EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Down
Lough Faughan Crannog (Ballyrolly td.), Co. Down
Early Medieval Crannog.
Grid Ref: J44644114
SMR No: DOW 037:050
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: 1951-2.
Site Director: A.E.P. Collins (Historic Monuments Branch, Department of Finance (NI)).
The early medieval crannog of Lough Faughan, Co. Down, was excavated in 1951-1952, as part of
the County Down Archaeology Survey. Prior to excavation it was suspected that the site was late
medieval in date, primarily because of the antiquarian discovery of an imported medieval greenglazed
pottery jug on the site. While the excavations produced some evidence for late medieval
occupation, in the form of pottery and a coin, they revealed that the site was mostly early medieval in
date, occupied at some unknown period between the seventh and tenth centuries A.D. (Fig. 99).
The early medieval crannog survived as a circular mound (36m in diameter, 1.2m in height) located in
marshy ground. It was apparently constructed by laying down a sub-structural layer (5m thick) of
brushwood (of hazel, alder, birch) and peat over a marshy deposit on the lakebed. The ‘peat’ was
often composed of heather, bracken and scrub and there were several layers of bluish or yellowish
clay but there were no large timbers. The brushwood was occasionally pinned into position using
stakes. The upper surface of this substructure was then covered with planks (‘random groups of
timber rafts’), pinned into position, and woven wattle panels, interpreted by the excavators as the
beginning of the occupation layer. There was some domestic refuse found in these structural levels,
as well as a single hearth (hearth 5) interpreted as a fireplace used by the crannog builders (although
it is conceivable that this was an actual early occupation horizon). Finds from the structural layers
included whetstones, two crucible sherds, a wooden object, sawn antler cuttings, an iron shield boss,
a small circular iron pan, an iron shears, a barrel padlock key, an unfinished comb, and animal bones
which were strewn through the brushwood and peat layers. Other items from the brushwood and
peat layers included wooden cart fragments, a turned wheel hub, a yew-wood hoop from a large
barrel, stave-bucket fragments and a turned wooden bowl.
The primary occupation surface was based on the wicker matting that had been laid across the site
and the occupation deposits consisted of dark brown, peaty soil, merged with peat and brushwood,
within which there were numerous clay spreads laid on damp patches and reddened by burning,
interpreted as hearths surrounded by stone kerbing and associated with spreads of timbers. The site’s
largest hearth (hearth 4) was 4.5m in diameter, by 0.60m in thickness, consisting of seven
superimposed layers of grey ash, with yellow clay and charcoal. Finds from this ‘hearth’ included a
bone pin and a sherd of Roman Samian ware (often perceived as a magical or medicinal item in the
early middle ages). It seems likely that this so-called hearth could be interpreted as an early medieval
house floor, where the excavators did not recognise the walling. Hearth 6 had a sequence of firstly a
circular kerb of stones, secondly a stone-lined hearth in yellow clay, followed by wooden postbordered
hearth in peat. Hearth 3 was a rectangular construction of stones. Hearth 7 was a circular
stone kerb under the wall revetment. Some of the hearths were industrial rather than domestic, as
iron and bronze slag, crucibles and a clay mould for casting bronze pins were the only objects found
in them. Other evidence for iron-working included iron slag, ore, and bloom.
The primary crannog occupation layers also produced souterrain-ware pottery (230 sherds). The
evidence for crafts included discs used in weaving, hand distaffs, four spindle whorls and an antler
peg. Evidence for metalworking included crucibles (pyramidal with triangular mouth) and moulds for
casting bronze pins. Items of personal adornment included a pennanular brooch, pin, needle, bone
pins, lignite bracelets, finger rings, glass beads, glass vessels and a glass armlet. There were three
fragments of rotary querns and perforated whetstones. There was also an iron shield boss (found at
the base of the occupation levels) and an iron axe-hammer. Throughout the occupation layers there
were deposits of animal bone, including mostly cattle, with some pig, sheep, red deer bone (1.2%)
and domestic fowl (possibly from a fighting cock) and fish bones from cod. There were also upper
occupation deposits that may date to the end of the early medieval period. These included thin
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