What is recorded here

Crane Island is a stone crannog in Lough Rinn, County Leitrim, where an O'Conor king may have bled from an arrow in 1345. When lake waters dropped in 1847, two dug-out canoes and a manacle emerged beside the overgrown cairn, suggesting the island served as a hidden docking place rather than a ordinary home. Timber beams still radiate from its base like the ribs of a drowned vessel, inviting you to imagine people pulling canoes ashore under a low sky.

Close to the N shore of a bay (dims c. 150m N-S; c. 130m E-W) on the E shore of the central part of Lough Rinn (dims c. 3.8km N-S; c. 200-400m E-W). This may be the site close to which an O'Conor king was killed by an arrow in 1345 (ALC vol. 1, 647-9). The island is depicted on an estate map (Wogan 1750, 22), and it is described as ‘Crane Island’ on later OS maps. In 1847, when the lake levels were lowered, two dug-out canoes and a manacle were found at a crannog, probably this one, and a bronze arrow and spearhead were found in the vicinity of the same site (Wood-Martin 1886, 242). The crannog is an overgrown circular cairn of stones (diam. of base 26m; diam. of top 15m; H 2m) with timber beams radiating outwards from the base. 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 upload: 23 September 2008 Amended: 7 January 2020

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