The following extract of a letter from Sir G. Grant Suttie gives the details of the discovery, dated 16th Feby. 1849:—"Last autumn my labourers were trenching amongst some rhododendrons in a piece of mossy ground under a peculiar ledge of grey rocks, in my park at Balgone, near my house, and about a mile and a half due south from North Berwick Law, when they found a number of camp-kettles of various sizes, one very large, and in this, one of the goblets was found. They were close to each other, and about 8 feet from the surface. The meadow, extending to about 20 acres, where they were found, was generally under water till imperfectly drained by me; since then the level has sunk from 3 to 4 feet. I have little doubt that when these kettles were deposited here the meadow was a lake, or at all events a morass."—(Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. iii. p. 251.)
[42] See Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. vi. p. 91.
[43] Lake-Dwellings, by Keller, Second Edition, p. 657.
[44] A Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss Earth, 1811.
[45] Sketches of Early Scottish History, p. 100.
[46] Portion of the trunk of an oak-tree, recently dug out of the moss at the margin of the lake basin, still lies on the surrounding hedge bank.
[47] Notes of a Tour in the East, 1875.
[48] "It (the comb, Fig. 255) is 21⁄2 inches long, and 13⁄4 deep, and the three pectinated portions are held together by flat sides, decorated with scrolls and circles. The top or handle shows a triple open-work decoration, and the side-pieces are grooved at one end for receiving the clasp of a metal tooth, which replaced one of the lost bone ones."
Double-edged combs "vary from 3 to 41⁄2 inches in length, and from 11⁄4 to 21⁄4 across, the teeth portions being double, and passing through and through the sides to which they were riveted."
"The crannogs of Dunshaughlin, Ardakillen, and Cloonfinlough, and the street cuttings in the city of Dublin, have afforded nearly all the specimens of which the localities have been recorded. The total number of combs at present in the collection, including those on the 'Find Trays,' is eighty. Many of these combs are but fragmentary; yet in each a sufficiency has been preserved to enable us to judge of the original size, and also of its style of ornamentation, which generally consists of transverse or oblique grooves, diced-work, interlacings, dotted lines, and circles surrounding a central indented spot."—(Wilde's Catalogue.)