Black Loch
Logboat
Site Name Black Loch
Classification Logboat
Alternative Name(s) Loch Of Sanquhar; Loch Sanquhar
Canmore ID 116261
Site Number NS71SE 34
NGR NS 797 107
NGR Description NS c. 797 107
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/116261
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Sanquhar
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Nithsdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
NS71SE 34 c. 797 107
About 1861 a logboat was discovered when the Black Loch was partially drained to recover the body of a suicide. This loch is situated about 1.6 km NE of Sanquhar at an altitude of 235m OD and has also been known as Sanquhar Loch or the Loch of Sanquhar. The crannog in the loch (at NS 7970 1068) has been approached by a causeway from the shore.
The logboat was found 'embedded in the mud, a few feet from the shore on the north side'. A 'long rounded pole' (possibly a punt pole) was found with it. The boat was of 'oak' and measured 3' (0.9m) in beam amidships and 1'10" (0.55m) at the bow; it was 16' (4.9m) long. There was a possible rowlock on one side, and in the bottom there were five thickness-gauge holes, each of them 'filled with a plug'. At the stern there were two 'well rounded holes' which Simpson suggests were used with the punt-pole, although the way in which he envisages its use is unclear.
The boat was coated with pitch to conserve it, but it had 'shrunk to very small dimensions' by 1891, and is now lost.
W Jardine 1864; R Simpson 1865; J Brown 1891; R J C Mowat 1996.
