Figs. 681 to 686.—From Drumnakilly, Co. Tyrone.
Fig. 687.—From the Giant’s Grave, Loughrey Demesne.
Two unusually fine urns have been brought to my notice by Miss Stokes, of Carrig Breac, near Dunamase, and are, I believe, now in the R. I. A. Museum. The larger of the two, which is of the same general form as the Altegarron urn, Fig. [664], but rather more contracted in the upper part, has two raised encircling rims around its widest part; between these the urn is ornamented with a series of diagonal lines of impressed squares. Round the upper part is a line of curves or undulations, between elaborate diagonal indented lines as before. The lower part of the urn has around its upper and lower edges a row of undulations, and around its centre an encircling border of rude lozenge formed indentations; the whole of the rest of the surface being covered with vertical lines of square indentations, same as already described; these are of the same class as those shown in Figs. [706] and [718]. The other urn in general form of outline resembles the one from Ballon Hill (Fig. [665]); it is richly decorated with encircling bands of herringbone lines, and three borders, one on its neck and two on the lower part of chevron ornament.
The pottery found in the Crannogs presents many peculiarities of pattern. The vessels are considered by Mr. Wakeman, to whom the antiquarian world is indebted, in many cases, for their discovery, to be the remains of what have been used for cooking purposes. They are mostly vessels, sometimes of very large size, wide at the mouth, contracted in the neck, and gradually, with easy flow of line, tapering downwards on the sides. Mostly they appear to have had handles at the top, which take a gradual curve from the rim down to their junction with the tapering body. They are more or less decorated with punctured, incised, impressed, or other simple ornaments.
Fig. 688.
The general form of these crannog vessels will be best understood on reference to the accompanying engraving, which is a restored example from fragments found in a crannog in Drumgay Lake, near Enniskillen, and carefully described by Mr. Wakeman in the Journal of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland. The lake wherein this crannog was discovered—the “Loch of Drumgay”—is a picturesque sheet of water, nearly midway between Enniskillen and the village of Bellinamallard, in the county of Fermanagh. The examination of these lake dwellings yielded many highly interesting and important results, and brought to light several fragments of pottery, and many other objects of antiquity. Some of the patterns of fictile ornamentation are shown on the Figs. [691 to 704], which are drawn of one half their real size. One pattern is a simple chevron; another a punched right-line ornament, very characteristic of this primitive ware; another has a series of incisions, giving the rim somewhat the effect of a cable moulding; and another is reticulated, or has what may be described as a series of saltires, all round the rim.
Fig. 689.