A circular portion of the log-pavement, near its centre, was covered with small stones, as if to protect it from fire; some remains of clay-flooring were observed in other parts of the island.
Fig. 170.—Perforated
Stone Axe (1⁄3).
Regarding the deeper structures little can be said. Mr. Nelson attempted to cut a hole through the timber, and, as far as the water allowed the men to penetrate, he saw nothing but layer upon layer of oak-beams lying transversely to each other. Judging, however, from the solidity and firmness of the island, the great size of some of the logs, and the depth of the surrounding water (still about twelve feet a little to the west of the island), the total thickness of this mass of timber cannot be less than 12 or 16 feet.
In Grose's "Antiquities of Scotland"[101] the following reference to this island occurs:—
"Here was a cell dependent on the rich abbey of Melrose, which, at the Reformation, was granted by the Commendator to the Laird of Elliesland, a cadet of the Kirkpatricks of Closeburne. From whom it passed to the Maxwells of Tinwald, and from them to the Barncleugh family, also cadets of the Lords of Maxwell. From whom it went to the Riddells, of Glenriddell, the present possessors. The old refectory, or dining-room, had walls 8 feet thick, and the chimney was 12 feet wide. This old building having become ruinous, was pulled down in 1773, to make way for the present house.
"Near the house was the Lough, which was the fishpond of the friary. In the middle of which is a very curious artificial island, founded upon large piles and planks of oak, where the monks lodged their valuable effects when the English made an inroad into Strathnith."
The relics collected during the operations above recorded are very few. A canoe 22 feet long, and a ponderous axe-hammer head of whinstone ([Fig. 170]) were found at some distance from the crannog. Two handles of jars with traces of a yellowish glaze, some fragments of pottery ornamented with rows of pitted impressions ([Fig. 171]), a circular stone polisher, and an oval-shaped mass of vitreous paste, are all that were found on the crannog itself.