Fig. 180.—Bone Object found
in the Loch of Forfar.
Natural size.
To the literary researches of the late Dr. J. Robertson we are indebted for equally explicit historical notices regarding the Scottish crannogs:—"Among the more remarkable of the Scottish crannogs is that in the Loch of Forfar, which bears the name of St. Margaret, the Queen of King Malcolm Canmore, who died in 1097. It is chiefly natural, but has been strengthened by piles and stones, and the care taken to preserve this artificial barrier is attested by a record of the year 1508. Another crannoge—that of Lochindorb, in Moray—was visited by King Edward I. of England in 1303, about which time it was fortified by a castle of such mark that, in 1336, King Edward III. of England led an army to its relief through the mountain passes of Athol and Badenoch. A third crannoge—that of Loch Cannor or Kinord, in Aberdeenshire—appears in history in 1335, had King James IV. for its guest in 1506, and continued to be a place of strength until 1648, when the Estates of Parliament ordered its fortifications to be destroyed. It has an area of about an acre, and owes little or nothing to art beyond a rampart of stones and a row of piles. In the same lake there is another and much smaller crannoge, which is wholly artificial. Forty years after the dismantling of the crannoge of Loch Cannor, the crannoge of Loch-an-Eilan, in Strathspey, is spoken of as 'useful to the country in times of troubles or wars, for the people put in their goods and children here, and it is easily defended.' Canoes hollowed out of the trunks of oaks have been found, as well beside the Scotch as beside the Irish crannoges. Bronze (brass) vessels, apparently for kitchen purposes ([Fig. 179]), are also of frequent occurrence, but do not seem to be of a very ancient type. Deers' horns, boars' tusks, and the bones of domestic animals, have been discovered; and in one instance a stone-hammer, and in another what seem to be pieces for some such game as draughts or backgammon, have been dug up" ([Fig. 180]).
Fig. 181.—Brass Pots found in Loch of Banchory.
Fig. 182.—Brass Pot (height, 11 inches), and Brass Jug (height, 9 inches), found in the Loch of Banchory.