County: Longford Site name: LOUGH KINALE, Tonymore North
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Eamonn P. Kelly and Nessa O'Connor, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, and Robert T. Farrell, Dept. of English, Cornell University, New York
Site type: Crannog
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 638142m, N 780316m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.771045, -7.421401
During 1986 an incomplete and disassembled casket or book shrine was found underwater close to a crannog in Lough Kinale, County Longford. After its acquisition by the National Museum of Ireland it was decided that the find-place would be re-examined to see if any components had been overlooked by the finders and to search for clues which might elucidate the circumstances surrounding the deposition of the shrine. It was also decided to plan any structural timbers or other features relating to the crannog.
No additional components of the shrine were found. A palisade, which represented the final constructional phase of the crannog, survived below water and this was planned. During the course of work an iron ploughshare and coulter were found. Also recovered were a bronze stick pin, part of a lid or base of a wooden barrel and part of a wooden box. The indications were that the final phase of the crannog dated to the first half of the 12th century AD.
The work, which was completed in two weeks, was undertaken by archaeologists from the National Museum of Ireland and Cornell University, assisted by a team of Defence Force divers.
