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Castle Semple Loch
Crannog (Prehistoric) - (Medieval)(Possible), Logboat(S) (Period Unknown)(Possible)
Site Name Castle Semple Loch
Classification Crannog (Prehistoric) - (Medieval)(Possible), Logboat(S) (Period Unknown)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Lochwinnoch; Loch Winnoch
Canmore ID 42149
Site Number NS35NE 6
NGR NS 36 59
NGR Description NS c. 36 59
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/42149
- Council Renfrewshire
- Parish Lochwinnoch
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Renfrew
- Former County Renfrewshire
NS35NE 6 c. 36 59
Several canoes, dug-out of single trees have been found in Castle Semple Loch (name: NS 365 591) about 5ft below the surface.
OSA 1791
Many canoes have been found since the OSA was written. A person still alive saw twenty-one of them buried in the mud between the old Peel (NS35NE 5, at NS 361 587) and the N side of the Loch. A canoe from the loch is still preserved in the garden of Allan Pinkerton of Mossend.
New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845 (R Smith)
No further information was gained during field investigation. Mr D A Lamont (Mossend Farm) was unable to give an information concerning Mr Pinkerton or the canoes.
Visited by OS (WW) 25 July 1955
Stuart (1868) considers that these canoes suggest that there was a crannog in Castle Semple Loch. Love suggests that the great number of 'canoes' noted by NSA were probably the wooden portion of a crannog, situated on the islet near the centre of the loch, opposite the old church of Lochwinnoch. The surface of this islet is freestone and it could not have been above the water prior to the partial drainage of the loch, which first took place in the late 17th, or early 18th century.
R Love 1876.
(Location amended to NS c. 36 59). The discovery of large numbers of possible logboats has been reported from Castle Semple Loch (or Lochwinnoch) which is situated in an industrialised valley at the head of the Black Cart Water, and at an altitude of about 28m OD. None of these remains survive.
Some of the timbers found were probably those of a crannog, but the Statistical Account notes several that were found about 5' (1.5m) 'below the surface' and were compared to the canoes of the North American Indians. These were most probably logboats.
Statistical Account (OSA) 1791-9; NSA 1845; J Stuart 1868; R Love 1876; R J C Mowat 1996.
