Fig. 53.—Sink-stone. Half-size.
Fig. 54.—Bronze Fishing-hook. Full-size.
Household Economy.—In crannogs vessels of iron have been brought to light, also many cooking utensils of bronze; some, as may be noticed, of remarkable shape. Cauldrons both of large and small dimensions, hammered out of single sheets of copper, are numerous.[106] [Plate XVII., No. 1] is a cup composed of “soapstone,” discovered with other remains, now scattered and lost, in the crannog of Drumsloe, near Ballinamallard, county Fermanagh. Articles hollowed out of stone are somewhat rare in Ireland, but more than one fine specimen occurs in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. A very perfect example similar to that found at Drumsloe, and represented at page [114], [fig. 87], in the Catalogue, was brought to light in the river Shannon, and a portion of another may be seen in Canon Grainger’s interesting Museum at Broughshane, county Antrim. These curious vessels, though formed of stone, are usually found with objects belonging to a supposed late iron period. Cups strongly resembling them have been exhumed in connexion with the so-called “Picts’ Houses” in Scotland, and in some of the Lake Dwellings of that country.[107] [No. 2] is a cauldron-like vessel of thin, hammered bronze, measuring 22½ inches in diameter by six inches in depth: it was found with many other objects of interest in the crannog of Cloonfinlough. On its upper side it presents a rim or lip measuring one inch in breadth, strengthened by four small plates, fastened to the vessel by bronze rivets, and placed at about equal distances from each other. [No. 3] represents the upper portion of what had been a very large cauldron, with rivet-holes indicating the points where staples had been fixed for reception of rings, or the ends of a handle. The bronze, beaten to extreme thinness, of which this specimen is composed, seems to be of very early character. [No. 4], a shallow bowl of oak, about twelve inches in diameter, exhumed, with other remains, from the crannog of Breagho, county Fermanagh, was quite perfect when first laid bare, but on exposure to the atmosphere it split into several pieces. [No. 5], found in the crannog of Cloonfree, county Roscommon, is a beautiful little vessel hollowed out of a single piece of wood, and tastefully mounted with bronze fittings, but the scale on which it is drawn is too small to admit of the delicacy of its ornamentation being properly displayed. [No. 6] represents an artistically formed ladle of extremely thin bronze, measuring in all 11½ inches, the internal diameter of its bowl being five inches. This ladle was discovered by turf-cutters in the bog of Bohermeen, county Meath, in close proximity to a large number of pointed stakes and other remains of timber, doubtless portion of the framework of a crannog; but in 1848—the date of its discovery—very little was known about lake dwellings, and few particulars of the “find” can now be chronicled. This vessel was bought at the time by W. F. Wakeman, and by him (together with a beautiful bronze pin found with it) presented to the late well-known antiquary Petrie, amongst whose collection, deposited in the R. I. A., it may now be seen. In the same Museum are several similar vessels, turned up during drainage operations in various parts of the country. They are supposed by some writers, but apparently without sufficient reason, to be of Roman origin: in Ireland, however, they are usually discovered in connexion with remains of purely Celtic type, and it is not known that in any instance classic decoration occurs upon an Irish example, although in Munro’s Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings, a bronze vessel ([fig. 13. p. 45]) of similar style is ornamented in undoubtedly late Roman art. [No. 7] is a “coffee-pot”-shaped utensil of bronze, discovered in the crannog of Rooskey, parish of Killevan, county Monaghan, in June, 1876. It is seven inches in height, by four in breadth at the centre. The sketch is from a photograph of the original, kindly supplied for this work by Dr. Gillespie, of Clones. The spout branches into two, each terminating in the form of a monster’s head; the legs are finished like claws, and the animal ornamentation on the concentric rings or bands encircling the body of the vessel furnishes distinct evidence of very late Celtic art. The handle no longer remains. This is the only example recorded as having been as yet met with in an Irish crannog, although bronze articles of the same class are not uncommon—at least six others may be seen in the Museum, R. I. A., all from different localities, found either in bogs or in the beds of rivers. A similar example, save that it does not possess a dual spout, is figured at p. 24, Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings, and thus is established another point of resemblance between the crannog remains of the two countries, although Stuart in his Notices of Scottish Crannogs remarks, that hardly any mention is made of the bronze dishes, pots, or “coffee-pot” vessels, amongst the relics of Irish crannogs which are so frequently found in those of Scotland. Characteristic examples from Lagore of iron remains of a domestic character are [No. 8], evidently a flesh-fork, which measures, at present, 13¼ inches from end to end; and [No. 10], a knife, measuring eighteen inches.
Plate XVII.
Culinary Utensils, Implements, &c., stone, bronze, wood, and iron.
It will be seen that the majority of crannog culinary articles are more or less rounded at their base; thus when placed over a fire they would require to be suspended or have a support to steady them. [No. 9], from the great crannog of Lough Gur, county Limerick, is composed of very fine iron, which had evidently been smelted with wood charcoal; it is admirably adapted for the purpose of sustaining a pot or other vessel over a fire of peat or wood, but it is a comparatively modern article.