"Before the recent drainage of the Loch of Leys—or the Loch of Banchory, as it was called of old—the loch covered about 140 acres, but, at some earlier date, had been four or five times as large. It had one small island, long known to be artificial, oval in shape, measuring nearly 200 feet in length by about 100 in breadth, elevated about 10 feet above the bottom of the loch, and distant about 100 yards from the nearest point of the mainland. What was discovered as to the structure of this islet will be best given in the words of the gentleman, of whose estate it is a part, Sir James Horn Burnett, of Crathes. 'Digging at the Loch of Leys renewed. Took out two oak trees laid along the bottom of the lake, one 5 feet in circumference and 9 feet long; the other shorter. It is plain that the foundation of the island has been of oak and birch trees laid alternately, and filled up with earth and stones. The bark was quite fresh on the trees. The island is surrounded by oak piles which now project 2 or 3 feet above ground. They have evidently been driven in to protect the island from the action of water.' Below the surface were found the bones and antlers of a red deer of great size, kitchen vessels of bronze (brass) ([Figs. 181] and [182]), a millstone (taking the place of the quern in the Irish crannogs), a small canoe, and a rude, flat-bottomed boat about 9 feet long, made, as in Ireland and Switzerland, from one piece of oak. The surface of the crannog was occupied by a strong substantial building ([Fig. 183]). This has latterly been known by the name of the Castle of Leys, and tradition, or conjecture, speaks of it as a fortalice, from which the Wauchopes were driven during the Bruces' wars, adding that it was the seat of the Burnetts until the middle of the sixteenth century, when they built the present castle of Crathes. A grant of King Robert I. to the ancestors of the Burnetts includes lacum de Banchory cum insula ejusdem. The island again appears in record in the years 1619 and 1654 and 1664, under the name of 'The Isle of the Loch of Banchory.'"
Fig. 183.—View of Surface of the Isle of the Loch of Banchory, showing foundations of Stone Buildings.
That Scottish lake-dwellings were known by the same name, crannog, as the Irish, Dr. Robertson adduces the following extract from the Register of the Privy Council to show:—
"Instructions to Andro bischop of the Yllis, Andro lord Steuart of Vchiltrie, and James lord of Bewlie, comptroller, etc.... That the haill houssis of defence, strongholdis and cranokis in the Yllis perteining to thame and their foirsaidis sal be delyverit to his Maiestie and sic as his Heynes sall appoint to ressave the same to be vsit at his Maiesty's pleasour, etc., 14 Aprilis, 1608."
While the comparative late occupancy of the crannogs in both countries is, therefore, unquestionable, their early origin is enveloped in the deepest mystery. Was the system an indigenous invention—the result of circumscribed local exigencies—or derived from foreign sources? and when was it founded or introduced? are questions that have elicited responses of different characters. Sir W. R. Wilde, undoubtedly one of the foremost authorities on Irish crannogs, assigns them to the Iron Age. "Certainly," says he, "the evidences derived from the antiquities found in ours, and which are chiefly of iron, refer them to a much later period than the Swiss; while we do not find any flint arrows or stone celts, and but very few bronze weapons, in our crannogs. Moreover, we have positive documentary evidence of the occupation of many of these fortresses in the time of Elizabeth, and some even later." (B. 24, p. 152.) Mr. G. H. Kinahan, on the other hand, thus formulates his opinion in a short article contributed to Keller's book (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 654):—"Of the time when the crannogs were first built there is no known record, but that they must have been inhabited at an early period is evident, as antiquities belonging to the Stone Age are found in them. Some were in use up to modern times, Crannough Macknavin, county Galway, having been destroyed in A.D. 1610, by the English, while Bally-na-huish Castle was inhabited fifty years ago. Some crannogs seem to have been continuously occupied until they were finally abandoned, while others were deserted for longer or shorter periods. In Shore Island, Lough Rea, County Galway, there is a lacustrine accumulation over 3 feet thick, marking the time that elapsed between two occupations."
That objects supposed to be typical of the Stone and Bronze Ages have been found on many of the Irish crannogs there can be no doubt at all. For example, among the remains described by Mr. Shirley from the crannogs of MacMahon's country are stone celts, arrow-heads of flint and bronze, three looped celts of bronze, etc.; but these were associated with many iron objects of comparatively modern manufacture, such as a gun-barrel, pistol-lock, ploughshares of iron, parts of harps, and spinning-wheels, etc., etc.
"The oldest article," writes Mr. Benn, "from the crannog at Randalstown found, so far as I know, was a stone hatchet, rather of a small size, but not remarkable or uncommon. The most recent, and the only piece of coin I ever heard of, discovered in such a locality, is a base coin of Philip and Mary." (B. 29, p. 88.) In the crannog of Roughan Lake, the last retreat of Sir Phelim O'Neil, some bronze spear-heads were found, along with a highly ornamented quern stone. On the lowering of Lough Gur an island became visible which is said to have been a crannog, and on it were found, among other things, a remarkably fine bronze spear-head,[121] having its socket ornamented with gold, a stone mould for spear-heads ([Fig. 107]), and some bones of the reindeer; but yet it existed as a stronghold till 1599, when it was surrendered by the English to the Earl of Desmond.[122] The sword-blades figured by Wood-Martin (B. 444, pl. xxxvii.) as coming from crannog sites at Toome Bar are undoubtedly characteristic specimens of the Bronze Age weapons; but then the evidence that they are crannog relics at all is so slender that for determinative purposes they may be considered valueless. Moreover they were associated with objects equally typical of all ages—from palæolithic flints to mediæval silver ornaments. "All these flint flakes are of the earliest type," says Mr. Day, who describes this locality, "many closely resembling those found in the 'drift' at Abbeville;" and the relics include flint cores, stone and bronze objects, a "ring brooch, enamelled bead, and a silver armlet." (B. 92, p. 227.) Similar remarks are equally applicable to all the Scottish crannogs on which objects apparently belonging to different ages have been found. A reviewer of my work on "Ancient Scottish Lake-dwellings" (B. 373), in which I gave it as my opinion that the Lochlee crannog must be assigned to post-Roman times, takes exception to this opinion on the grounds that amongst the relics are a polished stone celt of neolithic type, flint scrapers, which, he says, "may be of the Bronze Age, but could hardly be considered as post-Roman," and portions of the antlers of the reindeer, which, according to him, "can hardly have ranged as far south at any period later than the neolithic age." Had my reviewer read the remarks in my book at page 147, regarding this polished greenstone hatchet, he would hardly have selected it to prove that this crannog existed during the neolithic age. My words are: "As many of the relics, if judged independently of the rest and their surroundings, might be taken as good representatives of the three so-called Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron, it is but natural for the reader to inquire if superposition has defined them by a corresponding relationship. On this point I offer no dubious opinion. The polished stone celt (that referred to by my reviewer) and an iron knife were found almost in juxtaposition about the level of the lowest fire-place." The iron implements on this crannog included hatchets, chisels, gouges, and a crosscut saw, and the very lowest logs bore unmistakable evidence of having been manipulated with sharp metal tools. The entire absence of cutting instruments of bronze renders it more than probable that such tools were made of iron, and were similar to those found on the crannog. As for the conclusions educed from the presence of the horns of the reindeer (hesitatingly identified by the late Professor Rolleston), it is now actually proved that this animal was not extinct in Scotland before the twelfth century. In the "Orkneyinga Saga"[123] it is stated that "every summer the Earls were wont to go over to Caithness, and up into the forests, to hunt the red deer or the reindeer." The recent discovery of its bones and horns in refuse heaps in Caithness, and in many of the brochs in the north of Scotland, amply proves that the reindeer was hunted and eaten by the Norsemen as late as the above date.
Whatever explanation may be forthcoming as to the prevalence of prehistoric relics on these crannogs, there is no possibility of denying that the vast majority of them were not only inhabited, but constructed during the Iron Age. Mr. Wakeman, in the most carefully investigated of all the crannogs in Fermanagh, viz. that at Drumdarragh, describes three periods of occupation; yet among the relics corresponding to the earliest period were several iron objects, one being "an animal's head in iron," which he considers might be the leg of a pot. Nor am I aware that superposition has defined in any clear instance the heterogeneous mixture of relics that usually turn up on crannogs.