Figs. 2 and 3.—Sides of Bronze Sword Sheaths, from the Crannog of Lisnacroghera.
[Fig. 26] represents an object supposed to have been an ornamental termination of the pommel of a sword; it is of bronze, richly decorated with bands of white and red enamelled designs in a chevron or wavy pattern. The form is oval, and upon the upper rim are representations of two birds. Early Irish decorative art is characterised by bird-like forms, and figures of this kind are to be seen on early MSS. and on articles of the toilet or of personal adornment.[95]
Plate XIII.
Iron Tools, &c., found in the bottom of a “dug-out” at Cornagall.
Fig. 26. Bronze enamelled object from Lisnacroghera. Full size.
In a small lake called Cornagall (the Hillock of the Dane or Stranger), about six miles from Cavan, there is an almost circular artificial island, thirty yards in diameter, its crannog nature, attested by rows of oaken stakes fencing its margin, showing above the summer level of the lake. In August, 1869, the water being then particularly low, a log of timber that bore evident traces of manual labour was ascertained to be the end of a “dug-out” embedded in soft, boggy matter. It proved, however, to be only a fragment, the other portion having been destroyed by fire, as evinced by the charred appearance of the remains: the large quantity of charcoal, half consumed sticks and chips visible on the margin of the crannog indicated its destruction also by that element. A set of iron tools lay on the floor of the canoe thus discovered, all here represented one-third their real size. The following is a brief description of them:—