1894 - 95 .] Dr R. Munro on Lake-dwelling Research. 
403 
an iron-socketed Celt. (See Lake-dwellings of Europe, fig. 125, 
No. 1.) But such defects must not always be laid at the doar of 
archaeologists, as in many cases the opportunity for investigation is 
past before any knowledge of the discovery finds its way to a com- 
petent authority. This, unfortunately, was the case with that 
remarkable and unique find at Lisnacroghera (the hangman’s fort), 
first described by Mr Wakeman in 1884. 
The special interest attached to that find lies in the unmistakable 
art character (Late Celtic) of a series of military weapons and articles 
of dress found in a localized part of a peat-bog within the boundaries 
of a partially-drained lake, consisting of iron swords with bronze 
sheaths ornamented with Late Celtic patterns, iron spears in long 
wooden handles with bronze mountings, and other bronze objects, 
some of which are the mountings for shields. It is difficult to 
specify precisely all the objects belonging to this group, but it 
included, at least, four complete sets of armour, all of which must 
have been dropped within the limits of a very circumscribed area, 
as they were found on the plot of one man. Subsequent inquiries 
of the owner of this plot elicited the fact that much decayed wood- 
work had been encountered in one particular spot, which he well 
recollected because of the annoyance it gave them in their peat- 
cutting operations. This wood had, however, been all removed 
without being seen by any one competent to form an opinion of its 
structural character. Associated with these Late Celtic relics was 
an assortment of the usual miscellaneous objects found on crannogs. 
Hence the theory that there was in this bog a genuine crannog, on 
which a mortal struggle took place between a troop of cavaliers 
armed cap-a-pie, and the holders of the crannog fort, has some 
foundation in fact. 
The merit of being the first to direct attention to Scottish 
crannogs belongs to Dr Joseph Robertson, who brought the subject 
before the Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in a 
paper read on December 14, 1857. The facts adduced by Dr Robert- 
son consisted chiefly of historic references to island-forts and sub- 
merged wooden structures exposed in the course of the drainage of 
lochs and marshes during the last and early part of this century. 
But although this kind of evidence conclusively proved the exist- 
ence of crannogs it gave little information as to their nature 
