On the north side of the lough, nearly opposite this crannog, there were traces of another of smaller size. Birch and round piles of oak were distinctly recognizable; these occurred also at various intervals along the margin of the water, indicating the former existence of several lake dwellings. Along the shore have been discovered traces of many ancient fireplaces[221] more than six inches above the present surface of the lake, but five and a-half feet below its level previous to drainage; the largest of these consisted of a heap, thirteen feet in diameter, of small flattish, angular-shaped stones resting on peat; the small stones had a reddish colour, and consisted of fragments of greywacke shale. Immediately contiguous to this heap of small stones was another, about four feet in diameter, made up of large stones, some a foot and a-half in breadth. These larger blocks exhibited no trace of the action of fire which had given to the smaller fragments their red colour.[222]
_Lough Ramor._--There are numerous islands on this lake, which is five miles in length, and from a mile to a mile and a-half in breadth. In the _Irish Annals_ this sheet of water is said to have burst forth A.M. 2859, and in A.D. 845, King Malachy is reputed to have here attacked and destroyed an island on which rebels had fortified themselves after joining with the Danes, and from whence they continued to commit depredations on the neighbouring districts. On its shores was found the curious stone mould figured _ante_, p. 73; a bronze vessel like a modern pot, eleven and a-half inches high, and the same wide, with small handles attached below the rim, and one foot wanting; another bronze vessel in a perfect state, with three transverse raised lines on sides, trident-shaped ornaments spring from the base of each leg, angular handles attached between junction of rim and conical pot, fifteen and three-quarter inches high, twelve across mouth. These latter articles were both found in Lough Ramor, and in Museum, R. I. A. they appear as Nos. 40 and 43.
_Lough Crannog._--Judging from the name, there was formerly an artificial island in this lake.
_Lough Aconnick_ and _Derreskit Lough_.[223]
At a meeting of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland, held at Portrush, July, 1885, a paper on the crannogs of the county Cavan was read by Mr. Seaton Milligan of Belfast, who stated that he had at various times visited several of those structures, which he considered to be more numerous in Cavan than in any other county in Ireland, owing perhaps to the great number of lakes scattered over its surface. He described some eleven sites that lay within a radius of seven or eight miles from the town of Cavan; and was of opinion that their outer row of piling was generally formed of oak, and the inner circles of smaller stakes of hazel and sallow. A looped spear-head of bronze was shown by him, and he minutely described two canoes dug out of a bog on the shores of a lake containing a crannog, and situated near Heath Lodge. A bronze rapier found near a crannog in Lough Oughter was also exhibited by him, and a description given of the castle of the same name, where Bishop Bedell was protected by the Irish during the troublous times of 1641. This castle stands on an island surrounded by piling, and bearing the impress of having been an ancient crannog whereon the more modern structure was erected (_ante_, p. 155).
