Loch Tay, Croftmartaig

NN74SE 5 7506 4366.

This crannog is partially exposed all year round and measures about 42m from NE to SW by up to 26m transversely; there was possibly a landing-place at the SW end. Timbers noted in 1979 on the loch-bed to the N of the crannog may be associated with it. This crannog is marked on a map of 1769 and is probably the 'small island in good preservation' that Mitchell notes 'on the west side of Acharn Bay'.

F O Blundell 1913; W A Gillies 1938; G E Oakley 1973; T N Dixon 1983; I Morrison 1985

In 2004, a new initiative was set up to examine crannogs in Perthshire. The county has a wide range of geological conditions and the difference in types of lochs reflects this. Some are shallow with farmland and natural woodlands while others are deeper, often with more barren surroundings. The range is likely to produce crannogs of different forms and possibly different functions. The surviving Pont manuscript maps (1580s-90s) and the Blaeu atlas (1654) show many thousands of settlements, including loch dwellings. The work in the summer of 2004 involved surveying a series of these islands and, where possible, collecting samples for dating evidence. The results produced a range of dates from the Early Iron Age up to the recent past. All the dates quoted are preliminary and so, at present, have no laboratory number.

NN 751 437 Loch Tay, Croftmartaig Island. Part of this crannog (NN74SE 5), near the village of Acharn, is exposed all year round, although it is almost wholly underwater in winter. The area above the surface is roughly circular, while underwater the mound extends to the SW almost the same distance again. Timbers embedded in organic material, including bracken and burnt bone, were discovered at the deepest part of the site off the N side. The tops were cut from two softwood piles and gave dates of 2300 BP (350 BC) and 2150 BP (200 BC). It seems likely that the circular part of the site above the water is a later addition, but that the original construction was in the Iron Age.

Sponsors: Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust, Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology, Mr Halliwell, Tom Coope, Mr Brian Souter, Drummond Estates, Mr Orrock.

N Dixon and M Shelley 2004

A summary of the work carried out by the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology in 2004 is included in The University of Edinburgh's 50th Annual Report, 2004.

N Dixon 2004