What is recorded here

Crannog in Ballinlough (leitrim By.) was a small triangular island in the SW end of Ballin Lough before drainage removed the water that hid it. Wood-Martin found oak beams, hazel wickerwork, cherry stones, hazel nuts and animal bones beneath peat, suggesting people lived there long before the lake disappeared. The crashog may have been a kitchen, a refuge or a seasonal home, but its shape and layers still point to human hands building on water.

Formerly located within the SW end of Ballin Lough; the lake has subsequently been drained. A small roughly triangular-shaped island shown on the 1838 and 1929 editions of the OS 6-inch maps was investigated by Wood-Martin (1986, 222-3) who labelled it 'Middle Island'. An excavation conducted by him near the W extremity produced 'Peat and clay, with a few bones' for the first 0.25m, beneath which 'Wood ashes and peat, quantities of unbroken cherry stones, broken hazel nuts, broken animal bones and teeth, also a ball of red colouring matter' were found to a depth of c. 0.8m. Beneath this was a layer of basket flooring c. 0.3m thick under which were oak beams (L c. 15m), running N-S. Below the beams was a stratum of peat. The oak beams were sawn and pairs of dowels were visible at regular intervals. Ash poles secured these beams. The basket or wickerwork flooring was constructed of hazel rods. On inspection the island was not discernible as was is in a marshy area densely overgrown with reeds and bushes. Two other crannogs (GA125-010---- and GA125-012----) formerly lay within the lake. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 7 January 2020

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