PLAN OF SMALLER SINGLE CRANNOGE.
PLAN OF FOUR LARGER CRANNOGES.
SECTION THROUGH LARGER CRANNOGES.
SECTION THROUGH SINGLE CRANNOGE.
1. LARGE STONES.
2. LAYER OF MOSS TURNED TO PEAT.
3. RADIATING TIMBERS.
4. HEATHER AND BRUSHWOOD.
5. STONES.
Lough Mourne.—The waters of this small lake, situated upon a hill about 600 feet above the level of the sea, and three miles due W. of Carrickfergus, were temporarily drained off in the summer of 1882, to enable the engineers of the water-works to carry on their operations; and, when the level of the lake had been lowered ten feet, a number of artificial islands were exposed to view. There was a group of crannogs consisting of four islets erected on one common pile foundation, and at some little distance there was a solitary crannog. The group was formed of some hundreds of piles, four or five inches in diameter, with a cross timbering of branches of various sizes upon a thick layer of heather and moss. Upon this the four islets were built of boulder-stones to form the floors of the wooden houses … the piles generally retained their bark, and were mostly of pine, willow, and ash, with occasionally some of oak; they were rudely pointed on one side only. Many of the stones bore traces of fire, and had evidently formed part of the hearth; a piled causeway, one hundred yards long, led part of the way to the shore; the interior was filled with heather and moss. The single crannog lay somewhat farther from the shore, and in deeper water than the others; greater skill, too, appears to have been displayed in its construction. The lowest course (see section, [plate XXXVIII.]) was composed of large stones, whose exact depth could not be ascertained owing to a strong spring of water which flowed up between them; upon this was a layer, two feet thick, of moss, which time and pressure had converted into peat. Upon the moss were radiating timbers, the outer ends of which rested on and were notched or mortised into piles disposed in several rings round the island; these piles and cross timbers were larger than in the composite crannog, and many of them were of oak. Upon the timbers was a layer of heather and brushwood, upon which rested the stones forming the floor of the hut: in this case there was no causeway to the land. The relics discovered were not numerous, but the soft, almost liquid nature of the mud rendered a thorough search almost impossible. There was found about five feet of the prow of a “dug out,” and, in addition to charcoal and bones in considerable quantity, there were two small stone crucibles, calcined flint flakes, several fossil sea urchins from the chalk, worn smooth by having been carried about as ornaments or charms; a small stone with a hole in it—possibly also a charm—and a pair of “rubbing-stones.”[194] In midsummer, 1884, a very fine canoe of oak, found entire in the bed of this lake, was presented to the Field Club by the Water Commissioners, and has been by them lodged in the Belfast Museum. This canoe appears to have been shaped chiefly by the axe; it is hollowed out of a single trunk, is twelve feet eight inches in length, and two feet six inches in width, the inside depth being nine inches—the same breadth continues throughout—the bottom of the canoe is perforated with six rather cleanly cut round holes, about three quarters of an inch in diameter.