Fig. 34. — Wooden Dug-out Canoe found at Irlam. 

 (Salford Museum.) I : 108. 



EARLY MAN 



covery becomes of special importance. It is known that dug-out canoes 

 were used as late as the sixteenth century for special purposes. 



They have been found in various places, generally at considerable depths 

 below the ground. That found 

 at Barton-upon-Irwell (Man- 

 chester Museum) was excavated 

 at a depth of 27 ft. ; that from 

 Irlam (Salford Museum) about 

 the same ; those from Martin 

 Mere were found 'in the peat' 

 (one from Crossens is at Cam- 

 bridge Hall, Southport) ; two 

 from Preston (in the Harris 

 Museum) at about 14 ft. ; 

 while two were found near 

 Warrington (in the public 

 museum of that place) at about 

 1 8 ft. below the surface. These depths alone, whether caused by accumu- 

 lation, or less often by the object itself settling in marshy ground, indicate 

 in each case a proportionate antiquity. 



The canoe at Barton-upon-Irwell lay about 400 yds. from the present 

 bank, of the river at a depth of 27 ft. It is 13 ft. 8 in. in length, with a 

 breadth of 2 ft. 7 in. fore and 2 ft. 2 in. aft. It has suffered considerable 

 damage, but its form may be gleaned from the accompanying diagram, 



fig- 33- 



There is a hoUowed log or small trough, sometimes thought to be a dug- 

 out canoe, from the same site, also in the Manchester Museum. It was found 

 in 1889 in the TrafFord Hall cutting of the Manchester Ship Canal, about 

 six or seven hundred yards east of Barton Bridge. It is presumably modern. 

 The canoe from Irlam, fig. 34, now in the Salford Museum, is some- 

 what similar in general character. The stem is more curved : the bow 

 does not project as a nose like the former example, and it has been pierced 

 at some time for a painter. Its greatest length is 9 ft. 6 in., width 2 ft. 4 in., 

 and depth 1 1 in. It was found in cutting the Manchester Ship Canal, 25 ft. 

 from the surface. 



Eight canoes were recorded by Leigh ^ to have been found in the peat 

 of Martin Mere. One from this vicinity is in the Cambridge Hall at South- 

 port. It is longer than those previously described, measuring 1 6| ft. over 



all, with a greatest width of 3 J ft. 

 and depth of i ft. It differs also in 

 form (see fig. 35), tapering regu- 

 larly towards one end. Both ends 

 are narrowed, and the bottom is 

 round. It seems to have been 

 patched at some time with pieces of 

 lead, and it has been suggested that 

 the monks of Burscough, whose house 

 stood on the lake, may have used 



Fig. 35. — Dug-out found at Crossens. 

 (Cambridge Hall, Southport.) i : 2 1 6. 



1 Leigh, op. cit. bk. I, pp. 17, 181 

 I 249 



32 



