Platial | Who and What's Nearby
Platial | Who and What's Nearby
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This trip was RiverTrek's first. A bunch of Marks & Spencers employees signed up as guinea-pigs, for an autumn camping adventure weekend.
The moon in the photo is real : none of us could explain its size.
Loch Allua is small, and its pleasures are small-scale too. There's an archeological curiosity - a little island encampment dating to mediaeval times or before, that was reached via a submerged causeway, known only to its defenders.
As you pass along the road from Inchigeelagh towards Ballingeary, after about three miles on your left hand side, it's easy to miss a tiny island situated about 50m. offshore. This crannóg is known locally as Oilean Ui Mhaothagain (Mehigan's Island) named either from a local chieftain or from meathain, Irish for twigs and saplings.
A crannóg is a type of ancient loch-dwelling, built on an artificial island, found throughout Ireland and Scotland and dating mainly from the Early Christian Period, but may be up to 5,000 years old. Many crannógs were built out in the water as defensive homesteads and represented symbols of power and wealth, and some may have been used well into the times of recorded history. It is not unusual to find evidence of jewellery being manufactured on these islands.
In its original state it probably carried a wooden building supported clear of the water on stakes. A raised walkway may have joined it to the shore.
I have added a couple of examples of crannógs in Scotland, restored after considerable archaeological investigation, based on the excavation evidence from the 2,600 year old site of 'Oakbank Crannóg', one of the 18 crannógs in Loch Tay. One summer, of unusually low water levels, I explored the site. It was a tangle of low trees growing among stoney ground. Visible part way around were the stumps of staves, preserved in the acidic peaty water.
This trip was RiverTrek's first. A bunch of Marks & Spencers employees signed up as guinea-pigs, for an autumn camping adventure weekend.
The moon in the photo is real : none of us could explain its size.
Loch Allua is small, and its pleasures are small-scale too. There's an archeological curiosity - a little island encampment dating to mediaeval times or before, that was reached via a submerged causeway, known only to its defenders.
As you pass along the road from Inchigeelagh towards Ballingeary, after about three miles on your left hand side, it's easy to miss a tiny island situated about 50m. offshore. This crannóg is known locally as Oilean Ui Mhaothagain (Mehigan's Island) named either from a local chieftain or from meathain, Irish for twigs and saplings.
A crannóg is a type of ancient loch-dwelling, built on an artificial island, found throughout Ireland and Scotland and dating mainly from the Early Christian Period, but may be up to 5,000 years old. Many crannógs were built out in the water as defensive homesteads and represented symbols of power and wealth, and some may have been used well into the times of recorded history. It is not unusual to find evidence of jewellery being manufactured on these islands.
In its original state it probably carried a wooden building supported clear of the water on stakes. A raised walkway may have joined it to the shore.
I have added a couple of examples of crannógs in Scotland, restored after considerable archaeological investigation, based on the excavation evidence from the 2,600 year old site of 'Oakbank Crannóg', one of the 18 crannógs in Loch Tay. One summer, of unusually low water levels, I explored the site. It was a tangle of low trees growing among stoney ground. Visible part way around were the stumps of staves, preserved in the acidic peaty water.
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