Crannog in Ardrea

At the N edge of Ardrea Lough, a small inter-drumlin lake, and below an earlier shoreline. Land reclamation around the NE shore of the lake in the early 1990s had uncovered large quantities of archaeological material, including two quernstones, worked wood, broken flagstones and animal bones. As a result, a detailed survey of the lakeshore and an excavation of a possible crannog were undertaken by the Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit in 1992-3 (Moloney 1994, 70-71; Bermingham 1996, 31-3). The possible crannog was first identified as a number of layers of horizontal and longitudinally placed roundwoods overlaying a layer of flagstones; at the lake edge these layers were up to 0.5m deep (Bermingham 1996, 31). These layers were subsequently destroyed due to further reclamation and excavation revealed that underneath them was a layer of gravel in which was a series of posts (max. diam. 0.16m; max. L 1.27m) which may have formed part of an enclosing feature or have functioned as piles over which the stone flag surface had been laid (ibid., 32). Present remains consist of a rectangular area (10m N-S; 26m E-W) in which pieces of worked timbers, animal bones and scattered stones are visible as well as roundwood, brushwood and shells. According to local information, there was a low mound here which was levelled long before the excavation took place. Two fulachtaí fia (SL033-195001-; SL033-195002-) are in the immediate vicinity. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Date of upload: 18 January 2008