Crannog, Easterfield, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Settlement Sites
In Ballaghdacker Lough in County Galway, close to the northern shore, a circular earthen platform sits in the water, overgrown and quiet, connected to dry land by a curving causeway.
The platform measures roughly 28 metres across and rises about 1.75 metres above the lake surface, dimensions that speak to a substantial and deliberate construction rather than any accident of geology or silting.
This is almost certainly a crannog, an artificial or partially artificial island built on a lake, a form of settlement used in Ireland from the Bronze Age through to the early medieval period and occasionally beyond. Crannogs were typically constructed by piling timber, brushwood, peat, and stone onto the lakebed, then securing the surface with wooden piling. The result was a raised, defensible living platform, accessible by boat or a narrow causeway that could be controlled or removed in the event of a threat. The curving causeway here, still traceable from the northern shore, is a characteristic feature of the type. What makes the site at Easterfield quietly unusual is the proximity of a second possible crannog lying roughly 100 metres to the south on the same lake. Two such monuments on a single modest lough suggests either extended occupation over time or the presence of more than one group making use of the water for shelter and separation from the surrounding landscape.