What is recorded here

Oak timbers felled in 748 AD still hold the peat firm beneath Brittas, proving that people shaped this wetland before modern maps existed. A large hut, a small hut and a furnace share the same occupied phase, while a separate stone hearth sits beside an arc of posts that may have formed another dwelling. The truncated southern edge reminds every visitor that discovery itself can erase the very place it reveals.

The third occupation level of the crannog is constructed on a peat base and was the first major level encountered when the crannog was excavated. It consists of a large (ME005-088013-) and a small hut, and a furnace (ME005-088014-). The peat on which this phase (Y) was built was retained by a palisade (No. 1), and oak timbers from the palisade provide a dendrochronological felling-date of 748 AD. Located about 4m NE of the large hut and contemporary with it is a hearth (dims 2m x 1.4m) defined by an L-shaped setting of stones, which had no occupation associated with it. Nevertheless, it was surrounded by an arc of posts (diam. 5.2m) WSW-N-E constituting a second hut, but its S side had been truncated by the initial works which led to the re-discovery of the crannog. (Bradley 1990/91, 22; 1991, 16; O’Sullivan 1998, 107-08) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 6 September 2018

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.