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From a majestic headland to an idyllic bay, the coastline of Ardmore surrounds a village that is full of culture, creativity, music, adventure, unforgettable experiences, and great escapes.
But, there is a hidden treasure that once stood prominently on what is now the main beach in Ardmore.
It was a Crannog and we are pleased to present a wonderful account from 1879 that tells a fascinating story of life within a Crannog.
In Prehistoric Scotland and its place in European civilisation; being a general introduction to the “County histories of Scotland,” by Robert Munro (1899) discussed the crannog at Ardmore.
The only remains suggestive of ancient habitations known to me within the tidal shores of the British Isles are (i) a cairn of stones on a substratum of wood near the island of Eriska, at the mouth of Loch Crerar; (2) the Black Cairn, in the Beauly Firth ; (3) some stumps of piles in Ardmore Bay, county Waterford ; and (4) a curious wooden structure recently discovered at Dumbuck within the tidal area of the Clyde.
… The “submarine crannog” at Ardmore, discovered by Mr R. J. Ussher, 3 covers an oval space about 100 feet in diameter, and contains piles in a stratum of peat. The present sub- marine position of these remains may be reasonably accounted for on the strength of the evidence that a submergence of the land, since Neolithic times, has taken place along the southern shores of England and Ireland, while, during the corresponding period, the very opposite change has been proved to have occurred in Scotland and the north of Ireland. For further references to marine dwellings see ‘Lake-Dwellings of Europe,’ PP- 3″. 3 8 9, 443 573. and 574.
Ussher’s excellent and detailed description provides important information about relative sea-level on the south coast of Ireland. It complements the geophysical study of a submarine channel emerging from Waterford harbour and shows that the land continued sinking after the Neolithic and possibly after the Bronze Age if the bronze find was in situ.
It would be well worth obtaining a C14 date from these remains if they still exist.