Ashgrove Loch

NS24SE 1 2759 4431

(NS 2759 4431) Lake Dwelling (NR)

OS 6" map (1958).

See also NS24SE 26.

A crannog, on the E side of Ashgrove, Loch, was discovered, and excavated by Smith in 1868. It consisted of a mound about 25yds in diameter, which before the loch was partly drained had been surrounded by water, containing a wall of sandstone blocks laid in a mortar of yellow clay. This wall, which has been built upon a layer of branches over the moss, was 9ft thick on the land side and 4ft on the loch side, forming an enclosure 30ft in diameter. It was connected to the shore by a causeway of sandstone blocks. Within the enclosure was found a drain built of sandstone blocks and a water tank. A kitchen midden lay on the SE side of the building, close to the wall; it contained several chisels, a knife, a spoon, and two needles, all of bone, several hammer stones, a perforated piece of gas coal, and a pair of steel sheep shears.

J Smith 1894

The site of this crannog is denoted by a mound 17.0m in diameter and 0.8m high, surrounded by water and marsh. A few large stones lie round about, and close to the fence on the S is a dry approach with some stones in it, running E-W.

The relics from the crannog are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS, Accession nos. HT 130-7).

Visited by OS (JLD) 31 August 1956

This site is as described in the previous field report. The 'dry approach', between NS 2760 4431 and NS 2764 4430, about 2.0m wide, is more likely to be the base of an old stone dyke than a causeway.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 19 November 1965

No change. It is unlikely that the irregular, turf-covered, stony mound represents the original form of the crannog, and it may be the result of excavation or post- excavation dumping on site. As such, the published 'site of' (OS 25") is probably accurate.

Visited by OS (JRL) 28 September 1982

Defined clearly on RAF vertical aerial photograph 106G/81 10546 4013-4.

(Undated) annotation on OS 1:10,000 record map.