[204] The following is a list of antiquities of minor interest:—A crucible of the usual crannog kind, in a perfect state. A brooch, or fibula, composed of iron, bronze, and a white metal—perhaps silver; it had evidently been prepared for enamel—the pin was eaten away by corrosion. An iron knife, with bronze mounting to the handle, which was pierced for rivets. An ordinary crannog knife-blade, like those found in Anglo-Saxon interments. Portion of a small iron shoe for horse or ass. Piece of an iron band. A thin bronze fillet that might have been used for securing the staves of a small wooden vessel, or intended for a hair-band: a lady who tried it on, pronounced it to be decidedly an article of feminine adornment—let that decide the point! A small article of late bronze, apparently belonging to horse trappings. A whetstone. A worked stone or disc. A lump of iron dross or “slag.” The under stone of a quern. From time to time no fewer than three single-piece canoes have been discovered beneath the waters of the lough; one was for years used as a trough for cattle, and afterwards cut up for firewood; the others were utilized in the roofs of out-offices.—Journal Royal Hist. and Arch. Asso. of Ireland, vol. i. (4th Series), pp. 360, 371.
[205] Journal Royal Hist. and Arch. Asso. of Ireland, vol. iii. (4th Series), pp. 314-15.
[206] The following is a list of the articles found on “Bone Island”:—Nine pieces of deer’s horn, four of them curiously fashioned (ante, p. [80]). Several fragments of quern-stones; it was stated by the older inhabitants of the surrounding district that many years previously the entire surface of the island was covered with querns in a more or less perfect condition; two of those obtained (ante, p. [89]) were inscribed with a cross-like ornamentation. Four whetstones of the usual four-sided crannog type; they vary in size from six inches to four inches in length. Portions of rims of vessels of fictile ware (ante, p. [98]); a large fragment had been discovered on the island some time previously. There were also articles both of bronze and iron, but so greatly fractured and corroded that their character could not well be defined. When excavating near the centre of the island, at a distance of about two and a-half feet from the surface, a large stone was found with a punched cross-like pattern upon one of its sides ([plate XLII., No. 6]). Bones of animals, principally of the cow, goat, sheep, and pig, were found in such immense numbers, that the crannog became known as “Bone Island.”
[207] Journal Royal Hist. and Arch. Asso. of Ireland, vol. i. (4th Series), pp. 232-235, 305-314.
[208] Ibid., vol. v. (4th Series), p. 336.
[209] Ibid., vol. i. (4th Series), p. 583.
[210] Holly Island, in Lough Erne, had evidently been fortified; it is situated within a mile of Enniskillen, and in summer-time distinct traces become visible of the stockade by which it had been defended on the side facing the mainland; the island itself is, however, of entirely natural formation.
[211] Journal Royal Hist. and Arch. Asso. of Ireland, vol. ii. (4th Series), pp. 323-4.
[212] Journal Royal Hist. and Arch. Asso. of Ireland, vol. i. (4th Series), pp. 553-564.—W. F. Wakeman.
[213] Journal Royal Hist. and Arch. Asso. of Ireland, vol. v. (4th Series), p. 332.—W. F. Wakeman.