Loch Glashan

NR99SW 11 9196 9341

For 'possible wooden paddle or oar' found close to this logboat (NR c. 920 934), see NR99SW 23. For another logboat found in the loch (at NR c. 916 925), see NR99SW 2.

NR 920 934. An Early Christian - Viking (M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964) dug-out canoe was found in the mud of Loch Glashan in May 1960 by D Campbell, a forestry worker. It was 11' long, square-sterned, with a transom still in place. A fragment of twisted rope found in a hole bored in the bow was preserved by L Bell of the Mid Argyll Antiquarian Society. The find was reported to the DoE who undertook preservation, and was in Glasgow Museum in 1961. The site was flooded by a hydro-electric scheme in the autummn of 1961.

M Campbell 1960; H Fairhurst 1969

NR 9196 9341. Site indicated on OS 6" map by Miss M Campbell (Kilberry Castle). D Campbell now lives in Dunoon.

Visited by OS (JP) 23 April

One of two logboats discovered in Loch Glashan, one of which was found 950m NNE of the crannog, and the other near the island dwelling.

RCAHMS 1988.

In 1960 a logboat was discovered on the E side of Loch Glashan when the level of the loch was lowered during the construction of a dam. This inland loch is situated at an altitude of about 100m OD near the NW shore of Loch Fyne.

The boat measured 11' (3.4m) in length and had a transom stern. A midships thwart rested on blocks left in the solid and a stempost worked in the solid was seen to continue beneath the boat as a solid false keel. A 'fragment of twisted rope' was found in the hole through the bow, but does not appear to survive, while the 'possible wooden paddle or oar' that was found close to the logboat, and was possibly associated with it, is noted as NR99SW 23.

In the following year the boat was removed to Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum where it is stored under accession number GAGM A6137a; it is mounted in a cradle and the port side was inaccessible at the date of inspection. Severe flaking and partial disintegration have occurred on the lower part of the exterior in spite of conservation with Carbowax. Splitting is especially evident in the starboard side and at the ends, where warping has also caused gross distortion. There is one knot of considerable size in the bottom.

After shrinkage, the boat measures 3.06m in length over all by up to 0.82m in beam (at a point near the stern) and up to 0.78m in external depth. Much of this latter measurement is accounted for by the raised and distorted bow section, and for the greater part of their length the sides only survive to an external height of about 0.3m.

The boat has been crudely shaped without the use of thickness-gauges, and the interior is rounded in section. The bottom measures between 80mm and 100mm in thickness, and the sides about 40mm. Two lengths of timber have been left in the solid near the bow; that on the port side measures 590mm in length and has its upper surface about 60mm above the floor while the corresponding figures for the starboard side are 430mm and 30mm respectively. Resting on these two projections there is a loose-fitting thwart which measures 610mm by 120mm and 55m in thickness and is squared in all planes except under the lower corners where it is rounded to conform with the sides.

The bow is rounded in form, although heavily distorted by warping, and bears heavy radial splitting internally. It is pierced transversely by a horizontally-bored hole which measures about 20mm in diameter and 90mm in depth; a length of what was probably a boat-rope was found in this hole but has since been lost. The prominent external cutwater is squared in form and measures about 30mm along the centreline by 50mm transversely; this extends around the forefoot and along the bottom of the boat to terminate at the stern with a downwards flare to a maximum depth of 35mm. The stern itself is square in form although it appears to have been displaced at an angle by warping. The transom is now lost, but its groove extends to the highest surviving point of the side and measures 20mm in width and 25mm in depth. The sharpness of the edges indicates that it was cut with a metal tool, probably a chisel.

The boat has apparently been worked from a whole log which measured about 0.8m in diameter. On the assumption that the sides extended to the full height of the present bow section, the conversion coefficient was about 81%, this low figure reflecting the thickness of the sides and bottom and the size of the block of timber that forms the bow section. On the basis of the same assumption, the slenderness and beam/draught coefficients were 3.1 and about 1.06 respectively, and the displacement was about 1.15 cubic metres, indicating that this boat was beamy, directionally stable and best-suited to the carriage of such high-density cargoes as men and animals. The block and volumetric coefficients are 0.59 and 0.04 respectively and the McGrail morphology code is 14a2:2x2:222 while the form is dissimilar-ended.

M Campbell 1960; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964; S McGrail 1987; RCAHMS 1988; R J C Mowat 1996, visited October 1987.