News Release -
Reopening of Crannóg at Craggaunowen visitor attraction in Co. Clare
Shannon Heritage, the Shannon Development tourism subsidiary, is reopening the Crannóg at their Craggaunowen visitor attraction near Quin in Co. Clare. The Crannóg was burnt down two years ago and work on reconstruction has now been completed at a cost of €230,000.
Craggaunowen 'The Living Past' visitor centre tells the story of the arrival of the Celts in Ireland and the many changes they wrought upon daily life. It is dedicated to recapturing Ireland's Pre-historic and early Christian eras. Exhibits include Bronze Age homesteads to Celtic chieftain's residences. Through costumed animators dressed in Celtic costume the visitor attraction is shown how our early Irish ancestors lived, fought, foraged and survived.
“The Craggaunowen is a wonderful way for the visitor to experience living history as it has been designed as a living, working museum. The site has rapidly expanded since it was first opened in 1975 when the late John Hunt presented the castle and grounds as a gift to the Irish people. A Crannóg was the first exhibit and this was followed in 1976 with a ring fort. Then in 1980 the "Brendan" boat was added, a hide boat in which explorer Tim Severin sailed from Ireland to the United States, re‑enacting the voyage of 6th century St. Brendan, reputed to have discovered America centuries before Columbus”, says John Ruddle, Chief Operations Officer, Shannon Heritage.
A Crannóg is an ancient village that can be traced back to the Bronze Age in Ireland.
It was a very secure village as it was surrounded by water and further protected by a circle of timber logs driven into the ground with wattles woven in and out through them for protection. Access to the village was gained by a dug out canoe or a drawbridge that could be raised and lowered as people came and went. The Crannóg offered great protection to its people from attacks by wild animals and from its enemies.
A watchman was on guard at all times in the lookout tower so he warned the villagers when danger approached. The Crannóg is just one of the dwellings that has been developed at Craggaunowen by the Hunt Museum Trust in conjunction with Shannon Heritage Ltd., a subsidiary of the Regional Development Agency, Shannon Development.
The reconstruction of the two dwellings on the Crannóg was undertaken using only material that would have been available in the Bronze Age. The main contractors for the reconstruction work were Brickenden Brothers, Co. Clare based restoration contractors from Cratloe. A team of workers used wood from coppice woodland, a method which has been recorded as being used in the Mesolithic times. The people in this period would have used materials available to them in the local area to build their Crannóg which would have been trees such as alder, ash, oak and hazel.
Other elements of the Project include the restored 15th century Craggaunowen castle. The project also has a dolmen, an ancient burial site, dating back some 5,000/6,000 years, and a 'fullacht fiadh' or ancient cooking site has been reconstructed and is used often to demonstrate ancient Irish cooking methods.
To give visitors a flavour of what life was like in Bronze Age Ireland, primitive forms of spinning, weaving, dying of wool and farming are demonstrated daily by crafts workers dressed in clothes from the Bronze Age period. These craft workers card wool, spin the wool and dye the wool using only natural colours available in Celtic times.
To show visitors just how far agriculture has developed since the Bronze Age, live, Prehistoric animals have been making a come‑back at the Craggaunowen in recent years. A breed of sheep dating back to Bronze Age times are now being bred as part of the Craggaunowen Project.
Very like goats in appearance this breed of sheep was widespread in Ireland during the Bronze Age, but today their numbers have dwindled and they are classed among rare breeds. Now, thanks to the Craggaunowen Project, ‑ which aims to conjure up 'The Living Past', they are on view to the public. They range in colour from dark brown to light beige and are about one third the size of modern sheep. Unlike the animals in the block buster film 'Jurassic Park' these animals are not hidden behind electric fences, but are kept in ordinary sheep pens.
But these are no ordinary sheep, they are a rare breed called Soays. These animals moult like domestic cats, so it is necessary for these sheep to be plucked instead of sheared. The Prehistoric sheep are not the only animals housed at the Craggaunowen Project. So popular are the Bronze Age sheep proving with visitors that wild boar were also acquired for to enhance the Bronze Age aspects of the Centre.
To show what crops would have been grown in Bronze Age times a patch of earth is being tilled, cultivated, and planted with crops which would have been a common place in Bronze Age Ireland. They have undertaken research in cereals and crops dating from 2,000 BC up to 1,000 AD.
"Diversifying into animal and crop husbandry seemed like a natural progression. Like the crops we grown, we are using the Bronze Age sheep to recreate as far as possible the rural life‑style of our ancestors. Craggaunowen is a fantastic place to see ancient Celtic traditions being brought to life", says Ms. Pauline Lenihan, Manager Craggaunowen visitor attraction.
Shannon Heritage, conscious of giving people a full picture of what life was like in ancient Ireland, including how the hunters would have prepared their food. The ‘Fulacht Fiadh’ or hunters cooking site at Craggaunowen gives visitors an opportunity to see how food was prepared and cooked in Celtic times. Hunting parties used this type of cooking site from the early Bronze Age to the Elizabethan period.
A rectangular hole was dug in low-lying land where it was sure to fill with water. This was clad on the four sides with wooden sections. Stones heated on the campfire were then used to boil the water in the wooden trough. A joint of venison or wild boar was then wrapped in straw and put into the boiling water and cooked for a designated period. Using this method meat is cooked at the same speed as a conventional cooker.
Craggaunowen also has a working Pole Lathe, a method used from the 5th to the 12th century to carve wooden goblets and platters. A Pole Lathe is an ingenious pulley devise which allowed the craft worker to carve wooden items bowls candle sticks. This skill is demonstrated at Craggaunowen. Ireland's oldest dug‑out canoe is also housed at the Craggaunowen Project. Dating from 1,550 BC, the Teeranea canoe was discovered on farm lands near Kilmurray, Sixmilebridge in County Clare. It was discovered by Mr. Pat Guerin in 1989 close to the shore of Cullane lake, near the Project.
The discovery of the oak canoe was made known to the National Museum of Ireland where it was examined by the Antiquities Department. Copious tests were carried out and radio carbon testing was done at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands where it was dated to early Bronze Age. Through these tests it was discovered that the hull of the canoe had at one time been used as a trough for a "Fulacht Fiadh", or ancient cooking site. After a number of preservation measures, the canoe is now exhibited to the public at Craggaunowen.
This isn't the first pre-Christian exhibit to be taken into care by the Craggaunowen Project since it first opened to the public. The first pre-Christian exhibit was an Iron Age Road which was excavated in Longford and transported to Craggaunowen for safe keeping in 1985 and exhibited to the public in 1986.
“The wonderful variety of historic artifacts on show at Craggaunowen makes it a really special visitor attraction. Shannon Heritage takes great care to ensure that every element is authentically recreated. It is a labour of love and we are lucky to have a dedicated staff at Craggaunowen”, says Mr. Ruddle.
Craggaunowen visitor attraction is open daily from 10.00 am until 6.00 pm from April to mid October. Admission costs: adults €7.85; senior citizens and students €5.85; child €4.75; family ticket 2 adults and 2 children €18.35; 2 adults 4 children €19.40; 2 adults 6 children €20.45
At the opening of the Shannon Heritage reconstructed Crannog at Craggaunowen, Co. Clare, which recreates life in Ireland over a 1,000 year ago are (l-r) Stephen Clancy, John Ruddle chief operations officer Shannon Heritage, the Mayor of Clare Patrick Keane, and Senator Timmy Dooley.
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Nandi O’Sullivan
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