Ancient Scottish Lake-Dwellings or Crannogs / With a supplementary chapter on remains of lake-dwellings in England

by Robert Munro

Loch Lotus, Kirkcudbrightshire.

During the summer of 1874, a canoe (Fig. 31) 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 (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. xi. p. 21): "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 being 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 figure-head, 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. The stern-board board when found was in a fragmentary condition, so that it is impossible to say whether it consisted of one or several planks.

"Along the starboard side (which when found was in good preservation except near the stern), there could be traced seven holes about 3 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 5 feet apart, and the front hole is about that distance from the prow—the last being about 7 feet from the stern. There are three holes pierced through the bottom at irregular intervals.

"In connection with the discovery of this canoe, it is worthy of remark, that on the opposite side of the lake, between three and four hundred yards from the spot where the canoe was found, there is a small circular island which is evidently artificial. It is about 100 feet in diameter, and is approached by a stone causeway about 30 yards long, which was laid bare last summer by the lowness of the lake. The artificial nature of the island may be seen by the remains of the oaken piles driven in in rows, with horizontal beams between, which can still be traced in the water round the north-east and south sides. The lines of two small enclosures can be followed on the south side of the island.

"No excavations have yet been made on the island, but ashes and other signs of fire were found many years ago."

Crannog in the Loch of Kilbirnie, Ayrshire.

At the meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in June 1875, Robert Love, Esq., F.S.A. Scot., gave a description of a crannog in the loch of Kilbirnie, of which the following is a condensed account.—(Proceedings, vol. xi. p. 284.)

"There was a little island in the upper end, and near the north-west corner of this loch; and most who knew it when entire, 50 or 60 years ago, are agreed that it was essentially circular, although some little pointed towards the south. It was elevated, at least in modern times, above the water of the loch in its ordinary state, from 2 to 4 feet; and on the surface was entirely overlaid with stones of the boulder sort, not large, and which might have been got on the margin of the lake. Some say that beams or logs, and piles of wood were noticed during protracted droughts on or along the margin of the island, but if they were, it notwithstanding never occurred to any one that the island was other than natural. In the summer of 1868, however, its artificial nature became quite evident. This was occasioned in consequence of the slag from the furnaces having been for several years, and in great bulk, deposited within the loch to the west of and behind this island, which sunk down through the soft yielding mud deposit there, which is of the great depth of 30 or 40 feet, a fact that was ascertained by borings near the site of the furnaces. This had the effect, while it overlay and bore down that part of the island which is towards the west, of moving the east portion of it forward and into the loch, and, at the same time, of upheaving it so that it was elevated considerably above the water. In consequence, this part spread hither and thither and split up; many fissures were the result, both in the artificial deposits and in the underlying mud, which were of a depth that varied from 4 to 6 feet; and it was by means of these that the various artificial strata became disclosed.

"It has been said that the surface of the island throughout was overlaid or paved with stones. The depth of these was not great, possibly not more than from 1 to 2 feet, there not being in any part that became visible more than two courses. Wood ashes were discovered on the surface—a portion being also found a little below, and some of the stones at one part, in particular the fragments of a sandstone flag, bore distinct evidence of the action of fire; and it was supposed that this flag might have been the hearth of some structure reared on the surface. These stones are to be held as the uppermost artificial stratum. The next in descent was a layer of large coarse water-borne gravel mixed with finer sand, which was of the depth of from 18 inches to 2 feet. The third layer was brushwood, boughs of trees, among which the hazel predominated, ferns, etc. etc., but the whole was so compressed as not to manifest a greater depth than about 6 inches. The fourth layer was beams or logs of wood, some of which were nearly 2 feet in diameter, although the greater number was less. These seemed laid down horizontally, and so as to cross or intersect each other, similar to a raft of wood; some of them showed that they had been mortised or checked into each other, or into vertical piles, and that the tenons when inserted had been fastened by wooden pins, and in one or two instances by large iron nails.

"The whole of this wood-work, however, when exposed, was in a greatly disturbed and loosened condition from the movement and upheaval of the structure; and, in consequence, what space in depth these cross-beams occupied was not ascertainable. Then the fifth and lowest stratum was the underlying mud, which was fine, pure, and free of stones, and not at all like boulder clay. Besides, there was manifested as having been planted on the surface, one if not more wooden structures, houses or huts they might be, small in size, and one of which at least was in the form of a parallelogram, having been constructed of small round posts of wood used in forming the sides and ends. How it had been roofed did not appear. There were seen also bits of bone, as those of birds, as well as a few teeth, similar to those of the cow or ox. Trees, for the most part of a low stature, were over all parts, as well as reeds and other coarse grasses which sprang up between the stones on the surface.