The discovery of lake-dwellings in Holderness is due to Mr. Thomas
Boynton, Bridlington (lately of Ulrome Grange), whose attention was
first directed to the subject in the spring of 1880. Previous to the
excavation of a great drainage scheme about the beginning of the
present century this district appears to have been intersected by a
series of sinuous and irregularly shaped lakes, whose surplus waters
partly found an outlet, not in the present artificially constructed
channels which convey them directly into the German Ocean, but in
quite a different direction, along a sluggish watercourse, still
extant, which falls into the Humber near Hull. That this latter was
in former times the natural drainage course of the entire waters of
Holderness is the opinion of Mr. Boynton and other geologists with
whom I had the pleasure of discussing the matter. Mr. G. W. Lamplugh
believes that the Gypsey Race--a stream which now enters the sea
at Bridlington--at some former period continued its course through
this chain of lakes and finally debouched by the same route into the
Humber. The natural causes which have effected this great change in
the hydrographical conditions of Holderness are to be found in the
steadily progressing encroachment of the sea on the land, which here
goes on at a very rapid rate. When the sea lay many miles farther off,
which undoubtedly was the case in former times, it is supposed that
the intervening land stood somewhat higher, and that consequently
Holderness was a complete water-basin, with its outlet towards the
Humber. But as the sea advanced, gradually undermining and washing
away the soft glacial deposits which here form its shores, this
natural basin became, as it were, tapped in the middle and so allowed
the waters of its upper reaches to escape directly into the sea--a
process precisely analogous to that by which its final drainage was
effected by human agencies.
Nor is this opinion based exclusively on geological considerations,
as we have positive historical proofs in the early annals of the
country that formerly towns existed whose sites are now far out in
the sea. Thus Mr. Poulson ("History of Holderness," p. 467) states
that "the writer of the chronicle of the Abbey of Meaux, in lamenting
the losses which the abbey had sustained, observes that they received
nearly £30 from the town of Hythe, in the parish of Skipsea, chiefly
from the tithe of fish; but now, says he, 1396, _the place is
totally destroyed_--a proof that it was gone into the sea before the
commencement of the fifteenth century." The lake of Withou, which is
recorded as having paid tithe for its fish in 1288 (_Ibid._, 468),
is not only at present completely drained, but more than half of its
bed is washed away, and the sea beach, which runs right across it,
presents a most instructive section of its sedimentary deposits and
subsequent growth of peat.
From these remarks it will be seen that, in estimating the precise
physical conditions that prevailed when the lacustrine abodes I am now
about to describe were constructed, we have to deal with problems of
a somewhat discursive character, and which, consequently, lie beyond
the scope of this work. It is clear, however, that, previous to its
artificial drainage, the district was overspread with a succession
of shallow lakes and marshes, pre-eminently well adapted for the
construction of lake-dwellings. The lakes are now gone and instead
of them we have artificial drains winding along the lowest portions
of their former beds. It is along the steep banks of these sluggish
water-channels that Mr. Boynton has detected, in various places, piles
and transverse beams, which he justly considers to be the remains
of ancient lake-dwellings. Up to the present time indications of
five stations have been observed, which for facility of reference
the discoverer names as follows--(1) West Furze, (2) Round Hill, (3)
Barmston, (4) Gransmoor, and (5) Little Kelk.
These are situated at considerable intervals from each other, varying
from half a mile to two or three miles, and as they are deeply buried
their investigation entails a considerable amount of labour and
expense. It is only the stations at West Furze and Round Hill that
have as yet been subjected to anything like a systematic exploration.
A few years ago Mr. Boynton at his own expense carried out a series
of excavations at the former station by which its character has been
satisfactorily determined, and subsequently he has undertaken to
examine the second with a grant from the Society of Antiquaries; but
these works are not yet completed, and at present they are entirely
suspended owing to the volume of water in the drain.
I may state that I have on several occasions visited the locality and
so became practically conversant with the general features of these
discoveries. Moreover, for the special object of this work, Mr.
Boynton has freely placed all the materials in his possession at my
disposal and given me permission to add to my notes the accompanying
illustrations of a few of the more interesting objects.
_West Furze._--This was the first discovered, and the circumstances
that led to the discovery are thus described by Mr. Boynton (B. 373,
p. 300):--
"In the spring of the year 1880 the Commissioners of Beverley and
Barmston Drainage found it necessary to deepen one of these drains
(the branch called the Skipsea drain).
"A short time after this was done I was walking in one of my fields
adjoining, and picked up some perforated bone implements. I shortly
afterwards had the earth, which had been excavated at this place,
turned over, and found more implements of the same class. Also two
made from the antlers of the red-deer, and a small piece of red ochre,
with several stones which bear traces of having been utilised.
"In the month of May, 1881, the water in the drain at that time
being very low, and having obtained the services of half a dozen men
accustomed to similar work, I had the water dammed, and dug through
peat to a bed of gravel, 9 feet 6 inches from the surface.
"We found three more perforated bone implements, all in the side
of the drain, and at the depth of 7 feet, also several stakes and
piles with remains of brushwood. I then determined, when opportunity
offered, to excavate in the field, and proceeded to do so in December
last (1881). We commenced by digging a trench parallel with the drain
and 60 feet in length. This trench and the drain formed two sides of a
square, running north and south."
Subsequently Mr. Boynton cleared out the entire enclosure thus marked
out by these primary trenches and found the whole of it to be occupied
with an artificial structure of wood like the so-called fascines of
Switzerland or the crannogs of Scotland and Ireland. The depth of
decayed brushwood was very considerable, and it was pierced here and
there with upright piles. At the margin these piles were thicker, and
in one place, the south-east corner, he states that they met with
great "numbers of stakes, with some brushwood, the earth being a peaty
marl." Further progress from this point is thus described:--
"When clear of the slope there is a decided layer of brushwood about
two feet thick, also studded with stakes, and along the inner side
of the south trench we found a number of piles from 5 to 7 inches in
diameter, in a line, and mostly upright. One of these we got out quite
perfect. It is of oak wood, 4 feet in length, 6 inches in diameter,
and has a forked top which has apparently been intended for carrying a
horizontal beam or support. The piles are about 4 feet apart. One had
given way and had been replaced.
"As the trench is not exactly in a line with the piles, several are
now left standing and partially exposed. In this portion of the
digging we found several bones of animals, a peculiar grinding-stone
of whinstone or granite, almost semicircular in shape, 12 inches
long by 7 broad, a flint core, a stone with the centre hollowed, a
hammer-stone, and two fragments of rude pottery.
"Hazel-nuts are numerous; several I have picked out appear to have
been opened by squirrels."
The drain appears to have intersected the woodwork, and as the
excavations were confined to one side, the exact dimensions of
the lake-dwelling cannot be stated. Its length was approximately
about 70 feet, and its breadth probably one-third less. On my first
inspection of the locality after these excavations had been completed
I was struck with the narrowness of the lacustrine area in which the
structure was reared. From the nature of the adjacent ground it was
readily seen that the lake widened very considerably both above and
below; but here it was so contracted that the woodwork appeared to
occupy the entire breadth of the waterway--a fact which suggested to
me the idea of its being a bridge or military stronghold. However,
on closer inspection I saw that the accumulation of rain-wash had
considerably encroached on the original bed of the lake, and I am
satisfied that there would be, in former times, sufficient space for
giving to the dwelling a complete insular character.
The following relics, now in the possession of Mr. Boynton, were
collected in the course of the investigations:--
_Horn and Bone._--The perforated bone implements (=Fig. 176=_a_, Nos.
1 and 2), of which not less than eighteen were collected, are the most
remarkable objects. They all consist of the articulate extremities
of the long bones of some large bovine animals, with the exception
of two, one of which was the thick end of a scapula and the other a
cervical vertebra. The latter was not manipulated, and the reason
it is here classified as an implement is that a portion of a wooden
handle, which had been inserted into the spinal aperture, still
remained. In this manner the vertebra became a formidable weapon,
which, when used as a club or skull-cracker, could scarcely be
matched by any work of art. I am of opinion that all these perforated
bone implements were simply warlike weapons. Three handpicks, made
from the horns of the red deer--the brow antler forming the pick and
the body of the horn, stripped of its antlers, the handle. Also a
club, or broken pick, and several portions of worked tines.
[Illustration: =Fig. 176=_a._--HOLDERNESS. All ½ real size.]
_Stone._--Three hammer-stones of natural pebbles; two anvils, one
flat and circular and the other having a slight cavity on one
side; six polishers, or rubbers; two flint cores, and about 50
substantial-looking flakes. One flake was a good example of a knife,
and showed evidence of having been used; three other flakes were
secondarily chipped and converted into neat scrapers and a saw (No. 3).
_Bronze and Jet._--One bronze spear-head (No. 4), and a fragment of a
jet arm-band, like those from the Ayrshire crannogs.
_Pottery._--Fragments of a coarse unornamented pottery were found,
out of which one vessel has been restored, having the following
dimensions:--11 inches wide at mouth; 12 inches in the widest, a
little below the mouth; and 7½ at base. Height, 7½ inches.
About thirty yards distant from the lake-dwelling, in a peaty hollow
in the field, Mr. Boynton found pottery of a similar character. It
was buried about three feet in the peat. The depth of peat over the
lake-dwelling was somewhat more, being nowhere less than 4 feet.
_Fauna._--No expert has as yet made a report on the osseous remains,
but they are believed to represent the following animals:--_Bos
longifrons_ and _primigenius_, horse (a small breed), dog or wolf,
beaver, ox, pig, sheep or goat, deer, otter (?), goose, and some small
birds.
One well-formed human skull, with portion of an upper jaw.
ROUND HILL.--So far as the excavation of this station has been
prosecuted the woodwork appears to have been precisely similar to the
former, but the area occupied is of larger dimensions. Mr. Boynton
thinks that the piles here belong to different periods of time, and
a curious fact which he pointed out to Canon Greenwell and myself
seems to support this view. He showed us the point of one pile which
had penetrated and terminated in the stump of another, from which
he inferred that before the former had been inserted the latter
had already been in a state of decay. The decayed brushwood had
also a greater thickness than at West Furze. The station has not,
however, yielded many relics, the principal objects being a small
stone celt, portion of a perforated stone hammer, and the half of a
jet bracelet. The latter appears to be unique. It is of a flattish
form, and ornamented on its outer side by five prominent ridges,
running circularly. The marginal ridges are separated from the three
central ones by a wider interval, in which runs a smaller ridge or
bead. These ridges were evidently manipulated without the use of a
turning machine, as they are not perfectly uniform, though the artists
intention was to make them so.
In regard to the other three stations there are only indications of
their being of a similar character, such as piles and transverse
woodwork along the bottom and sides of the drain. At Barmston, a stone
axe, a perforated bone implement, like those from West Furze, and bits
of charcoal were found. At Gransmoor a very large quantity of broken
bones lay exposed in the bottom of the drain, amidst a profusion of
oak piles and beams, but among them no implements have been found.
IV.--GENERAL REMARKS ON THE LAKE-DWELLINGS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND.
Having placed before you, with a considerable amount of fullness,
certain details of the investigations of ancient lake-dwellings that
have been made within the British Isles during the last half century,
I proceed now to the discussion of some facts bearing on the ultimate
question of their origin and development. As my conclusions are of
a somewhat argumentative character, involving the consideration of
some collateral phenomena as well as a critical analysis of the
special materials derived from archæological research, it will
be advisable, in order to secure, as far as possible, precision,
at least in methods, to concentrate attention on a few definite
problems--convenient foci as it were for grouping my observations.
I propose accordingly to deal successively with their structural
peculiarities; their range in space and time, and how far this range
coincides with ethnography; and, finally, their relation to analogous
remains in Europe.
Except in a very few instances, which will be afterwards more
specially referred to, all the lake-dwellings hitherto examined in
Great Britain and Ireland were constructed on artificial islands made
generally of wood, but sometimes of stones and such other materials as
might be considered suitable. Although no such instructive examples as
those at Lochlee, Buston, etc., have been recorded in Ireland, there
can be no doubt that those of the latter country were built on the
same general principles. Indeed, few of the writers on Irish crannogs
have paid much attention to the structure of the islands, and, beyond
the mere statement that they were stockaded, palisaded, or surrounded
by one or more circles of piles, they have supplied no explanation
of the attachments and proper function of the surrounding piles. But
though the purpose of the mortised beams does not appear to have been
at first well understood in Ireland, it is of importance to observe
that their existence has not been entirely overlooked. Dr. Reeves,
writing of a crannog in the county of Antrim, says: "These piles were
from 17 to 20 feet long, and from 6 to 8 inches thick, driven into the
bed of the lough, and projecting above this bed about 5 or 6 feet.
They were bound together at the top by horizontal oak-beams, into
which they were mortised, and secured in the mortise by stout wooden
pegs." (_Proc. R. I. A._, vol. vii. p. 155.)
Mr. G. H. Kinahan in a paper on the crannogs of Lough Rea thus
incidentally alludes to the subject:--"A little north-west of the
double row, in the old working, there is a part of a circle of piles;
and in another, a row of piles running nearly east and west. Mr.
Hemsworth of Danesfort, who spent many of his younger days boating on
the lake, and knows every part of it, informs me that on the upper end
of some of the upright piles there were the marks of where horizontal
beams were mortised on them. These seemed now to have disappeared, as
I did not remark them." (_Ibid._, vol. viii. p. 417.)
These are by no means isolated observations on this point, and when we
consider how readily the exposed woodwork of an uninhabited crannog
would be destroyed, either by the hand of man or the natural processes
of decay, we need not wonder that it is only the stumps of the piles
and generally submerged portions of these singular structures that
remain to the present day.
The construction of a crannog must have been a gigantic operation in
those days, requiring in many cases the services of the whole clan.
Having fixed on a suitable locality--the topographical requirements
of which seemed to be a small mossy lake, with its margin overgrown
with weeds and grasses, and secluded amidst the thick meshes of the
primæval forests--the next consideration was the selection of the
materials for constructing the island. In a lake containing soft and
yielding sediment of decomposed vegetable matter, it is manifest that
any heavy substances, such as stones and earth, would be totally
inadmissible, owing to their weight, so that solid logs of wood,
provided there was an abundant supply at hand, would be the best and
cheapest material that could be used.
The general plan adopted was to make an island of stems of trees
and brushwood laid transversely, with which stones and earth were
mingled. This mass was pinned together, and surrounded by a series of
stockades, which were firmly united by intertwining branches, or, in
the more artistically constructed crannogs, by horizontal beams with
mortised holes to receive the uprights. These horizontal beams were
arranged in two ways. One set ran along the circumference and bound
together all the uprights in the same circle, while others took a
radial direction and connected each circle together. Sometimes the
latter were long enough to embrace three circles. The external ends
of these radial beams were occasionally observed to be continuous
with additional strengthening materials, such as wooden props and
large stones, which, in some cases, appeared also to have acted as
a breakwater. The mechanical skill displayed in their structure was
specially directed to give stability to the island and to prevent
superincumbent pressure from causing the general mass to bulge
outwards.
South of the Scottish border the remains of lake-dwellings are too
much decayed or imperfectly observed to furnish many reliable data
bearing on this subject. So far, however, as the evidence goes
it would appear that the artificial island in Llangorse and the
lacustrine dwellings in Holderness were true fascines; the former,
indeed, having all the appurtenances of the typical crannog.
The crannogs were made accessible by various means. Some had moles or
stone causeways, the existence of which, in some instances, became
known only upon the drainage of the lake. Hence it is conjectured that
these approaches might have been always submerged, and so supplied, on
emergencies, a secret means of communication with the shore. This idea
was suggested by the tortuous direction which many of them assumed,
as for example the causeway discovered in the Loch of Sanquhar
which had a zig-zag direction and so could only be waded by persons
intimately acquainted with its windings. Others were approached by a
wooden gangway, the evidence of which now consists only of the stumps
of a double row of piles. Others again were completely insulated
and accessible only by boats. One feature regarding some of the
wooden gangways deserves particular attention. Both at Lochlee and
Lochspouts the piles were found to be tightly embraced at their lower
extremities by a curiously constructed network of transverse beams.
As the surface of these elaborate structures was buried from 3 to 7
feet beneath the lake-bed, my first impression was that they might
have been used, like the submerged stone causeways, as a concealed
means of communicating with the shore. To test this suggestion I had
a special excavation made along the line of a gangway at the Miller's
Cairn in Loch Dowalton. (B. 426, p. 102.) After digging through 3 feet
of the consolidated and hardened mud, we came upon a stratum of fine
blue clay, extremely tenacious, and little liable to displacement. The
pointed stakes of the gangway, which penetrated into this clay only a
few inches, here met with a firm resistance. It then occurred to me
that the ingeniously arranged wooden beams at Lochlee and Lochspouts
served merely the same end as the blue clay at the Millers Cairn,
and that they were to be found only in localities where there was
a great depth of mud incapable of affording a sufficient basis of
resistance to the piles. Such difficulties have been encountered by
the constructors of pile-dwellings in all countries; and it is curious
to note the variety of methods by which they were overcome. The Swiss
lake-dwellers sometimes surrounded the piles with heaps of stones
which now go under the name of _steinbergs_; at other times split
planks were laid on the soft mud into which the piles were mortised.
The former plan was adopted on rocky shores too hard for piles to be
driven in, and the latter where there was a great depth of soft mud,
as at Wollishofen and other stations adjacent to the town of Zürich.
In North Germany, as Persanzig, Aryssee, and other localities, the
log-house principle, which greatly economised the materials, was
adopted in the construction of the subaqueous foundations. It appears
to me that this was the principle adopted in the structure of the
great Irish crannog of Lagore, as Sir W. Wilde distinctly states that
it was "divided into separate compartments by septa or divisions that
intersected one another in different directions." It was in these
compartments, which were filled with bones and black mud, that the
antiquities were found; so that the crannog-dwellers must have used
them as kitchen-middens. Originally they contained only water, but
in the course of time they became filled with food refuse and other
_débris_. House-cleaning was thus reduced to a minimum, while the
laws of sanitation were not more violated than in the underground
cess-pools of many of our modern dwellings. A curious statement by
Wilde in regard to the disposal of bones at Lagore is that "the
remains of each species of animal were placed in separate divisions,
with but little intermixture with any others."
It may be also mentioned that the log-house structures described
by Pigorini as lining the inside of the surrounding dyke in the
terramara of Castione were perfectly analogous, only in this case the
compartments were filled with clay and rubbish, so as to act better as
_contraforte_ to the clay wall.
Canoes are so invariably found associated with crannogs that their
discovery in lakes and bogs has been considered by Dr. Stuart as
an indication of the existence of the latter. This may be true in
some cases; but in others, such as Closeburn, Lochwinnoch, and Loch
Doon, three of the examples cited by him, it is more probable that
the canoes were used by the occupiers of the mediæval castles in the
vicinity of which they were found. From these and other instances
that have come under my notice I have come to the conclusion that
dug-out canoes do not indicate such great antiquity as is commonly
attributed to them, nor do they therefore necessarily carry us back to
prehistoric times.
There is no peculiarity in the structure or form of these dug-outs
which distinguishes their age or nationality. There is a good
collection of them in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Some have
pointed prows and square-cut sterns; others have both ends pointed;
some have cross bands, like ribs, left in the solid oak at regular
intervals, as if to strengthen the vessel; while others are uniformly
scooped out without any raised ridges. They vary much in size and
shape. The largest is thus referred to in the small handbook to the
Museum:--"Down the centre of the room extends the largest known canoe,
formed of a single tree. The remains measure 42 feet in length, and
the canoe was probably 45 feet long, by 4 to 5 feet wide, in its
original state. It was recovered from the bottom of Loch Owel, in West
Meath, and cut into eight sections for purposes of transport. There
is a curious arrangement of apertures in the bottom, apparently to
receive the ends of uprights supporting an elevating deck."
One of the canoes found at Lochlee, the remains of which are
still preserved in the Burns' Museum at Kilmarnock, measured when
disinterred 10 feet long, 2½ broad, and 1¾ deep. There were nine
apertures in its bottom, arranged in two rows, four on each side,
with the odd one at the apex. These holes were perfectly round, and
exactly one inch in diameter; but when the boat was found they were
quite unobserved, being all tightly plugged up, and it was only long
afterwards that the plugs, upon drying, dropped out and so revealed
their existence.
During the summer of 1874 a canoe (=Fig. 177=) was discovered in Loch
Arthur, or Lotus Loch, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in the
vicinity of a small artificial island, which is thus described by Rev.
James Gillespie:--
[Illustration: =Fig. 177.=--Forward half of the Canoe found in Loch
Arthur.]
"When fully exposed to view by the trench which was dug around it,
the canoe was seen to be of great size, ornately finished, and in a
fair state of preservation. It had been hollowed out of the trunk of
an oak, which must have been a patriarch of the forest, the extreme
length of the canoe bring 45 feet and the breadth at the stern 5 feet.
The boat gradually tapers from the stern to the prow, which ends in
a remarkable prolongation resembling the outstretched neck and head
of an animal. When excavated this portion of the canoe was entire. At
the neck of the figurehead there is a circular hole, about 5 inches in
diameter, from side to side. At the prow a small flight of steps has
been carved in the solid oak from the top to the bottom of the canoe.
The stern is square, and formed of a separate piece of wood, inserted
in a groove about an inch and a half from the extremity of the canoe.
"Along the starboard side (which when found was in good preservation,
except near the stern) there could be traced seven holes about three
inches in diameter. The three front holes were nearly perfect, but
at the stern the side was so broken that only the lower parts of the
holes could be observed. They are about five feet apart, and the front
hole is about that distance from the prow--the last being about seven
feet from the stern. There are three holes pierced through the bottom
at irregular intervals." (_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. xi. p. 21.)
A curious feature presented by some of these canoes was that
accidental defects had been repaired, and the method adopted in its
execution is worth noticing. The canoe found close to the Buston
crannog already described (page 428), showed this peculiarity in a
marked degree. Another from the Loch of Canmor is thus described by
the Rev. James Wattie:--
"On the 16th June, 1859, there was fished up from the bottom of the
loch, near the north shore, opposite to the Prison Island, a canoe
(=Fig. 178=) hollowed out of a single oak-tree, 22½ feet long,
3 feet 2 inches wide over the top at the stern, 2 feet 10 inches
in the middle, and 2 feet 9 inches at 6 feet from the bow, which
ended nearly in a point. The edges are thin and sharp, the depth
irregular--in one place 5 inches, the greatest 9 inches. There are
no seats, nor rollocks or places for oars; but there may have been
seats along the sides, secured by pins through holes still in the
bottom. There are two rents in the bottom, alongside of each other,
about eighteen feet long each; to remedy these, five bars across had
been mortised into the bottom outside, from 22 to 27 inches long
and 3 inches broad, except at the ends, where they were a kind of
dovetailed, and 4 inches broad. One of these bars still remains, and
is of very neat workmanship, and neatly mortised in. The other bars
are lost, but their places are quite distinct. They have been fastened
with pins, for which there are five pairs of holes through the bottom
of the canoe, at the opposite side, at a distance of from 18 to 20
inches, the bottom being flattish. There are also five pairs of larger
holes through the bottom, etc." (B. 94, p. 167.)
[Illustration: =Fig. 178.=--Canoe found in Loch Canmor.]
Exact parallels to all these have been found in the Continental
lake-dwellings. Of two found at Vingelz, Lake of Bienne, the largest
was 43½ feet long, 4 feet 4 inches wide, and had 4 ribs left in the
solid. It had iron cramps also, apparently to strengthen it, and
belonged to the pre-Roman Iron Age. One at Cudrefin had also these
solid cross ribs. One of the best preserved was found a few years
ago at Vingrave (Lake of Bienne) covered with 2½ feet of mud, and
is now deposited in the Museum of Neuveville. It is roughly made,
having thick sides and a square-cut stern, with a groove for a movable
stern-piece. From measurements lately taken by myself I found it to be
30½ feet long, rather less than 3 feet wide, and its greatest depth 1
foot. Its sides had four or five cuts along their margin, apparently
for the use of oars. (B. 392, p. 20.)
That the crannogs in Scotland and Ireland lingered on sufficiently
long to come within the borderland of history requires no great
amplification here. The references to crannogs in the Irish annals are
very numerous, extending over a period from the middle of the ninth to
the seventeenth century.
In 1870 there was published in the _Journal of the Royal Historical
and Archæological Association of Ireland_ (B. 171_a_) an account of an
unsuccessful attack on a crannog near Omagh, in the year 1566, by an
English army under the command of Deputy Lord Sydney. This document,
which was copied by Dr. Caulfield from despatches in the Public Record
Office, London, gives a vivid description of the methods adopted in
the attack and defence. A kind of pontoon was constructed on "floating
barrels," which conveyed the attacking party to the island; but they
found it "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," etc.
That these island forts, however impregnable they might be considered
in previous ages, had ultimately to succumb before the more modern
resources of warfare, is shown by the following narrative taken from
the Calendar of State Papers of Ireland, vol. 156, p. 374:--
"There was one Dualtagh O'Conner, a notorious traitor, that of all the
rest continued longest as an outlaw, of power to do mischief. He had
fortified himself very strongly after their manner in an island or
crannoge within Lough Lane, standing within the county of Roscommon
and on the borders of that country called Costelloghe. A few days
ago, as opportunity and time served me, I drew a force on the sudden
one night and laid siege to the island before day, and so continued
seven days, restraining them from sending any forth or receiving any
in, and in the meantime I had caused divers boats from Athlone and a
couple of great iron pieces to be brought against the island, and on
the seventh day we took the island, without hurt to any on our side,
save my brother John, who got a bullet-wound in the back. When our
men entered the island there was found within it 26 persons, whereof
7 were Dualtagh's sons and daughters; but himself and 18 others,
seeking to save themselves by swimming, and in their cot to recover
the wood next the shore, were for the most part drowned. Some report
that Dualtagh was drowned, but the truth is not known. It was scarce
daylight, and the weather was foggy when they betook themselves to
flight. The Irishry held that place as a thing invincible."--Sir R.
Bingham to Burghley, Dec. 16th, 1590.
In addition to the historical evidence we have that of the relics
found on many of these crannogs, which includes iron pots, guns,
leaden bullets, coins, etc. Thus associated with two crannogs in Lough
Annagh were an iron cuirass, matchlock guns, pistols, antique keys,
spurs, various implements of iron, a bronze ladle, bronze spear-head,
etc. (B. 149, p. 156.)
[Illustration: =Fig. 179.=--Brass Vessel found in Loch Canmor. Height,
10½ inches.]
To the literary researches of the late Dr. J. Robertson we are
indebted for equally explicit historical notices regarding the
Scottish crannogs:--"Among the more remarkable of the Scottish
crannogs is that in the Loch of Forfar, which bears the name of St.
Margaret, the Queen of King Malcolm Canmore, who died in 1097. It is
chiefly natural, but has been strengthened by piles and stones, and
the care taken to preserve this artificial barrier is attested by a
record of the year 1508. Another crannoge--that of Lochindorb, in
Moray--was visited by King Edward I. of England in 1303, about which
time it was fortified by a castle of such mark that, in 1336, King
Edward III. of England led an army to its relief through the mountain
passes of Athol and Badenoch. A third crannoge--that of Loch Cannor or
Kinord, in Aberdeenshire--appears in history in 1335, had King James
IV. for its guest in 1506, and continued to be a place of strength
until 1648, when the Estates of Parliament ordered its fortifications
to be destroyed. It has an area of about an acre, and owes little or
nothing to art beyond a rampart of stones and a row of piles. In the
same lake there is another and much smaller crannoge, which is wholly
artificial. Forty years after the dismantling of the crannoge of Loch
Cannor, the crannoge of Loch-an-Eilan, in Strathspey, is spoken of as
'useful to the country in times of troubles or wars, for the people
put in their goods and children here, and it is easily defended.'
Canoes hollowed out of the trunks of oaks have been found, as well
beside the Scotch as beside the Irish crannoges. Bronze (brass)
vessels, apparently for kitchen purposes (=Fig. 179=), are also of
frequent occurrence, but do not seem to be of a very ancient type.
Deers' horns, boars' tusks, and the bones of domestic animals, have
been discovered; and in one instance a stone-hammer, and in another
what seem to be pieces for some such game as draughts or backgammon,
have been dug up" (=Fig. 180=).
[Illustration: =Fig. 180.=--Bone Object found in the Loch of Forfar.
Natural size.]
[Illustration: =Fig. 181.=--Brass Pots found in Loch of Banchory.]
[Illustration: =Fig. 182.=--Brass Pot (height, 11 inches), and Brass
Jug (height, 9 inches), found in the Loch of Banchory.]
[Illustration: =Fig. 183.=--View of Surface of the Isle of the Loch of
Banchory, showing foundations of Stone Buildings.]
"Before the recent drainage of the Loch of Leys--or the Loch of
Banchory, as it was called of old--the loch covered about 140 acres,
but, at some earlier date, had been four or five times as large. It
had one small island, long known to be artificial, oval in shape,
measuring nearly 200 feet in length by about 100 in breadth, elevated
about 10 feet above the bottom of the loch, and distant about 100
yards from the nearest point of the mainland. What was discovered as
to the structure of this islet will be best given in the words of the
gentleman, of whose estate it is a part, Sir James Horn Burnett, of
Crathes. 'Digging at the Loch of Leys renewed. Took out two oak trees
laid along the bottom of the lake, one 5 feet in circumference and 9
feet long; the other shorter. It is plain that the foundation of the
island has been of oak and birch trees laid alternately, and filled
up with earth and stones. The bark was quite fresh on the trees. The
island is surrounded by oak piles which now project 2 or 3 feet above
ground. They have evidently been driven in to protect the island
from the action of water.' Below the surface were found the bones
and antlers of a red deer of great size, kitchen vessels of bronze
(brass) (=Figs. 181= and =182=), a millstone (taking the place of the
quern in the Irish crannogs), a small canoe, and a rude, flat-bottomed
boat about 9 feet long, made, as in Ireland and Switzerland, from one
piece of oak. The surface of the crannog was occupied by a strong
substantial building (=Fig. 183=). This has latterly been known by
the name of the Castle of Leys, and tradition, or conjecture, speaks
of it as a fortalice, from which the Wauchopes were driven during the
Bruces' wars, adding that it was the seat of the Burnetts until the
middle of the sixteenth century, when they built the present castle of
Crathes. A grant of King Robert I. to the ancestors of the Burnetts
includes _lacum de Banchory cum insula ejusdem_. The island again
appears in record in the years 1619 and 1654 and 1664, under the name
of 'The Isle of the Loch of Banchory.'"
That Scottish lake-dwellings were known by the same name, _crannog_,
as the Irish, Dr. Robertson adduces the following extract from the
Register of the Privy Council to show:--
"Instructions to Andro bischop of the Yllis, Andro lord Steuart of
Vchiltrie, and James lord of Bewlie, comptroller, etc.... That the
haill houssis of defence, strongholdis and _cranokis_ in the Yllis
perteining to thame and their foirsaidis sal be delyverit to his
Maiestie and sic as his Heynes sall appoint to ressave the same to
be vsit at his Maiesty's pleasour, etc., 14 Aprilis, 1608."
While the comparative late occupancy of the crannogs in both countries
is, therefore, unquestionable, their early origin is enveloped in the
deepest mystery. Was the system an indigenous invention--the result of
circumscribed local exigencies--or derived from foreign sources? and
when was it founded or introduced? are questions that have elicited
responses of different characters. Sir W. R. Wilde, undoubtedly one of
the foremost authorities on Irish crannogs, assigns them to the Iron
Age. "Certainly," says he, "the evidences derived from the antiquities
found in ours, and which are chiefly of iron, refer them to a much
later period than the Swiss; while we do not find any flint arrows
or stone celts, and but very few bronze weapons, in our crannogs.
Moreover, we have positive documentary evidence of the occupation
of many of these fortresses in the time of Elizabeth, and some even
later." (B. 24, p. 152.) Mr. G. H. Kinahan, on the other hand, thus
formulates his opinion in a short article contributed to Keller's
book (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 654):--"Of the time when the crannogs were
first built there is no known record, but that they must have been
inhabited at an early period is evident, as antiquities belonging to
the Stone Age are found in them. Some were in use up to modern times,
Crannough Macknavin, county Galway, having been destroyed in A.D.
1610, by the English, while Bally-na-huish Castle was inhabited fifty
years ago. Some crannogs seem to have been continuously occupied until
they were finally abandoned, while others were deserted for longer or
shorter periods. In Shore Island, Lough Rea, County Galway, there is
a lacustrine accumulation over 3 feet thick, marking the time that
elapsed between two occupations."
That objects supposed to be typical of the Stone and Bronze Ages
have been found on many of the Irish crannogs there can be no doubt
at all. For example, among the remains described by Mr. Shirley from
the crannogs of MacMahon's country are stone celts, arrow-heads of
flint and bronze, three looped celts of bronze, etc.; but these were
associated with many iron objects of comparatively modern manufacture,
such as a gun-barrel, pistol-lock, ploughshares of iron, parts of
harps, and spinning-wheels, etc., etc.
"The oldest article," writes Mr. Benn, "from the crannog at
Randalstown found, so far as I know, was a stone hatchet, rather
of a small size, but not remarkable or uncommon. The most recent,
and the only piece of coin I ever heard of, discovered in such a
locality, is a base coin of Philip and Mary." (B. 29, p. 88.) In the
crannog of Roughan Lake, the last retreat of Sir Phelim O'Neil, some
bronze spear-heads were found, along with a highly ornamented quern
stone. On the lowering of Lough Gur an island became visible which
is said to have been a crannog, and on it were found, among other
things, a remarkably fine bronze spear-head,[121] having its socket
ornamented with gold, a stone mould for spear-heads (=Fig. 107=),
and some bones of the reindeer; but yet it existed as a stronghold
till 1599, when it was surrendered by the English to the Earl of
Desmond.[122] The sword-blades figured by Wood-Martin (B. 444, pl.
xxxvii.) as coming from crannog sites at Toome Bar are undoubtedly
characteristic specimens of the Bronze Age weapons; but then the
evidence that they are crannog relics at all is so slender that for
determinative purposes they may be considered valueless. Moreover
they were associated with objects equally typical of all ages--from
palæolithic flints to mediæval silver ornaments. "All these flint
flakes are of the earliest type," says Mr. Day, who describes this
locality, "many closely resembling those found in the 'drift' at
Abbeville;" and the relics include flint cores, stone and bronze
objects, a "ring brooch, enamelled bead, and a silver armlet." (B. 92,
p. 227.) Similar remarks are equally applicable to all the Scottish
crannogs on which objects apparently belonging to different ages have
been found. A reviewer of my work on "Ancient Scottish Lake-dwellings"
(B. 373), in which I gave it as my opinion that the Lochlee crannog
must be assigned to post-Roman times, takes exception to this opinion
on the grounds that amongst the relics are a polished stone celt of
neolithic type, flint scrapers, which, he says, "may be of the Bronze
Age, but could hardly be considered as post-Roman," and portions of
the antlers of the reindeer, which, according to him, "can hardly
have ranged as far south at any period later than the neolithic age."
Had my reviewer read the remarks in my book at page 147, regarding
this polished greenstone hatchet, he would hardly have selected it to
prove that this crannog existed during the neolithic age. My words
are: "As many of the relics, if judged independently of the rest and
their surroundings, might be taken as good representatives of the
three so-called Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron, it is but natural
for the reader to inquire if superposition has defined them by a
corresponding relationship. On this point I offer no dubious opinion.
The polished stone celt (that referred to by my reviewer) and an iron
knife were found almost in juxtaposition about the level of the lowest
fire-place." The iron implements on this crannog included hatchets,
chisels, gouges, and a crosscut saw, and the very lowest logs bore
unmistakable evidence of having been manipulated with sharp metal
tools. The entire absence of cutting instruments of bronze renders it
more than probable that such tools were made of iron, and were similar
to those found on the crannog. As for the conclusions educed from the
presence of the horns of the reindeer (hesitatingly identified by
the late Professor Rolleston), it is now actually proved that this
animal was not extinct in Scotland before the twelfth century. In the
"Orkneyinga Saga"[123] it is stated that "every summer the Earls were
wont to go over to Caithness, and up into the forests, to hunt the red
deer or the reindeer." The recent discovery of its bones and horns in
refuse heaps in Caithness, and in many of the brochs in the north of
Scotland, amply proves that the reindeer was hunted and eaten by the
Norsemen as late as the above date.
Whatever explanation may be forthcoming as to the prevalence of
prehistoric relics on these crannogs, there is no possibility of
denying that the vast majority of them were not only inhabited,
but constructed during the Iron Age. Mr. Wakeman, in the most
carefully investigated of all the crannogs in Fermanagh, viz. that
at Drumdarragh, describes three periods of occupation; yet among the
relics corresponding to the earliest period were several iron objects,
one being "an animal's head in iron," which he considers might be the
leg of a pot. Nor am I aware that superposition has defined in any
clear instance the heterogeneous mixture of relics that usually turn
up on crannogs.
It must also be noticed that few, if any, of them can be classified as
exclusively belonging to the earlier ages, like those so numerously
recorded in Central Europe. Indeed, there are only two or three
which have any claim to such delimitation, viz. those in Coal-bog
(Kilnamaddo), in Drumkelin bog, county Donegal, and in Holderness. On
the two former sites were found the most perfect examples of log-huts
that have yet come to light, and as they were both deeply buried in
peat, 17 and 25 feet respectively, they undoubtedly point to some
antiquity. But the relics, which include a stone axe and some flint
objects, are too few to justify such a sweeping conclusion as that
these dwellings were constructed at a period when metal implements
were unknown in the country. At any rate, there can be no reasonable
doubt that the period of greatest development of the Scottish and
Irish lake-dwellings was during the Iron Age, and, at least, as far
posterior to Roman civilisation as that of the Swiss Pfahlbauten was
anterior to it.
In instituting an inquiry as to how far the geographical distribution
of crannogs coincides with that of the various nationalities of the
period, we arrive at some striking results. Thus adopting Skene's
division of the four kingdoms into which Scotland was ultimately
divided by the contending nationalities of Picts, Scots, Angles, and
Strathclyde Britons, after the final withdrawal of the Romans, I find
that of the fifty or sixty crannogs proper none are located within the
territories of the Angles; ten and seven are respectively within the
confines of the Picts and Scots; while all the rest are situated in
the Scottish portion of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde. That they
have not been found in the south-eastern provinces of Scotland may be
due to the rarity of suitable lakes, or the want of proper research
on the part of antiquaries; but, as the matter actually stands, their
absence suggests the theory that these districts had been occupied by
a foreign element before Celtic civilisation gave such a prominence to
the lake-dwellings. It will be thus seen that in the early centuries
of the Christian era the distribution of crannogs in Scotland and
Ireland closely coincides with a well-defined area in which the
Celtic language was spoken. For proof that in those days this was
the language of the south-west of Scotland, I need only point to the
recent work of Sir Herbert Maxwell on the topography of Galloway.
But from an etymological analysis of the earliest topographical
nomenclature of Britain, it is inferred that, during still earlier
times, a much larger portion of Britain, if not the whole of it, was
under the sway of the Celts. Hence it becomes interesting to inquire
if, in these localities, from which Celtic influence was expelled,
there exist traces of lake-dwellings. In localities where the Celtic
races were never supplanted by foreigners, it would be strange indeed,
and altogether at variance with archæological experience, if the habit
of resorting to isolated and inaccessible islands for safety would
be all at once abandoned, whenever the greater security afforded by
stone buildings became known. Hence the persistence with which the
island forts continued in these Celtic regions. But in this wider
Celtic area, on the supposition that the Celts were the introducers
or founders of the system, we ought to find some vestiges of these
dwellings along the regions traversed by them before they became
isolated from their Continental brethren, and cooped up in the western
districts of Britain. This is precisely what the general researches
into British lake-dwellings have shown in the stray remnants of
them that have been found in Llangorse, Holderness, the _meres_ of
Norfolk and Suffolk, Cold Ash Common, etc. All these, with perhaps the
exception of the pile-structures at London Wall, appear to be older
than the majority of the crannogs of Scotland and Ireland.
Taking all these facts into account, together with the distinct
statement made by Cæsar that the Britons were in the habit of making
use of wooden piles and marshes in their mode of entrenchments, I am
inclined to believe that we have here evidence of a widely distributed
custom which underlies the subsequent great development which the
lake-dwellings assumed in Scotland and Ireland. Moreover, I believe
it probable that the early Celts had got this knowledge from contact
with the inhabitants of the pile-villages in Central Europe. On this
hypothesis it would follow that the Celts had migrated into Britain
when these lacustrine abodes were in full vogue in Switzerland, and
that they retained their knowledge of the art long after it had fallen
into desuetude in Europe. Subsequent immigrants into Britain, such as
the Belgæ, Angles, etc., would cultivate new and improved methods of
defensive warfare; whilst the first Celtic invaders, still retaining
their primary ideas of civilisation, when harassed by enemies and
obliged to act on the defensive would have recourse to their inherited
system of protection, with such variations and improvements as better
implements and the topographical requirements of the country suggested
to them. It is as defenders, not as conquerors, that the Celts
constructed their lake-dwellings.
This hypothesis, which was first enunciated in my work on "Ancient
Scottish Lake-dwellings" as a mere conjecture, has elicited a
considerable diversity of opinion on the part of critics. In the
_Times_ of October 4th, 1882, it is thus referred to:--"This is pure
theory, and is quite unnecessary to account for the facts: as well
might one argue a connection between the pile-dwellers of New Guinea
and Central Africa and those of the Swiss lakes." Sir John Lubbock
(_Nature_, December 24th, 1882) confesses that he is disposed to doubt
that there is any connection between the geographical distribution of
the Scottish lake-dwellings at present known and that of the ancient
Celts. On the other hand, another reviewer attempts to defend it on
the ground that "in the Swiss lake-dwellings of the Iron Age there are
indications, especially in the ornamentation of the sword-sheaths and
other articles, of a style of art which closely corresponds to the
style of decoration prevalent in the crannogs of Scotland and Ireland
(_Scotsman_, November 22nd, 1882).
The indications above alluded to in support of this hypothesis as
based on a comparison of the relics, will be more appropriately
discussed in my next lecture, when I come to review the lake-dwellings
of the Iron Age in Central Europe. There are, however, one or two
objections urged on the other side--as, for example, the difference
of structure and late occupancy of the crannogs, as compared with the
Swiss lake-dwellings--that require now to be shortly considered.
As to the supposed difference in structure, I need only refer to the
structural details of various fascine-dwellings, as in the lakes of
Fuschl, Schussenried, Niederwyl, Inkwyl, Wauwyl, etc., as a sufficient
proof of the resemblance between them and the Scottish and Irish
crannogs. It is true that the pile-dwellings were more numerous on
the Continent than the fascine structures, while the reverse is the
case in Scotland and Ireland--if indeed the former can be said to have
existed at all in these countries. That the pile system was, however,
known to the crannog-builders, and occasionally acted upon, we are not
devoid of some positive evidence. Mr. G. H. Kinahan says that a few of
the Irish crannogs were built on piles (B. 119, 2nd ed. p. 654), and
instances an example in Loch Cimbe (now Loch Hackett), county Galway,
which was so frequently blown down that the occupiers were obliged
to convert it into an island, which they did by adding boat-loads
of stones to its site. One of the lake-dwellings in Lough Mourne I
concluded to have been a pile-dwelling (see page 386), and it was
connected to the shore by a wooden gangway. Mr. Burns Begg describes
remains of a pile-dwelling in Loch Leven as an "oblong wooden
platform, raised above the water on piles, twelve feet or upwards in
height." (B. 460.)
Subsequently I had an opportunity of visiting the locality, along with
Mr. Burns Begg, and I am convinced these remains could not have been
an ordinary submerged crannog or artificial island. The lake bottom
is not soft and compressible, but, on the contrary, very compact and
quite incapable of yielding to any great extent. The structures, even
in the present reduced level of the loch, are never less than 1 or
2 feet below the surface; but as formerly there would have been 9
feet more of water over them it is quite improbable that this amount
of submergence could be accounted for by the usual subsidence or
compression of the submerged materials.
Some of the examples of lake-dwellings recorded in England, such as
those described by Sir Charles Bunbury and Dr. Palmer, would appear
also to have been pile-structures.
If, therefore, both principles were known among the crannog-builders
of the British Isles, why, it may be asked, did they give a preference
to the fascine structures? I have already remarked that these
structures on the Continent were confined to small mossy lakes, which,
owing to the yielding nature of their sediments and peaty deposits,
were unsuitable for pile-dwellings. In such conditions, which are
generally prevalent in Scotland and Ireland, the wooden island
supplied more readily, and perhaps with less labour, the requisite
stability for platforms in boggy lakes and marshes intended for huts
and other superstructures, especially when these platforms were small
and the islands sparsely placed.
The wide chronological interval which separates the crannogs from
the lake-dwellings of Central Europe is also supposed to militate
against the supposition of there being any causal connection between
them. But this gap is more apparent than real, as, when carefully
looked into, it will be found to have been bridged over by a closer
series of links than was hitherto imagined. Not only were there some
lake-dwellings in Switzerland during the Iron Age, but in several
instances Roman, Gallo-Roman and even Allemanish remains were found on
their sites, as in the lakes of Starnberg, Ueberlingen, Zürich, etc.
(See page 543.) Among the antiquities collected on the site of the
dwellings in Lake Paladru were horseshoes, curry combs, and a variety
of other antiquities which, in the opinion of M. G. de Mortillet and
other archæologists, could not be accounted for as the products of any
civilisation prior to Carlovingian times. We have also seen that in
North Germany they existed at equally late times, having overlapped
considerably into the Slavish period; while the Terp-mounds in Holland
and other places were only superseded by the construction of the great
sea-dykes. It must also be remembered that the custom of constructing
lake-dwellings was not universally adopted in Europe. Their absence
in Northern Europe, Spain and Portugal, and other places cannot be
accounted for by a deficiency in the topographical and hydrographical
requirements for such structures. They appear to have spread from the
great central area of their first development in Europe in sporadic
fringes, but never extending beyond the limits to which the ordinary
waves of human intercourse and civilisation would likely reach.
Taking all these circumstances into consideration, I repeat that,
while we are justified in ascribing the remains of lake-dwellings,
so far as they are at present known within the British Isles, to a
Celtic source, I see no _prima facie_ improbability, as regards their
structure and distribution in space and time, against the hypothesis
that the Celts derived their knowledge of this custom from the great
system of Central Europe, though founded and developed at a much
earlier period.
The only exception to the general statement that the Celts were the
sole constructors of lake-dwellings in Britain (without taking into
account the earlier vestiges of such structures in England from which,
owing to the scarcity of industrial remains, there is, as yet, no
ethnological evidence either way), is the discovery at London Wall
recorded by General Pitt-Rivers. I have already remarked (page 464),
on the similarity of these remains to those from the Terp-mounds in
Friesland. Especially interesting are the two bone skates, made from
the metacarpals of the horse, recorded from the former, because such
implements are common in the latter. I do not agree with Lindenschmit
(page 462) in assigning all these so-called skates to the Stone
period. On the contrary, they are mostly of post-Roman date. In
lake-dwellings they are very rarely met with, and only one is recorded
as coming from a station of the Stone Age, viz. Moosseedorf (page
75). The other localities from which examples have been recorded are
Persanzig (page 315), Dabersee (page 317), Kownatken (page 328),
Starnberg (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 593), and a Terramara in Hungary (page
167).
Though the Anglo-Saxons, in coming from the mouth of the Elbe and the
low-lying districts between it and the Rhine, must have been familiar
with marine pile-structures, they do not appear to have cultivated
the system to any great extent after immigrating into Britain. But
this may be accounted for by the fact that very soon they became
the conquerors of the country. It is only for defence that lake and
marsh-dwellings have been resorted to.