form usually associated with remains of the Roman period,[94] was found
in the mud of the loch. It is an elegant and well-finished vessel of
bronze, tinned inside, and measuring 8 inches in diameter across the
mouth and 5½ inches deep. The flattened handle springing from the upper
edge is 7 inches in length. The bottom of the vessel is furnished
exteriorly with five projecting concentric rings. In front, opposite to
the handle, is an ornamental ring, swung by a loop projecting from
beneath the upper margin of the rim, and encircling a well-modelled
figure of a human face in relief. On the handle is the stamp of the
maker, CIPI POLIBI F.[95]
-----
Footnote 94:
This special form of saucepan with curved sides and flat bottom,
concentrically moulded on the outside, is found in most collections of
antiquities obtained from sites of Roman occupation. In the Museo
Borbonico, at Naples, there are about 200 examples, mostly of this
type.
Footnote 95:
His full designation apparently was Publius Cipius Polibus. His
saucepans are widely distributed. Two found in a nest of five dug up
at Castle Howard, in Yorkshire, bore his stamp, the one having
P·CIPI·POLIB, and the other P·CIPI·POLVIBI. In the Museum at Zurich
there is a handle of a saucepan with the stamp CIPI·POLIBI, and one
found in Lower Saxony has P·CIPI·POLIBI.
-----
About 60 yards from this last Crannog was a smaller one, presenting no
essential points of difference, and nearer the south-east shore of the
loch was a group of six, still smaller and less distinct in outline, but
all apparently similar in construction.
[Illustration: Fig. 247.—Bead of glass with lining of bronze (length, 1
inch).]
The other objects found in association with these Crannogs or in the
loch-bottom in their immediate neighbourhood, were a number of beads of
variegated glass or vitreous paste, one of which (Fig. 247) has a lining
of bronze in the perforation; one amber bead; a small bronze ring; a
clay crucible; several whetstones; five querns; a bronze dish (Fig.
248), about 12 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep, hammered out of the
solid, and having a flat rim 1 inch in breadth, turned over, and
slightly bent downwards; another dish similarly made, but without the
flattened rim, 12 inches diameter and 4 inches deep; and a third (Fig.
249) of thinner metal, flat-bottomed with sloping sides, 10 inches
diameter and 4 inches deep, the bottom and sides patched in several
places by pieces fastened on with flat-headed double-toed rivets exactly
like the modern paper-fasteners; a large bronze ring attached to the
upper part of a caldron of thin bronze; a portion of a tube of cast
bronze of unknown use; a wooden paddle; and a number of fragments of
articles of iron complete the list.
[Illustration: Fig. 248.—Bronze Basin found in the Loch of Dowalton
(height, 3 inches).]
[Illustration: Fig. 249.—Basin of thin bronze found in the Loch of
Dowalton (height, 4 inches).]
In the Black Loch, in the parish of Inch, Wigtonshire, an island
explored in 1872 by Mr. C. E. Dalrymple was found to have been a Crannog
formed upon a shoal in the lake. In the centre of the island there was a
circular mound, 45 feet in diameter, and rising to about 5 feet above
the level of the loch and 3½ feet above the general surface of the
island. At a depth of about 5 feet in the centre of the mound there was
a flooring of trunks of trees, chiefly oak and alder, crossing each
other at right angles. This log flooring covered a circular space of
about 50 feet in diameter. At different levels above it and over the
whole of its area there were found many fireplaces or hearths, formed of
two long narrow slabs set on edge and parallel to each other with a
paved space between, and filled and surrounded by ashes and bones of
animals broken and split. In one of these accumulations of ashes and
food refuse there were found a fragment of bronze and a portion of an
iron knife; and in another a broken armlet of glass. A broken
double-edged bone comb, ornamented with dots and circles, and a portion
of a stone disc with a bevelled edge, were also found. The island seemed
to have been surrounded with piles, and a small canoe, dug out of a
single tree, was discovered in the loch, near the narrow channel which
separates the island from the shore.
The general character of the group of relics obtained from these
structures is that of the Iron Age, with indications of a period
subsequent to the Roman conquest. The same character and the same
indications are presented by the group of relics obtained from the
Crannogs of Ayrshire, which have been so carefully investigated by Dr.
Munro.[96] The Lochlee Crannog, near Tarbolton, yielded a very large
collection of objects in the various materials of stone, bone, wood,
bronze or brass, iron, glass, and jet or cannel coal. But with the
single exception of a polished stone celt, the types of the Stone and
Bronze Ages are entirely absent from the group. The same thing is true
of the collections obtained from the Crannog at Lochspouts near Maybole,
and the Buston Crannog near Kilmaurs. But in these Crannog collections
there are certain groups of objects which are closely akin to those
found in Brochs. These are the hammer-stones, oblong water-worn pebbles
wasted at the ends by use, spindle-whorls and querns, the round polished
discs of stone, the peculiarly-shaped bone pins, needles, and borers,
the double-edged bone combs, the deer-horn implements, the bronze
brooches, rings, and pins, and the spiral finger-rings. There are also
certain objects in these collections which present features of form and
ornamentation clearly of the early Celtic types, such as a bridle-bit
from Lochlee (of the same form as that shown in Fig. 101), a block of
ash-wood from the same Crannog with Celtic patterns cut in both sides,
and a bronze mounting from Lochspouts, which is characteristically
Celtic in style. On the other hand, there are certain objects which,
like the harp-shaped fibulæ and the lustrous red ware (commonly called
Samian), are indicative of post-Roman times. The bulk of the relics from
the Crannogs being thus of Iron Age types with indications of post-Roman
time, and with a striking general affinity to the group of relics
obtained from the Brochs, the place of these lake-Dwellings in the
general series may be considered as sufficiently established.[97]
-----
Footnote 96:
Since these Lectures were delivered an exhaustive treatise on _The
Lake-Dwellings of Scotland_, by Dr. Robert Munro, of Kilmarnock, has
been issued. In this copiously illustrated work Dr. Munro has
described the Crannogs in Ayrshire recently excavated under his
personal superintendence, and systematised the whole subject in a
manner that leaves nothing to be desired.
Footnote 97:
That the use of such strongholds in the lochs of Scotland and Ireland
continued in historic times is abundantly attested. In the _Register
of the Privy Council of Scotland_, under the date of 14th April 1608,
one of the articles proposed to Angus M’Coneill, of Dunnyvaig, and
Hector M’Clayne, of Dowart, for reducing them and their clans to
obedience is:—“That the haill houssis of defence, strongholdis, and
cranokis in the Yllis perteining to thame and their forsaidis sail be
delyverit to His Majestie.” Three-legged pots of brass, and ewers of
the forms in use from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century and
later, have been found in several of the Scottish Crannog sites. The
_Irish Annals_ contain frequent notices of the taking of Crannogs. For
instance:—"A.D. 1436. The Crannog of Loch Laoghaire was taken by the
sons of Brian O’Neill. On their arrival they set about constructing
vessels to land on the Crannog in which the sons of Brian Oge then
were; on which the latter came to the resolution of giving up the
Crannog to O’Neill and made peace with him."—_Annals of the Four
Masters._
-----
There is no class of ancient remains within our country of which we have
less precise knowledge than the Hill-Forts. The reason of this is not
their rarity, because they form perhaps the most numerous and
widely-distributed class of ancient structures now existing. But the
ordinary methods of obtaining precise knowledge of their form,
structure, and contents have not been applied to them, and the ordinary
agencies of destruction, incident to a high condition of social and
agricultural progress, have long been busy amongst them.
They differ essentially from all other constructions, because they are
adaptations of naturally elevated sites for defensive purposes. The
natural site is the defensive position, and the fort itself derives its
form and in many cases also its character of construction from the form
and nature of the eminence or promontory on which it is built. It would,
therefore, be contrary to the nature of the circumstances to expect that
they should exhibit any such uniformity of plan or structure as is so
conspicuous in the case of the Brochs. Yet it is clear, from the little
we do know of them, that there are certain groups possessing certain
features of construction in common which differ from other groups
possessing other features of construction in common; and it is evident
that if a sufficient body of available materials existed on record
regarding the different members of these groups their typical
characteristics might be readily deduced. But before this can be done
with that precision and certainty which are requisite for scientific
work, it is necessary (1) that a series of plans and sections to scale
of a sufficient number of examples from each of the various groups
should be obtained; (2) that a series of observations as to the methods
of construction employed in different circumstances and situations
should be made; and (3) that a series of examinations of the enclosed
areas and surrounding ground should be undertaken, with the view of
ascertaining the character of the relics that are associated with the
structures. In the meantime it is only possible to indicate some of
their general characteristics as exhibited by a few of the better known
examples.
They naturally divide themselves into two great classes by their
construction—(1) those that are earth-works; and (2) those that are
constructed of stone.
In most cases the earth-works are so low and slight that they could not
have been of much service unless crowned with palisades. They are
usually on sites that are more susceptible of cultivation than the
hill-tops which are the common positions of the stone-works, and hence
they have suffered more generally from agricultural operations than the
forts of stone. They are usually irregularly circular or oval in plan,
consisting of a varying number of low embankments drawn round the summit
of a natural eminence. The only one of which a scale-plan has been made
is a very characteristic example (Fig. 250), on the Midhill Head, on the
estate of Borthwick Hall, Midlothian.[98] The space enclosed by the
embankments is 410 feet in length from east to west, and 284 feet in
breadth from north to south. The embankments are four in number,
occupying a space round the enclosure, varying from 130 feet to about 80
feet in breadth. They are nowhere more than from 4 to 5 feet in height.
There are two entrances to the enclosed space at the ends of the oval,
and a third on the south side. This example represents in a general way
the class of earthworks of most frequent occurrence, consisting of a
series of circumvallations enclosing the highest part of an eminence of
no great elevation.
-----
Footnote 98:
_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. xiv. p. 254. The Society is indebted
to the liberality of the proprietor, D. J. Macfie, Esq., for the plan
of this characteristic earth-work, surveyed and described by Mr. W.
Galloway, architect.
-----
[Illustration: Fig. 250.—Ground plan of Earthwork on Midhill Head,
Midlothian.]
The Hill-Forts which are constructed of stone sometimes consist of a
single wall drawn round the brow of a hill, and enclosing the more or
less level area which forms its summit. One of this description at
Garrywhoine, in Caithness, is an oval enclosure about 200 paces long by
65 in breadth. The foundation of the wall is about 14 feet thick, and in
some places 3 or 4 feet of its height remains. In the thickness of the
wall on the east side the remains of two chambers are visible. There
were two entrances to the area of the fort, one at the north end and the
other at the south end of the hill. The entrance at the north end has
three of the great corner-stones of the gateway still in position. They
are single stones or flat boulders about 5 feet high, set on end, having
their broad faces in line with the exterior and interior faces of the
wall, and the ends in the line of the entrance which is 7 feet wide.
Only one of the stones similarly placed remains at the south entrance.
The dilapidation of this remarkable example of a stone cashel was due to
the construction of a mill-dam in the valley below, the stones having
been rolled down the hill to form the embankment. I notice it because it
is the only Hill-Fort I have seen which still retains the stone-pillars
of its gateway, and because the story of its demolition illustrates the
fate of many of the most perfect and interesting remains of our
country’s antiquity.
A more complex variety consists of two, three, or more walls drawn
concentrically round the upper part of a conical hill, at short
distances apart, as in the case of the example known as the White
Caterthun in the parish of Menmuir, Forfarshire. The area enclosed is a
long oval about 450 by 200 feet. The enclosing wall has been of enormous
size. Its remains have spread themselves over a width in some places of
nearly 100 feet, and they now form a somewhat rounded embankment of from
4 to 6 feet high, encompassing the summit of the hill. About 150 feet
lower down on the slope of the hill is another wall, equally ruined, and
below it are the remains of a third. Beyond this there is an enclosure
of an oblong form and of less massive construction, abutting against one
side of the outer wall of the fort.[99] A fort of smaller size, but
presenting somewhat similar features of construction, crowns the spur of
Ben Ledi which overlooks the ford at Coilantogle, a little below the
outlet of Loch Vennachar. The hill is precipitous on one side, and the
walls do not encircle it completely, but the external faces of three
encircling walls are in some places visible for a considerable distance
round the less precipitous part of the hill. Abutting on the outer wall,
on the side which is most accessible, is an oval enclosure less
massively constructed, as at Caterthun.
-----
Footnote 99:
Such constructions are frequently found in similar juxtaposition to
the walls of these forts, and rightly or wrongly they have been
regarded as cattle-folds.
-----
There is another variety of these Hill-Forts which has attracted more
attention on account of the singularity of the phenomena which they
present. These are the Vitrified Forts, so called because in their walls
there is always more or less of the scorified or vitrified appearance
which is the result of the action of fire upon masses of loose stones.
Although there has been perhaps more written about these singular
structures than about any other class of antiquities, there is really
little known of their special phenomena, and less of their real
character.[100] In point of fact the real knowledge relating to the
form, measurements, and composition of the structures and the
observation of the phenomena they present has been entirely overlooked
in fruitless discussions as to the modes in which the vitrifaction of
the walls has been produced, and the reasons which may be conjecturally
assigned for it. The result is that to this day, so far as I am aware,
there is not a single scale-plan with sections, of a single one of them.
When such plans and sectional drawings are available in sufficient
numbers, we shall be able to say that the materials exist for the
commencement of a systematic investigation of the nature and typical
relations of the structures.
-----
Footnote 100:
For this reason we are unable to compare the vitrified forts of
Scotland with the scorified and vitrified ramparts which have been
occasionally remarked as occurring in other countries of Europe. I
know no example in England, but a considerable number have been
noticed in France (_Memoires de la Soc. Antiq. de France_, vol.
xxxviii. p. 83), one of which, at Peran in Brittany, has only the
upper part of the walls vitrified, a circumstance which has also been
noticed with respect to several of the Scottish forts. From the fact
of a Roman roofing tile having been found firmly attached to the
melted stones of the vitrified part of the wall of this fort, it is
inferred that the period of the vitrifaction was subsequent to the
Roman conquest. Scorified ramparts in Bohemia have been described by
Dr. Jul. E. Fodisch in the _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. viii. p.
155. It has been frequently stated that they do not occur in Ireland,
but Dr. Petrie has noted four in Londonderry and one in Cavan
(Stokes’s _Life of Dr. Petrie_, p. 223).
-----
The fort on Knockfarril, which overlooks the valley of Strathpeffer, in
Ross-shire, encloses an oval area of about 120 paces in length by about
40 in breadth. It was first described by Mr. John Williams in 1777.[101]
Sections were then made through it from side to side, and Mr. Williams
states that on the north side he found the ruins of the wall 12 feet
high, although he came to the conclusion that this was a section of the
width of the wall which had fallen flat outwards. With regard to the
phenomena of vitrifaction, he states that the whole wall has been run
together into one solid mass, but in another place he states that at the
outskirts of the ruins and at the bottom of the hill there was a great
quantity of large stones which had not been touched by fire, and from
this he concluded that there had been some kind of stone buildings going
round on the outside of the vitrified walls. It is to be observed that
when he speaks of the whole wall being run together into one solid mass,
he is not stating a fact, which he has observed, but a conclusion which
he has formed from a partial examination. “I am of opinion,” he says,
“and it appears by the ruins that the whole of the surrounding wall on
Knockfarril has been run together by vitrifaction much better than the
most of the kind I have seen.” He states also that immediately on the
inside of the surrounding walls there were ruins of buildings in which
the vitrifaction was much less complete, and these he imagined to have
been a range of habitations reared under the shelter of the outer wall.
-----
Footnote 101:
_Account of some remarkable Ancient Ruins recently discovered in the
Highlands. In a series of Letters by John Williams, mineral engineer._
Edinburgh, 1777.
-----
Craig Phadrig, near Inverness, when examined by Williams, presented the
peculiarity of two vitrified walls, the remains of which could be traced
quite round the inclosed area, while the remains of a third were visible
at the entrance at the east end. The outer wall was founded on the rock,
about 6 or 8 paces distant from the inner wall. Its greatest height did
not then exceed 4 or 5 feet, but he found large masses of it adhering to
the rock where it was first run. The area enclosed was from 80 to 90
paces long by about 30 broad.
The fort at Finhaven, near Aberlemno, in Forfarshire, is an irregular
oblong with rounded corners, about 150 paces in length by about 36 in
breadth. The walls are greatly dilapidated, and but a small part of
their height is now visible. They appear to have been about 10 feet in
thickness, and in some places there is still 4 or 5 feet of the height
remaining. The vitrifaction is very unequal, and many parts of the wall
scarcely show the action of fire, while in others the melted matter has
run down among the interstices of the stones.
Dun Mac Uisneachan, in Loch Etive, was described by Dr. Maculloch in
1824, and more recently by Dr. R. Angus Smith, who made extensive
investigations of the area of the fort in 1873-4.[102] It occupies the
top of an oblong hill which is either very steep or actually precipitous
on all sides. The area enclosed is about 250 yards long by 50 yards
broad. It is encompassed on the verge of the hill by a wall which is
still in some places from 5 to 6 feet high. The points made out by the
investigation are thus stated by Dr. Angus Smith—(1) the weaker parts of
the dun or defensible position were walled, the outer wall or part of
wall being vitrified; (2) the wall of the western part is double; the
outer being vitrified, the inner built in layers of flat stone, 9 feet
being the distance from surface to surface; (3) the walls were built
without mortar as in all these forts; (4) vitrified portions of walling
were found overlying portions built in the ordinary manner and
unvitrified. This I regard as the most interesting and important point
ascertained by Dr. Angus Smith’s investigations regarding the
construction of the so-called Vitrified Forts. It shows distinctly that
the wall of a Vitrified Fort is not always, and in every part, a
vitrified wall; and it suggests that instead of taking this for granted,
in every case in which signs of vitrifaction are observed, the inquiry
ought to be directed to the determination of the extent of such partial
vitrifaction, wherever it is found to have been partial. Another
interesting result of his researches was the discovery of the remains of
dwellings within the area of the fort. They were rectangular
constructions, having dry-built walls about 2 feet thick. A large
refuse-heap of bones of the common domestic animals was found near them.
Some querns, a portion of an iron sword, an iron ring about 2 inches
diameter, and a convex plate of bronze 1¼ inch diameter, ornamented with
concentric circles, the hollows of which were filled with red and the
centre with yellow enamel, were found in the course of the excavations.
The character of this relic, with its red and yellow enamels, is closely
allied to that of the similarly enamelled bronzes which have been
already described, some of which have been found in constructions of a
very peculiar type which have yet to be noticed.
-----
Footnote 102:
_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. ix. p. 396, vol. x. p. 70, vol. xi. p.
298, and vol. xii. p. 13.
-----
The latest examination of Vitrified Forts is contained in a paper by Dr.
Edward Hamilton,[103] in which he gives detailed descriptions of two
such structures in Arisaig, one of which is situated on a promontory in
Loch na Nuagh. It is an irregular oval occupying the whole summit of the
promontory, and measuring about 100 feet in length by about 50 feet in
breadth. The enclosing wall varies from 6 feet in thickness and 7 feet
in height to about 5 feet in thickness and 3 feet in height. In this
case also the wall was not vitrified down to the foundation. Underneath
the vitrified portion there was a depth of 3 feet of walling formed of
water-worn boulders quite unvitrified. The internal part of the upper or
vitrified portion of the wall was also unvitrified. From these
appearances Dr. Hamilton concludes that the vitrifaction was the result
of fire applied to the upper part of the wall externally.
-----
Footnote 103:
_Archœological Journal_, vol. xxxvii. p. 227.
-----
From a consideration of these examples it is evident that the Vitrified
Forts do not differ in any essential point of their character from the
forts that are not vitrified—if vitrifaction be not a feature in the
method of their construction. The results of former investigations have
not produced evidence sufficient to carry the conclusion that the
vitrifaction was accomplished at the time of their construction, or that
it was a method of construction. The determination of this question lies
at the end of an exhaustive investigation, and can only be obtained from
evidence furnished by the phenomena of the structures themselves.