Description

The monument comprises a crannog, a lake dwelling of late prehistoric date, visible as a stony mound.

The monument lies on an island known as Heron Isle in the S end of Black Loch. Its remains are visible as a roughly circular mound of earth and stones measuring about 20m in diameter by 1.3m in maximum height, with traces of a wall on the E edge of the mound measuring about 0.3m in height. Excavations conducted during 1870-71 uncovered a wooden floor measuring about 15m in diameter, and revealed several successive phases of domestic occupation. Amongst the artefacts found were a glass bangle of 1st or 2nd century AD date, a bone comb of third century AD date, and part of a bronze vessel. Despite this excavation, it is extremely likely that further remains still survive on site.

Crannogs were timber roundhouses, built on wooden platforms or upon natural or artificial islands in lochs, often connected to the shore by causeways.

The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them, including the whole surface of the island normally above water level plus a band averaging 10m wide around this, to take in the adjacent bed of the loch, within which related material may be expected to be found. It is circular with a diameter of 65m, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

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Source: Historic Environment Scotland