What is recorded here

Crannog in Ballinlough (leitrim By.) is a vanished island that once floated in the southern half of Ballin Lough before drainage erased its boundary. Wood-Martin dug through peat into shell marl and found flat stones scattered around the edge, suggesting people lived there long before the water disappeared. The lake no longer exists, but the stones and marl remain buried beneath marsh grass, waiting for someone to imagine the shape of the room that held them.

Formerly located in S half of Ballin Lough; the lake has subsequently been drained. Shown on the 1838 and 1920 OS 6-inch map as an irregularly pear-shaped island (c. 55m N-S; c. 12-40m E-W ). Labelled 'East Island' by Wood-Martin (1886, 223) who conducted an excavation in the centre of the island which produced 'four feet [c. 1.2m] of peat, and under it was shell marl, whilst for a radius of about twelve feet [c. 3.7m] around the island there were layers of irregularly-placed stones, small and flat; also at the SE shore there were two beams, seven inches [c. 0.2m] wide'. On inspection the island was not discernible; it lay in a marshy area densely overgrown with reeds and scrub. Two other crannogs (GA125-010---- and GA125-011----) were also formerly located within the lake. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 7 January 2020

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