Loch Tay Shore and Underwater Survey
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April 2003 Preliminary Report Archaeological survey carried out on behalf of The Heritage Lottery Fund, National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland
This document is a preliminary report of the first session of shorewalking and snorkelling for the underwater Archaeological Survey of the north shore of the west end of Loch Tay for the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project, undertaken in April 2003.
Background
Loch Tay is 22.5 kilometres (14 miles) long. It has been used for many purposes in the past and of itself was a major resource to the people living prior to the construction of modern roads. For access in the past boats were the most useful method of moving around. The steamships of the nineteenth century carried cargoes of agricultural produce, raw materials for mining and quarrying and many passengers up and down the loch but they are by no means the earliest use of boats as shown by a recent radiocarbon date in the middle of the Bronze Age for a logboat discovered at the Scottish Crannog Centre near Kenmore at the east end of the loch.Little work has been done to examine the shores of the loch or the shallow waters around the edge. The present survey aims to examine a substantial part of the shoreline for evidence of past habitation and use. Many piers and jetties exist around the loch and in most cases it is not possible to assign them to a specific date. Recording of the form and location of such simple features may enable us to assign them to a basic system of classification.
Shallow Water Survey
One method of helping to date shore features such as piers and jetties is to examine the shallows of the loch nearby. People often drop things, especially when passing them in and out of boats, and objects which are not retrieved will still be preserved around the piers.Other features may only be seen by snorkelling in the shallow waters. Features such as retting pools, fish traps and other shallow water structures may be observed. Log boats are also often found in shallow water near the shore.
Preliminary Shorewalking and Snorkelling
The first episode of shorewalking was started on Monday 31st March, 2003. The party members met at the harbour of Loch Tay Highland Lodges where Mr Clive Booth, the owner, had given permission to use his bunkhouse sitting room as an initial meeting place. Mr Booth also allowed the project the use of his harbour for housing the inflatable boat for the duration of the work.Personnel
Personnel consisted of the organisers Nick Dixon and Barrie Andrian, local archaeologist Clare Thomas, local diver Jamie Cairncross and a variety of volunteers. Clare Thomas provided her own GPS unit for the duration of the project and produced references for a number of the features noted.Area
The area to be covered is that associated with the National Trust properties at Ben Lawers running along the shore of Loch Tay between National Grid References NN586345 and NN700423, in all about 16 kilometres (10 miles). The Ordnance Survey Explorer map number 378 was used as the base reference. All landowners in the area were approached for permission to access the shoreline on their land and almost all were supportive of the project.The shoreline was divided into 14 distinct areas, each just over 1 km in length although the actual divisions were related more to noted property boundaries than to equality of distance. During this project 7 of the areas (2 - 8) were examined. The volunteers were formed into teams of two and assigned to one of the areas. The plan was to walk the shoreline strip about 30 metres in width from the water and note any arteficial features that were observed. All features, regardless of modernity, were to be noted and listed. The teams were given a section of map, showing their area enlarged, upon which they were to mark features. They simply numbered the features consecutively, produced a written description of each and when they encountered particularly interesting features sketched them on a separate sheet.
The terrain varied considerably in each area, ranging from flat sandy shores backed by rough pasture to steep bedrock and cliffs in places backed by rocky steep forested slopes. The undergrowth was thick in places and made observation difficult but landowners had been assured that no damage would be caused so the undergrowth was not cut back.
Teams closest to the harbour began their walks from there and others were transported to their areas by inflatable boat.
Initially, locations of features are marked on the provided maps but some were positioned using non-differential GPS. It is felt that as a preliminary position this is accurate enough to be able to re-establish the location when required for more accurate recording and planning. As well as the organisers, a number of the volunteers had cameras with them and have made their photographs available to the survey.
Results:
Approximately 8 km (5 miles) of shoreline was examined in the four days of the survey and approximately 150 features were noted. These range in type from simple fishing stances that could be of any date to cup-marked rocks which are traditionally from the Bronze Age. None of these appear to have been recorded prior to the survey.Area 3 appeared to be of particular interest. The west end of the area comprises good pasture land down to the lochside and there is a known crannog situated about 30 metres out into the shallow bay. A number of interesting relatively modern features are nearby including a graveyard with 18th century AD stones, remains of a possible early village or settlement and possible retting ponds.
Near the centre of the area is a rough arrangement of large stones that appear to be a pathway leading down to the water, with wide walls that swing round to run parallel with the shore to east and west. At the side of the path is what might be a small rectangular enclosure. In the centre of the path was a stone with one complete cup-mark and perhaps half of another. There is no suggestion that the cup-marked rock is contemporary with these vestigial remains and it is not clear what they represent.
Slightly to the west of this feature the boundary walls have a gap in them and walls at right angles run down towards the shore. On an early fisherman's map of the area this bay is called 'Cattle creep' and it may be that cattle came down here to drink or they may have been loaded onto boats for transport elsewhere. Traditional records may help to clarify this situation.
The east end of Area 3 is much more rugged than the west and has substantial outcrops of bedrock on the shore and in the water. The easternmost point of the area (NN610349) culminates in a high bedrock knoll with two obvious cup-marks on the top and about six others less obvious through erosion. About 10 metres away from this outcrop is another large boulder with about eight obvious cup-marks. The only other area where cup-marks were observed was Area 7 where there was a conical shaped rock with two cup-marks on it.
Area 3, Feature 11. Cup-marked rock |
Area 3, Feature 12. Cup-marked rock |
Area 7, Feature 8. Cup-marked rock |
Area 6, Feature 3. Possible boat noost or enclosure wall |
The most common sorts of feature in all areas are arrangements and alignments of stones. In some cases these are apparently simple fishing stances or wall boundaries. However, in others lines of stones run into the water at right angles to the shoreline. If these lines of stones are seen to continue a significant distance inshore they are assumed to be early boundaries not related to present property ownership but in some cases they stop at ridges of bedrock or other natural barriers parallel to the shore. These appear to be delineating and enclosing small areas of land associated with the shore. In some cases they are small enough to be the remains of buildings while in others they seem more like enclosures. These features need closer examination to clarify their purpose.
Given the interesting features observed in Area 3 the shallow water was examined underwater by snorkellers. The intention is that the whole shoreline will be snorkelled eventually but that is planned for later in the year when the weather is warmer. The bottom of the loch is covered with a layer of grey silt everywhere except on bedrock or loose stones. Few significant features were noted in this cursory examination but one area, just off the path to the shore lined with large rocks and the cup-marked rock, had what appeared to be a rectangular stone feature about 2 metres square. This will be examined in greater detail at a later date.
It is notable that Area 3 has produced so much interesting information and this may be partly because it is very close to the harbour where the survey started and therefore came to attention quickly. The features noted in the other areas have not yet been examined in detail or planned with any great accuracy but it would be surprising if they did not prove in some cases as rich as Area 3. Re-examination of all areas and complete snorkelling of the whole shoreline is also planned for later in the year.
Acknowledgments:
Sincere thanks to Clive Booth for access to the loch and the use of his harbour. Thanks also to Clare Thomas for supplying and operating the GPS, Jamie Cairncross for snorkel support and for supplying his own diving equipment and to the enthusiastic volunteers Dorothy and David Darling, Kirsty Dickens, Jo Scott, Bill Nicoll, Donald MacIver, Malcom Hope, Callum Hope and Patty Hope. A special thanks to all of the landowners who gave permission to walk their shores. Financial assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund, The National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland made the survey possible.| Nick Dixon The Scottish Crannog Centre [External Link] |
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