Crannog Hut, Kilnamaddo. Restored from existing Remains.
[Plate I., fig. 4], represents the most perfect of the Kilnamaddo huts restored. When the drawing was taken, all the timbers in the illustration were on the spot, and some of these retained their original position. [Fig. 3] is a slab of oak measuring six feet by two feet nine; it is not so thick as [fig. 2], which represents a slab of oak five feet ten inches in length by one foot six inches in breadth, the depressions at its broader end being five inches by six, and it is one foot two inches in thickness; this and [fig. 3] were found lying by the side of the hut, and it is conjectured that they formed a portion of the roof. [Fig. 1] represents an angle-post five feet six inches in length, and four feet ten inches in circumference. This style of construction appears, as far as is yet known, to have been confined to the north-west portion of Ireland, the two somewhat similar huts being those discovered by Captain Mudge in Donegal, and by Mr. Morant in Monaghan.
A representation is given ([plate II.]) of the wooden hut discovered in 1833, by Captain W. Mudge, R.N., in the bog of Drumkelin, parish of Inver, county Donegal, it being the most perfectly preserved primitive dwelling of that material yet brought to light in Ireland. It was surrounded with a staked enclosure; portions of the gates also were discovered. The flooring of the house ([plate III., fig. 3]) rested on hazel branches covered with a layer of fine sand; a paved causeway ([plate III., fig. 4]), over a foundation of hazel branches and logs, led from the door of the house to a fireplace, on and around which lay ashes, charred wood, and half-consumed turf. This unique structure was nearly square, twelve feet wide, and nine feet high, formed of rough logs and planks of oak, apparently split by wedges, the interstices filled with a compound of grease and fine sea sand. One side of the hut, supposed to be the front, was left entirely open. The framework[54] consisted of upright posts and horizontal sleepers, mortised at the angles, the end of each post being inserted into the lower sleeper of the frame, and fastened with a large block of wood. The discoverer states that the mortises were very rough, as if made with a kind of blunt instrument, the wood being bruised rather than cut, and it may be inferred that a stone celt found lying upon the floor of the house was the identical tool with which the mortises had been formed ([plate III. figs. 6 and 7]). By comparing the chisel with the marks of the tool used in making the mortises and grooves, it was found to correspond exactly with them, even to the slight curved surface of the chisel; but the logs had evidently been hewn with a larger instrument in the shape of an axe, undoubtedly of stone, as the marks, though larger than those the chisel would have made, are of the same character, being somewhat hollow and small cuts, not presenting the smooth surface produced by a common iron axe. A second but larger stone was also found on the floor, which, being ground at one end to an edge, was probably used as a wedge for splitting timber ([plate III. fig. 5]). There was also a flat freestone slab, measuring three feet by one, and two inches thick, having a hollow in the middle about three-fourths of an inch deep; large quantities of whole and broken nuts were found near it, together with several round shingle stones. The hollow in the flag is supposed to have been a receptacle for the nuts, the small stones being used as hammers to break them.
Plate II.
Crannog Hut discovered at Inver, Co. Donegal. Drawn from the Model in the Museum, R. I. A.
The interior of the structure was divided into two stories, each about four feet in height ([plate III. figs. 1 and 2]); its flat roof was sixteen feet beneath the original surface; therefore, nearly twenty-five feet of bog must have grown around it since its first erection; a piece of a leather sandal,[55] a flint arrow-head and wooden sword were found; the latter relic was quite perfect when dug up, it was subsequently broken into two pieces, one of which—the pointed end—may be seen in the Museum, R.I.A., and is here represented ([fig. 4]); the portion remaining measures twenty-seven and a-half inches in length, its greatest breadth being three inches.
