Part 38

_Iron._--Axe-head (=Fig. 163=), a gouge, six knife-blades, all with tangs, a punch, and three awls. Socketed spear-head, ornamented with two groups of circular lines on the socket portion (=Fig. 164=). Three large arrow-points or tips of the crossbow bolt; portion of an ancient kind of padlock;[100] two spiral objects, and a small instrument bifurcated at the point (=Fig. 164=).

_Bronze._--A circular brooch (=Fig. 164=), two pins, one with an ornamented stone and a blue bead setting in the top of the head (=Fig. 161=), and several little bits of brass-foil.

_Gold._--Two spiral finger-rings, and a small coin, doubled up when found (=Fig. 165=). Regarding this coin, Dr. Evans reports as follows:--

"The two plates of gold seem originally to have formed the shell of an early forgery of a coin, the oxidised core of which forms the contents of the small tube. I thought at first that the substance might be resinous, but I think it is some salt of copper. Some chemist could readily try this [this has since been proved to be a salt of copper]. The coin itself belongs to a class of trientes which have been found almost exclusively in England, and are probably of Saxon origin. See Smith's "Coll. Ant.," vol. i. Pl. xxii. 9. Others were in the Bagshot Heath or Crondale find. See _Num. Chron._, vi. These probably belong to the sixth or seventh century. The find is of value as helping to assign a date to the crannog." (B. 373, p. 231.)

_Glass._--A cylindrically-shaped bead, variegated with three different colours, red and yellow predominating over patches of transparent glass (=Fig. 165=); a tiny bead of yellow paste; a round object of the size of a marble, made of variegated paste, but without any aperture; a flattened drop of a whitish paste about the size of a shilling; one or two bits of dark slag; three fragments of bright-green glass.

Several strips of leather.

_Jet._--Fragments of three armlets, and a small ornament like the terminal link of an antique necklace.

_Pottery._--Fragment of Samian ware, and fragments of dishes of other pottery.

One portion is here figured showing a curious aperture like the spout of a jug and a neatly formed rim (=Fig. 166=).

AIRRIEOULLAND.

"This crannog," writes Sir H. Maxwell, "is situated in the centre of a peat moss, formerly a lake, and still in most summers and all winters a quaking morass. Towards the centre of this moss, which is about sixty acres in area, there is a circular enclosure 54 feet in diameter, surrounded by a low wall. This is marked in the Ordnance Survey maps as a fort; but no fort, in the ordinary acceptation, could exist in the centre of what had been, at no very great distance of time, a lake. Although no timbers were visible at the time of our visit, the whole surface of the enclosure being green with grass, and the surrounding moss covered with heather and bog plants, its situation and character indicated its true nature to those experienced in lake-dwellings, and a very slight excavation at once confirmed this view. Beginning in the centre, the diggers exposed beneath the shallow layer of vegetable soil the familiar features of a fascine-dwelling. The only novel and most interesting feature in this crannog is the surrounding fence, which, doubtless, was the usual mode of protecting the huts or wigwams of the interior, but which in most crannogs hitherto examined has been reduced by the action of the waves to a shapeless mound or beach of small boulders. Here, however, owing to flat flags having been used, the structure is perfect, surrounding the entire islet to a height of about three feet. The depth of the structure from the surface to the alluvial bed of the lake was 4 feet. The lake bottom, into which the piles were driven, was soft peat, 7 feet deep. The moss around the island had grown since the structure was made to the level of the island; but no deductions could be made from that fact as to the age of the crannog, owing to the varying rate of the growth of moss, and to the uncertainty as to when the lake became filled up and moss ceased to grow. In the wonderfully accurate and laborious map of Timothy Pont, published in 1672, the present moss appears as a lake. Three days' labour sufficed to clear out the greater part of the contents of the enclosure. The chief relics disclosed, besides great quantities of bones of the usual kind, including those of the goat and the roe-deer, were 17 small beads of scarlet vitreous slag (=Fig. 167=), forming a portion of a necklace; a rough shale ring, several excellent hammer and grinding-stones, many quartz pebbles, which had been brought for some unknown reason [sling-stones?] from the seashore, distant about a mile; two broken crucibles (=Fig. 168=), a spinning-whorl of bone or horn. From a depth of three feet, flint flakes, a small jet ring, a portion of a perforated jet ornament, and a remarkable button-like object of bronze (=Fig. 168=)." (B. 426, p. 113.)

BARHAPPLE.

Barhapple ("horse hill") Loch is a small lake some 500 yards long and 300 broad. Here, in 1880, in consequence of drainage operations, a crannog became visible; but, owing to the sponginess of its surface, no effective examination could be carried out. The Earl of Stair, finding that during the summer of 1884 the island had become much drier and harder, made arrangements to have it thoroughly investigated. That the increased firmness and consolidation of the island was due to shrinkage was manifest from the fact that the upright piles, which, when discovered, barely showed above the mud, now projected 2 or 3 feet, and presented the appearance of a decayed forest, with its stunted trunks still standing. It was also observed that this shrinkage extended to all parts of the mossy lake-bed; and, as a consequence of this, two double lines of piles became visible in the long grass, one commencing at the north and the other at the east shore of the lake. Both lines were directed to the crannog, but stopped short of it by some 20 or 30 yards. As to the structure of the crannog, it was remarked that not only the uprights, but the horizontal beams were more methodically arranged, and of a stronger character towards the margin. Here the uprights, many of which were made of young trees of oak and ash, were firmly supported, especially in the outer circle, by the intertwining among them of horizontal timbers. On the north side, in a line with the piles of one of the gangways, a distinct roadway, made of round beams, was traced, running from the margin of the island to the dwelling-house, which was situated on the east side, directly facing the other gangway. In this building two fire-places were recognised, one a little north of the other, and around them was a layer of charcoal from 5 to 12 inches thick, containing the fag-ends of burnt beams, heather, and brushwood. From among these embers some large prepared beams, also partially burnt, were disinterred, two of which terminated in round tenons, having at a little distance from their extremities a raised head or flange. From these and other appearances it was inferred that the crannog had been destroyed by a conflagration during a strong north-west gale, and as there was no evidence of much accumulated _débris_, it was supposed that this catastrophe occurred shortly after its erection. On making a trench through the island it was found that below the burnt layer there were beds of brushwood, ferns, etc., to a depth of 2 or 3 feet. Beneath this lay the peaty substance of the lake-bottom, through which an iron rod could be readily plunged to the extent of 4 feet, when it struck some hard material, probably rock or silt of the original glacial bottom.

Although this was the largest crannog hitherto found in Scotland, being 157 yards in circumference, it was extremely poor in relics, a fact which may be accounted for by the shortness of its duration. The list of relics includes three shale rings (=Fig. 169=), two of which were only fragments; half a canoe; a broken paddle, and some worked pieces of wood.

WHITE LOCH OF RAVENSTONE.

This small loch, which is within a few minutes' walk of Ravenstone Castle, is surrounded by a broad fringe of marsh and tall reeds. Within this marshy area, and just skirting the water's edge on its western side, there is a flat mound, some 80 feet square and 6 or 7 feet high, having on its surface the ruins of dry stone buildings. These ruins consist of the foundations of walls, a foot or so high, which clearly define the outline of a superstructure divided into five rectangular compartments. This building did not occupy the whole surface of the island, measuring only 55 feet by 47. The mound was composed of large flags and boulders, on the top of which a few trees found a suitable habitat, and no less than four of the compartments were occupied each by the trunk of a venerable looking ash. Upon investigating the base of the mound, piles and the projecting ends of transverse beams were discovered in several places, and the conjectured opinion that the entire mound was built over a substratum of woodwork was conclusively proved by digging a central pit through the only vacant compartment in the stone building. The result of this was to reveal, at a depth of eight feet, a network of beams lying transversely to each other, but to an undetermined depth.

The north or land side of the island showed signs of having been roughly built up with large undressed flags, but the rest of its stony perimeter was quite dilapidated. That the wooden island was inhabited as a crannog, before its level was raised to its present height by the addition of the enormous mass of stones and earth underlying its final buildings, an idea suggested by the discovery of charcoal and the shells of hazel-nuts over the woodwork, is a hypothesis that requires further proofs before it can be accepted as well founded in fact. (B. 426, p. 121.)

FRIAR'S CARSE.

The site of the crannog at Friar's Carse was a small pear-shaped basin situated behind a wooded knoll, close to the Parliamentary road to Dumfries, and in the midst of a well-cultivated but singularly undulating district. By deepening the outlet of this lake to the extent of two feet, a partial drainage was effected, which reduced its area from 10 to 3 acres. It was only then (1878) that it became generally known that a small bushy island near the middle of the loch had been artificially constructed of oak-planks and trunks of trees. As the weather was dry for some weeks previous to our visit, and the water particularly low, we readily stepped on to the island, over what appeared to have been the old bed of the lake, then presenting a hard, crisp, and dried-up surface of aquatic plants. The island was nearly circular in shape, measuring 80 by 70 feet, strongly built, and surrounded by piles, some of which, however, were only visible through the water. The log-pavement, which by this time had been completely bared, was composed of parallel beams of oak, arranged in groups, lying in various directions, and firmly united together by the overlapping and sometimes mortising of their ends. At the margin of the island there was a large quantity of stones, especially on its north side--_i.e._ the side towards the deepest portion of the lake.

Through these stones, which shelved under the water, a few heads of the surrounding piles projected, some above and some below the water. Mortised holes were here and there to be seen in the horizontal beams, but there was no appearance of a breastwork surrounding the wooden pavement--thus differing from the Lochlee crannog. In the centre were a few ends of uprights, in rectangular rows, seemingly the remains of partitions, one of which I traced for 40 feet in a straight line.

Upon inquiring where the rubbish removed from the island was located, we were informed that it had been wheeled to the west side of the crannog, and heaped up close to where we had stepped on to the island. Here it lay for some days; but one morning, to the great astonishment of the workmen, it was nowhere to be seen. Upon examination, it turned out that the apparently dry bed of the lake was a matted crust of mud and the roots of aquatic plants, which, virtually floating over the water, suddenly gave way under the accumulated weight and so the entire mass of the crannog rubbish disappeared in the water beneath. With this singular, but unfortunate, catastrophe terminated all prospects of finding any more relics. It appears that there was not a great depth of _débris_ on the island, its maximum thickness being only 2 to 3 feet in the centre, where it formed a heap of ashes, charcoal, and some broken bones. Here a few fragments of pottery were found.

A circular portion of the log-pavement, near its centre, was covered with small stones, as if to protect it from fire; some remains of clay-flooring were observed in other parts of the island.

Regarding the deeper structures little can be said. Mr. Nelson attempted to cut a hole through the timber, and, as far as the water allowed the men to penetrate, he saw nothing but layer upon layer of oak-beams lying transversely to each other. Judging, however, from the solidity and firmness of the island, the great size of some of the logs, and the depth of the surrounding water (still about twelve feet a little to the west of the island), the total thickness of this mass of timber cannot be less than 12 or 16 feet.

In Grose's "Antiquities of Scotland"[101] the following reference to this island occurs:--

"Here was a cell dependent on the rich abbey of Melrose, which, at the Reformation, was granted by the Commendator to the Laird of Elliesland, a cadet of the Kirkpatricks of Closeburne. From whom it passed to the Maxwells of Tinwald, and from them to the Barncleugh family, also cadets of the Lords of Maxwell. From whom it went to the Riddells, of Glenriddell, the present possessors. The old refectory, or dining-room, had walls 8 feet thick, and the chimney was 12 feet wide. This old building having become ruinous, was pulled down in 1773, to make way for the present house.

"Near the house was the Lough, which was the fishpond of the friary. In the middle of which is a very curious artificial island, founded upon large piles and planks of oak, where the monks lodged their valuable effects when the English made an inroad into Strathnith."

The relics collected during the operations above recorded are very few. A canoe 22 feet long, and a ponderous axe-hammer head of whinstone (=Fig. 170=) were found at some distance from the crannog. Two handles of jars with traces of a yellowish glaze, some fragments of pottery ornamented with rows of pitted impressions (=Fig. 171=), a circular stone polisher, and an oval-shaped mass of vitreous paste, are all that were found on the crannog itself.

STONE LAKE-DWELLINGS AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL ISLANDS.

But besides the wooden islands there are others, still extant in several of our Scottish lakes, which appear to be composed entirely of stones and earth irregularly heaped together. In the absence of any historical knowledge as to their age there is no _prima facie_ reason why some of these should not be contemporary with the former, as it cannot be assumed that the crannog-builders made wood a _sine quâ non_ in the structure of islands. There were, no doubt, certain stagnant marshes and small lochs in which a wooden foundation was essential for the construction of an island, owing to the softness and yielding nature of the mud; but, on the other hand, there were others with compact rocky or gravelly beds, in which any solid materials, as stones, earth, turf, etc., would be equally applicable. The outlets of the larger lakes, more especially such as were formed in glacial and rock-cut basins, were more adapted for the latter, and as far as my observations have enabled me to form an opinion, these are the very situations in which the lake stone-dwellings abound. Some of them are mere shapeless cairns, without any indications of having been formerly inhabited, while on others some remains of stone buildings are to be seen. As to wooden huts or houses, had such structures ever been erected on them, it is not likely that they could, for any length of time, have resisted the decaying tendencies of atmospheric agencies, so that all traces of them would have disappeared long ago.

The social or military exigencies that led people to construct artificial islands would also lead them to take advantage of such natural ones as would be found most suitable, and we may reasonably infer that it is in the absence of the latter that the former would be resorted to. The great and primary object of the island-builder was the protection afforded by the surrounding lake or morass, the securing of which has continued to be the ruling principle in the erection of defensive works down to the Middle Ages, long after the wooden islands ceased to be constructed. The transition from the crannog to the massive mediæval castle, with its moat and drawbridge, is but a stage in the progressive march of civilisation.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SCOTTISH LAKE-DWELLINGS.

To these remarks on the structural details of a few typical crannogs, as disclosed by systematic research, I subjoin a tabulated list of all the sites hitherto recognised in Scotland, comprising not only the artificial islands, whether of wood or other materials, but also some natural ones known to have been artificially strengthened, as well as a few examples of castles, etc., now or formerly located in bogs or drained marshes.

LIST OF SCOTTISH CRANNOGS ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED, WITH NOTES AND REFERENCES.

N.B.--An obelisk (†) before a name in this text indicates that the island is, in whole or in part, constructed of wood. N.S.A. or O.S.A. stand for New or Old Statistical Account of Scotland.

†Achilty L., co. Ross. N. S. A., vol. xiv. p. 238. Achray L., co. Perth. B. 94, pp. 172-7. †Airrieoulland, co. Wigtown. B. 426. Ard L., co. Perth. O. S. A., vol. x. p. 130. [102]†Arisaig L., co. Inverness. B. 150, p. 576. †Banchory (L. of the Leys), co. Aberdeen. _Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. i. p. 26; vol. vi. p. 126. †Barean L., co. Kirkcudbright. B. 373, p. 37, and _Dumf. and G. N. H. Soc._, 1865. †Barhapple L., co. Wigtown. "Ayr and Wig. Col.," vols. iii. and v.; B. 373; B. 192. [103]†Barlockhart L., co. Wigtown. _Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. xi. p. 583; vol. xv. p. 267. †Barnsallzie L., co. Wigtown. _Ibid._, vol. ix. p. 377. Battleknowes, co. Berwick. N. S. A., vol. ii. p. 171. [104]†Black Cairn, Beauly Firth, co. Ross. "Hill Forts and Stone Circles of Scotland," p. 89; N. S. A., vol. xvii. p. 350. †Boghall (Beith), co. Ayr. N. S. A., vol. v. p. 580. Borgue, co. Kirkcudbright. N. S. A., vol. iv. p. 54. Brora L., co. Sutherland. O. S. A., vol. x. p. 303; N. S. A., vol. xv. p. 151. [105]†Bruich L. (Beauly), co. Ross. B. 442. †Buston, co. Ayr. "Ayr and Wig. Col.," vol. iii.; B. 373. †Canmor (Kinord) L., co. Aberdeen. B. 94, pp. 167-71. [106]†Carlingwark L., two crannogs, co. Kirkcudbright. O. S. A., vol. viii. p. 304; B. 94, p. 126; _Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. vii. p. 7, and x. p. 286. †Castle Loch, co. Wigtown. Rev. G. Wilson's "Notes." Castletown, co. Roxburgh. N. S. A., vol. iii. p. 164.

Closeburn, co. Dumfries. _Phil. Trans._, 1756, p. 521; Grose, "Ant. of Scot.," vol. i. p. 150. Clunie L., co. Perth. O. S. A., vol. ix. p. 231. Collessie, co. Fife. O. S. A., vol. ii. p. 418. †Corncockle (Applegarth), co. Dumfries. B. 94, p. 163. †Cot L., co. Linlithgow. _Ibid._, p. 159. [107]†Croy, co. Inverness. N. S. A., vol. xiv. p. 448. †Dhu Loch, co. Bute. B. 21, p. 43. Dolay L., co. Sutherland. B. 94, pp. 172-7. Doon L., co. Ayr. N. S. A., vol. v. p. 337. †Dowalton, five crannogs, co. Wigtown. B. 56, 94, 373, and 426. Earn L., co. Perth. O. S. A., vol. xi. p. 180. Eldrig L., three crannogs, co. Wigtown. Rev. G. Wilson's "Notes." [108]†Eriska, co. Argyll. B. 427, p. 192. Fasnacloich (Appin), co. Argyll. B. 94, p. 175. Federatt, co. Aberdeen. O. S. A., vol. ix. p. 191. Fell L., co. Wigtown. B. 192, vol. ix. p. 378. [109]Fergus L., co. Kirkcudbright. O. S. A., vol. xi. p. 25. †Flemington, L., co. Nairn. B. 55, p. 118. Forfar, Loch of, co. Forfar. B. 1; O. S. A., vol. vi. p. 528; B. 94, p. 125; B. 216, p. 31. Freuchie L., co. Perth. B. 94, p. 173. †Friar's Carse, co. Dumfries. B. 373, p. 152, and B. 374, p. 73. Fullah L., co. Perth. B. 94, p. 172. Glass L., co. Ross. O. S. A., vol. i. p. 282. Granech L., co. Perth. B. 94, p. 177. †Green Knowe, co. Lanark. N. S. A., vol. vi. p. 346; _Proc. S. A. S._, vol. vi. p. 160, and vol. viii. p. 19. Gynag L., co. Inverness. N. S. A., vol. xiv. p. 65. Heron L., two islands, co. Wigtown. B. 192, vol. ix. p. 378. Hogsetter L., Shetland. _Proc. S. A. Scot._ vol. xv. p. 303. [110]†Kielziebar L., co. Argyll. B. 134, pp. 332 and 516. †Kilbirnie L., co. Ayr. B. 268, p. 284. Kilchonan, co. Argyll. O. S. A., vol. xi. p. 281. [111]†Kinder L., co. Kirkcudbright. _Old. S. A._, vol. ii. p. 139. †Kinellan L., co. Ross. N. S. A., vol. xiv. p. 238; B. 94, p. 126. Laggan L., co. Perth. O. S. A., vol. xviii. p. 327. [112]†Ledaig, co. Argyll. B. 190. [113]†Leven L., co. Kinross. B. 460, p. 118. †Loch-of-the-Clans, two crannogs, co. Nairn. B. 55, pp. 116 and 332. †Loch-in-Dunty, co. Nairn. B. 55, p. 118. [114]†Loch-inch-Cryndil, co. Wigtown. B. 212, pp. 381 and 388.

†Lochindorb, co. Moray. O. S. A., vol. vii. p. 259. †Lochlee, co. Ayr. "Ayr and Wig. Col.," vol. ii.; B. 331 and 373. †Lochmaben, co. Dumfries. B. 94, p. 160; _Arch. Scot._, vol. iii. p. 77. †Loch-na-Mial, Island of Mull. B. 172, p. 465. †Lochnell, co. Argyll. B. 190, vol. ix. p. 105. †Lochore, co. Fife. B. 94, p. 160. †Lochrutton, co. Kirkcudbright. O. S. A., vol. ii. p. 37. †Lochspouts, co. Ayr. "Ayr and Wig. Col.," vol. iii. p. 18; iv. p. 9; B. 373, pp. 158 and 305. Lochwood, co. Dumfries. O. S. A., vol. iv. p. 224. [115]†Lochy L., co. Inverness. B. 94, p. 160. [116]†Lomond L., co. Sterling. _Ibid._, p. 131. †Lotus L., co. Kirkcudbright. _Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. xi. p. 21. [117] Machermore L., several crannogs, co. Wigtown. B. 192. †Merton L., co. Wigtown. B. 94, p. 123. Mochrum L., co. Wigtown. B. 192. Monivaird L., co. Perth. O. S. A., vol. viii. p. 570. Morall L., co. Perth. B. 94, p. 176.