The next important lacustrine discoveries were made in the loch of
Tonymore, county Cavan. It appears that this small lake was celebrated
for its pike-fishing, and contained a dry mound or island about 50
yards in diameter, which was much resorted to by sportsmen. That this
island was a crannog was never suspected till a considerable time
after it had been drained in consequence of the railway having to pass
through it. Though wooden piles and some relics were then found, the
real nature of the discovery was not understood till the publication
of Sir W. R. Wilde's catalogue of the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy in 1857, which gave an account of several similar stations.
Among the relics then collected at Tonymore were several querns,
sharpening stones, a yew bow, and (in the lake mud) two elks' heads.
In 1862 Lord Farnham caused further examination of the mound to be
made under Dr. Malcomson, of Cavan, from whose report the following
facts are derived (B. 60, p. 274):--
"The piles or stakes were arranged in two circles, one within the
other; the diameter of the greater one being 120 feet, that of the
other about ninety feet. The piles in the outer circle were very
numerous; and, in some instances, driven in close proximity to each
other. A few, having withstood the ravages of time, appeared about
three feet above the surface, and, upon being withdrawn and examined,
were found to have been carefully pointed. The stakes in the inner row
were not so numerous, nor were they altogether composed of oak, some
of them being of sallow or other soft wood.
"Within the stockades were observed two small mounds (upon which
the grass was much more verdant than upon any other part of the
island), one at the north and the other at the south. Corresponding
with the depression between these, and 3 feet under the soil, we
found, during the excavation, a flat stone, about four feet square
and 3 inches thick, resting on a number of upright blocks of decayed
oak. This, no doubt, was a hearthstone. Besides the wooden stakes
entering into the formation of the circles, others appear to have been
laid horizontally, their beam-like ends showing at that part of the
enclosure which was disturbed by the passage of the railway. When the
excavation had been carried to the centre, the cut surface presented,
from above downwards, the following section: 1st, clay; 2nd, black
and grey ashes with small stones and sand; 3rd, bones and ashes, with
lumps of blue and yellow clay; 4th, a quantity of grey ashes; and 5th,
the horizontal sleepers or stretchers, and hazel branches resting on
the peat bottom.
"On the same marsh, and about one hundred yards' distance from the
island, but nearer to Tonymore Castle, are two other stockaded forts,
on a raised plateau. They do not appear to have been islands, as an
elevated causeway leads from them to the mainland; but otherwise they
resemble the crannoge in their stockaded and mound-like appearance."
The antiquities collected on the crannog were presented to the Museum
of the Royal Irish Academy, among which were the following, thus
described by Sir W. R. Wilde:--
"A very perfect quern, 17 inches in diameter, with the upper surface
of the top stone highly decorated; found at the bottom and near the
centre of the crannog. Several pieces of iron slag; a barrel-shaped
piece of wood 3¼ inches long, hollow throughout, and perforated with
six holes; three flat circular stone discs or quoits, averaging 3¼
inches in diameter, and half an inch thick; a most perfect and highly
decorated mortar, 8 inches high by 17½ wide, decorated at the corners
with four grotesque figures; a stone mould; a four-sided whetstone 20
inches by 3, and eleven fragments of smaller sharpening stones, of
which two are perforated.
"A large oval and five globular stones; a flat red touchstone of
jasper and a stone shot 3 inches in diameter; two weapon-sharpeners of
remarkably hard stone.
"Two large bone beads; a variegated enamel bead; a large irregularly
shaped amber bead; a smaller one of enamel paste, showing a mixture of
red, yellow, and blue colours; and also a small blue glass bead.
"Two imperfect bone combs, like those already figured in the catalogue
at p. 272 (=Figs. 105=, =108=, and =119=).
"A bone ferrule 2½ inches long, solid at one end.
"Fourteen portions of pottery, some rudely glazed, others burned, and
some only backed; and consisting of fragments of various vessels used
either in the arts or for domestic and culinary purposes, such as
crucibles, pitchers, and bowls. Among these is a fragment of a bowl or
urn, of unglazed pottery, highly decorated with deeply grooved lines
on the outside, and slight indentations on the everted lip. It is of
great antiquity; composed of very black clay, darkened still more by
the long-continued action of the bog, and mixed with a quantity of
particles of white quartz or feldspar, which was probably added to
give it stability. A similar description of art may be remarked in
some of our oldest mortuary urns. When we consider that, except the
urns which must be referred to the Pagan period, we have scarcely any
examples of ancient Irish pottery, these specimens possess a peculiar
interest for the investigators of fictile ware.
"Fragments of Kimmerage coal rings; probably part of a bracelet, which
seems to have been jointed at one end.
"The bowls of two small pipes, similar to those in the Museum, and
usually but erroneously denominated 'Danish tobacco pipes.'
"An enclosed ring of bronze, 3¼ inches in diameter; a large decorated
bronze pin, 7½ inches long; and a smaller one, 3 inches in length.
"An iron knife-blade, with perforated haft, 8½ inches long: this
article looks as if it had been attached to a long handle; a smaller
blade, with tang for haft, 2¾ inches in length; a globular piece
of iron 2¾ inches in diameter, like a crotal, with an aperture on
one side; the head of a small iron hammer; three portions of rings,
and eleven other iron fragments, the uses of which have not been
determined.
"A small perforated stone, like a whorl or distaff weight." (_Ibid._,
p. 290.)