gaedhiel with the Gaill.” In it mention

is made of four crannogs, one being near Knockany, county Limerick,

and situated in _Lough Cend_, now drained; also the celebrated

crannog in _Lough Gur_, in the same county. The site of the crannog

of _Loch Saiglend_ has not been identified;[178] the site of

_Inis-an-ghaill-duibh_ (_i. e._ the island of the black foreigner or

Dane,[179]) is unknown, or at least uncertain; however, in the Dublin

copy of the _Annals of Innisfallen_, under date 1016, it is stated to

have been situated in the river Shannon. We learn that in some of

his numerous conflicts with the Danes, Brian Borumha pillaged various

_islands_ in the Shannon, where the invaders had placed their women and

children for safety, as well as their treasure, as “there was much gold

and other wealth in these islands and fortifications.” In 990 a violent

tempest “sunk the island of _Lough Cimbe_ (now Lough Hackett) suddenly,

_dreach_ and rampart, _i. e._ thirty feet;” this crannog was afterwards

rebuilt by Brian Borumha.

With the Danes, the struggle in Ireland between invaders and invaded

was carried on as much in the lakes and rivers as on terra firma. Of

the importance attached to crannogs during this contest many instances

might be given, but a few will here suffice. In 984 “the islands of

Connaught were destroyed by these marauders.” In 933 the crannog of

_Lagore_ in Meath was burnt by them; whilst in 848 they fired and

dismantled it. Lagore being the residence of one of the principal

chiefs of Meath, frequent notices of it appear in the annals, where it

is written _Loch-Gabhar_. “_Gabhur_” is an ancient Irish and British

word for a horse, and accordingly the name _Loch-gabhra_, which occurs

in the life of St. Aidus, is translated _Stagnum-equi_, the lake of

the horse,[180] now euphonized “Lagore.” In 967 Beollán, “king” of

this place, died; in 907 Maelogra, also “king” of Lagore, was slain;

whilst in 868 the son of Edirscel, “king” of Lagore, fell fighting

against the Danes. In 865 Tighernach, “king” of Lagore and “half-king”

of Meath, died; and in 856 Cinaedh, chief of the present baronies of

Upper and Lower Duleek, in Meath, in alliance with the Danes, “spoiled

the islands” of Lagore. This entry is of great importance, as it points

to the probability of the site of another crannog or crannogs in close

proximity to the celebrated historical stronghold dug out of its peaty

covering in 1847, and which as early as A.D. 673, must have been of

importance, for in that year a considerable battle took place on the

shores of the lake. In 927 and 928 the Danes plundered “the islands of

Lough Neagh,” and in 922 the same fate befel “the islands of Lough Rea.”

In 847 “the island of _Inis-Muinremhar_,” in Lough Ramor, county Cavan,

was “demolished by the inhabitants of Leyney, county Sligo, and

Gallen, county Mayo, who were plundering the territories after the

manner of the Gentiles.”[181] In 636 a chieftain named Maelduin was

burned to death in “the island” of _Inishkeen_, county Louth, on the

borders of Monaghan,[182] and in the same year mention is made in the

_Annals of the Four Masters_ of “a lake in which a crannog was built,

situated in Oriel (but not now known), called _Loch-da-damh_, the lake

of the two oxen.”[183]

There is an ancient poem in Irish,[184] attributed to St. Columbkille,

which commences--

“Alone am I on the mountain.”

The Saint is flying from his enemies after the order of banishment from

Erin had been issued against him: he subsequently exclaims--

“Though even in a church, the reprobates are slain;

Though _in an island, in the middle of a lake_,

The fortunate of this life are protected,

While in the very front of battle

No one can slay me.”

A well-known Irish scholar, the Rev. Canon Bourke, gives the following

translation of the same passage:--

“If by six thousand I was guarded,

Or placed _in islet in a lake_,

Or in a fortress strong protected,

Or in a church my refuge take,

Still God would guard His own with care;

And even in battle safe they fare.

No man can slay me till the day

When God shall take my life away.”

There is said to be an ancient _Life of St. Patrick_ which contains a

notice of one of those dwellings; and in a translation into English

of an ancient Irish ms., the “Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne”--two

characters belonging to the earliest, indeed generally supposed

mythic, period of Irish history--Fionn and Diarmuid are represented as

addressing each other, and the one calls to mind that Miodhach the son

of Colgan, “had a Bruighean upon land, and a Bruighean _upon the wave_”

(_i. e._ an island). The word Bruighean means a palace. The island upon

which this structure stood was, according to the text, situated upon

the Shannon, and was approached by a “ford.”

Thus can be clearly traced a continuous historical occupancy of these

structures until all written record of them ceases, and their origin

is lost in the mists of antiquity: enough proof has been advanced to

show that crannogs existed, as may be fairly surmised, from the first

colonization of Erin. In the most diverse climates “water towns” seem

to have sprung up independently, by virtue of the natural laws which

govern man’s action in a semi-civilized state--

“Facies non omnibus una

Nec diversa tamen, qualis decet esse sororum.”

The continuance in Ireland of this very primitive form of habitation

was doubtless prolonged in consequence of the restless internecine

feuds and generally unsettled state of the country. However, the

“silver streak” around the island homes of Ireland’s early inhabitants

was not always a secure barrier; during severe winters, when the water

was sufficiently frozen, it no longer presented an obstacle, but on

the contrary was of considerable assistance to marauders. In the

native chronicles most notices of crannogs are connected with scenes

of strife, the island of the weaker party being usually given to the

flames. A disturbed state of society up to a very late period was also

characteristic of the sister kingdom of Scotland, and the antiquarian

and poetical genius of Sir Walter Scott brings the feuds of the past

before the eyes of the modern reader. The scene wherein the Lowlanders

or Saxons fruitlessly essay to reach the island on Loch Katrine, where

the Highlanders or Celts had placed their women, children, and goods

for safety, had most probably its foundation in some real occurrence.

In his _History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic_, Motley traces the

gradual development of what is now the kingdom of Holland, from a race

of ichthyophagi who dwelt upon mounds which they raised like beavers

above the almost fluid soil, but whether there ever was in Erin a

period purely lacustrine, or to what extent villages on terra firma may

have co-existed, is a problem that will most probably never be solved.

From careful examination, however, of the “finds” in lake dwellings,

the conclusion may be drawn that civilization in Ireland, from the

earliest dawn, has been on the whole steadily progressive, for

“… I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,

And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.”

There is something in the continuity of these successive ages that

may be considered analogous to the connecting links of a chain. The

Palaeolithic, or rude stone period; the Neolithic, or polished stone

age, as well as the Bronze age, in all probability overlapped more,

and had a longer continuance, than elsewhere in Europe. But the mere

fact of the discovery of stone implements, particularly as in Ireland,

in a stone-producing country, is not necessarily proof of a barbarous

state of society, for, as remarked by the Duke of Argyll, the remains

of the first Chaldean monarchy plainly demonstrate that a high state of

civilization co-existed with the use of stone implements of a very rude

character.

END OF PART I.

LAKE DWELLINGS.