As mentioned at page 182, the selection of the natural basin of Lochspouts as the most suitable site for a reservoir for supplying the town of Maybole with water had been announced shortly after the excavation of the crannog (as far as was then possible without an expensive cutting to reduce the level of the lake) had been completed. In the course of the subsequent negotiations with the proprietor and his agents, which ended in the final adoption of this scheme, we have another proof of the interest taken by Sir James Fergusson, Bart., in these antiquarian researches. The following extract, taken from the contractor's specification for the work to be done within this lake-basin, preparatory to its conversion into the proposed reservoir, requires no explanation:—"After the water in the present loch has been lowered, the bottom of the reservoir, to the extent to be pointed out, to be excavated to a depth of about 3 feet, or to such further depth as the engineer may consider it necessary, to remove the peat and other matters. At the site of the supposed lake-dwelling, the excavations to be so conducted that the structure of the dwelling may be left entire, until such time as it is thoroughly explored by a member or members of the Archæological Society of Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, or such person appointed by them or by Sir James Fergusson, Bart., of Kilkerran, to see this exploration carried out. Any relics that may be found during the excavation to be at once delivered to the party appointed to superintend the exploration, or to such other person as may be in charge in his absence." Just as the proof-sheets of my last chapter had come to hand, I received a note from Mr. William Henderson, C.E., engineer to the Maybole water-works, stating that the outlet at Lochspouts had been cut about 3 feet deeper, that the water was being drained off, and that the contractor was ready to begin the excavations on the site of the lake-dwelling. In anticipation that the result of these operations would furnish a satisfactory solution of some of the problems left undetermined in my previous report, the publication of this volume has been delayed for a few days in order to secure the desired information, and hence I am enabled to give the following short report of the additional discoveries made on this lake-dwelling.
On the receipt of Mr. Henderson's letter, I lost no time in making an appointment to meet him at Lochspouts, where I became more fully acquainted with the nature and extent of the proposed excavations. The débris formerly wheeled from the mound lay in two heaps just beyond the margin of the artificial island, but still within the boundaries of the reservoir. These, therefore, together with a complete section of the island, about 3 feet in thickness, were to be removed entirely beyond the rocky barrier. I understood that in clearing away the contents of this section, the wood-work, especially towards the margin of the crannog, and about the surrounding piles, was to have been left intact for some time, but when I revisited the scene of the operations a few days afterwards, I found that a gang of some forty or fifty men had made such progress that the whole section was completely removed, leaving nothing but small pillars here and there for the purpose of calculating the number of cubic yards excavated. All the horizontal beams and other wood-work were taken away, and nothing left above the base of the section except a few of the encircling uprights on the shore side of the crannog. My regret at this unexpected rapidity of the process of demolition was however considerably allayed when I found that Mr. James Mathewson, the inspector of the works, under whose vigilant eye the operations were conducted, had taken a most intelligent interest in the archæological phase of the remains, and had even taken notes of some of the phenomena which appeared to him most important. It is therefore to him I am chiefly indebted for the following details.
During the former explorations, the conjecture that the paved habitable surface, with its remains of hearths, relics, etc., then reached, was a secondary one superimposed upon the débris of a former habitation, was supported by the following observations, which could not, however, be verified by deeper excavations, owing to the rushing up of water:—
(1.) The level of the log-pavement was considerably higher than the tops of the uprights forming the surrounding circles.
(2.) In various places, when attempting to dig beneath it, ashes, charcoal, bones, hazel-nuts, and sea-shells were turned up. (See page 164.)
The evidence now produced left no doubt that this conjecture was well founded.
On the bank I was shown two heaps of oak beams which had been removed from the excavated débris, and amongst them were some of the ordinary transverses, containing square-cut holes at their extremities. Upon inquiry, I found that some of these, when exposed, were in position in the line of the surrounding stockade, with uprights projecting through the holes. One thick beam was deeply grooved, and resembled one found at Lochlee, figured and described at page 84. A few large flat planks, having a round handle-like projection at one end, some 18 inches long, had only one square-cut hole, sometimes close to this handle, and at other times at the opposite extremity. Another stout oak beam, 6 feet long, contained a series of round holes about an inch in diameter, and from five to six inches apart. The holes, which were on the broad side of the beam, were about 2 inches in depth, but only penetrated half through it, and from one of them portion of a wooden pin was extracted.
This beam was in a fragmentary condition, being, like many others, partially charred.
On examining the surface of the island, as now exposed, I noticed some very large oak beams, prepared like railway sleepers, and in one place, near the centre, there were some stones and clay as if they had formed the base of a fireplace; but the whole area was so muddy that it was difficult to say whether or not this was the exact surface of a former log-pavement.
On looking at the isolated pillars left standing, we noticed that their substance, which consisted of vegetable débris, mixed with brushwood, ashes, and in one place layers of clay, had a more or less stratified arrangement. The depth of the layer removed varied from 21⁄2 to 3 feet, and it appeared to me as if the island had sunk less towards its shore-side than on the far-off side, as the tops of the surrounding piles had become barely visible on the latter, whereas, on the former, not only were the piles exposed for about 18 inches or 2 feet, but some of the transverses were actually found in position lying over them.
At the junction of the gangway and island, a full view of which we now had, the uprights of both structures appeared to be on the same level, but as those of the former approached the shore, they became gradually more elevated, till, as mentioned at page 166, they projected above the grass.