What is recorded here
Indicated is a small, overgrown island in County Leitrim where collapsed timber stakes still mark the edge of a medieval home. Radiocarbon dating places its wood between AD 1429 and 1643, long after the region’s earlier settlement waves had shaped its lakes and fields. The causeway, water and surviving stakes suggest a place made deliberate, lived in, and abandoned only gradually enough for its timbers to sink rather than vanish.
Close to the SE angle of Drumlea Lough, a subtriangular lake (dims c. 400m N-S; c. 370m E-W) with the apex at N, c. 50m from the SE angle. This is an overgrown, oval, earth and stone island (dims 20m E-W; 15m N-S; H 1m) surrounded by collapsed timber stakes (diam. c. 0.15m) which are intermittently visible in the water. A silt causeway connects the monument to the shore. A programme of radiocarbon dating undertaken by the Discovery Programme produced a date of 320 +- 20 BP (AD 1429-1643) from wood taken from the crannog (O’Conor and Fredengren 2019, 91).
The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of revised upload: 30 December 2019
O’Conor, K. and Fredengren, C. 2019 Medieval settlement in Leitrim, c. 1169-c. 1380. in In Kelly, L. and Scott, B. Leitrim: History and Society, 79-101. Dublin, Geography Publications
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
Places near here
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Saint Columba's Church (Drumreilly)church/chapel · 1666 yd
IndicatedGraveyard · 1.0 mi
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Swan Island pet farmHeritage attraction · 2.1 mi
Crane IslandIslet · 2.8 mi
BatteryBawn · 2.8 mi
Cherry IslandIslet · 2.9 mi
Bawn in Cherry IslandBawn · 2.9 mi
DrummuckerMountain / peak · 3.4 mi
Black PoplarBlack Poplar · 3.9 mi