CRANNOG, the term applied in Scotland and Ireland to the stockaded islands so numerous in ancient times in the lochs of both countries.
They have little in common, structurally, with the Swiss lake dwellings, except that they are placed in lakes. Few examples are known in England or Wales, although over 15o have been ex amined in Ireland, and more than half that number in Scotland.
As a rule they have been constructed on islets or shallows in the lochs, which have been adapted for occupation, and fortified by single or double lines of stockaded defences drawn round the margin.
From their common feature of a substructure of brushwood and logs built up from the bottom, the crannogs have been classed as fascine-dwellings, to distinguish them from the typical pile-dwell ings of the earlier periods in Switzerland, whose platforms are sup ported by piles driven into the bed of the lake. Among the few remains of lacustrine settlements in England and Wales, some are suggestive of the typical crannog structure. The most important of these is the Glastonbury lake village excavated by A. Bulleid and H. St. George Gray, and discovered by the first named anti quary in 1892. It consists of some 7o or more separate dwellings, grouped within a triangular palisaded defence, 31 acres in extent, and built in the midst of a Somerset marsh now reclaimed. The substructure was formed of logs and brushwood, helped by masses of bracken, rush, peat and stone, covered with layers of clay. The dwellings were circular, 18 to 35ft. in diameter, the walls 6 to 7ft. in height made of wattle and daub, with supporting uprights ar ranged 12 to i8in. apart. The floors were of clay, with a raised circular area near the centre, sometimes paved for a hearth. Both floors and hearths were renewed from time to time on account of subsidence. As many as 13 superimposed hearths have been dis covered in a single dwelling. In many huts the stump of the cen tral post remained which had supported the roof, and in others the doorstep or entrance pavement. The occupation must be dated within the Iron Age, and is likely pre-Roman, as little evidence of contact with Roman civilization has been discovered. Besides the implements and weapons of iron there are finger rings, fibulae and brooches of bronze, weaving combs and spindle-whorls, a bronze mirror and tweezers, quantities of pottery chiefly hand-made or namented with late Celtic patterns, a bowl of thin bronze deco rated with bosses, portions of the nave of a wooden wheel with holes for 12 spokes and a dug-out canoe. In 1895 another lake village of similar date and construction was discovered near Meare, some three miles north-west of Glastonbury; the site is un dergoing examination by the Somerset Archaeological Society and the relics discovered are exhibited at Taunton museum. The im plements and weapons found in the Scottish and Irish crannogs are usually of iron, or, if objects of bronze and stone are found, they are commonly such as were in use in the Iron Age. Crannogs are frequently referred to in the Irish annals. In the register of the privy council of Scotland, April 14, 1608, it is ordered that "the haill houssis of defence, strongholds, and crannokis in the Yllis (the western isles) pertaining to Angus M'Conneill of Dunnyvaig and Hector M'Cloyne of Dowart sal be delyverit to His Majestie." Judging from the historical evidence of their late continuance, and from the character of the relics found in them, the crannogs may be included among the latest prehistoric strongholds, reaching their greatest development in early historic times, and surviving through the middle ages.
Little lake dwelling research has taken place in Ireland or Scot land since 1910. The excavation of Lochpaire Crannog near Tuam, Ireland (1914), and the investigation of the artificial island in Loch Kinellan, Strathpeffer, Scotland (1916), have been the chief explorations. (See LAKE DWELLINGS.) Munro, The Lake Dwellings of Europe: being the Rhind Lectures in Archaeology for 1888 (with a bibliography of the subject) (London, 189o) ; Ancient Scottish Lake-Dwellings or Crannogs (Edinburgh, 1882) ; Col. W. G. Wood-Martin, The Lake Dwellings of Ireland or Ancient Lacustrine Habitations of Erin, commonly called Crannogs (Dublin, 1886) ; Sir W. Wilde, Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Museum of the Royal Irish Acad emy, article "Crannogs" pp. 22o-233 (Dublin, 1857) ; John Stuart, "Scottish Artificial Islands or Crannogs," in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. vi. (Edinburgh, 1865) ; A. Bulleid and H. St. George Gray, "The Glastonbury Lake Village," vol. i. 1911; vol. ii. 1917 (pub. by Glastonbury Antiquarian Society) ; A. Bulleid, The Lake Villages of Somerset, The Somerset Folk Series No. 16 (1924) .