Crannog ceremony celebrates new beginnings for ways of ancients

Back to Iron Age life: Albie Dunlop at the Scottish Crannog Centre on Loch Tay. PIC: Martin Shields | Martin Shields

In song and praise, the ways of the ancients on Loch Tay have been celebrated in a special ceremony.

Five years after a fire destroyed an Iron Age-style crannog on the water - a wooden house on stilts where people and animals lived - a replacement has been built on the other side of the loch.

To celebrate its official opening, singer Barbara Dickson performed and First Minister John Swinney, who lives locally, unveiled a plaque.

Mr Swinney described the 2021 fire as both “catastrophic” and a “huge cultural tragedy”

He said: "The fire that destroyed the previous crannog was catastrophic and a huge cultural tragedy.

READ MORE: Breakthrough in the study of Scotland’s ancient loch dwellers

“The fact that, five years later, the Crannog Centre is open at a new, larger site and with a brand-new crannog is a testament to the drive, dedication and hard work of all those involved in the management of the centre.

“I also wish to extend my congratulations to all those who have worked on this new crannog - it is a genuinely stunning piece of work.

"As the centrepiece of the new centre, this crannog will undoubtedly become a beloved local site and will be of huge interest to all those who visit. I look forward to watching the Crannog Centre grow from strength to strength in the years to come."

People were living on Loch Tay in Perthshire between 370BC and 355BC.

READ MORE: Inside Scottish castle on Loch Tay restored by US tequila tycoon

The visitor centre and crannog, which took 20,000 hours to build, will open to the public next month.

The crannog has been built by a team of specialist craftspeople and apprentices, with eight of them working in two teams on the structure at any one time.

Although workers have used modern tools and equipment to meet construction site standards, ensure wellbeing and safety, and make headway, a range of traditional skills, such as roundwood timber framing, hazel coppicing, hurdle making and thatching have been at the forefront of the build.

As a result, the structure mirrors a dwelling place inhabited by our prehistoric ancestors, including the materials they would have used.

Around 300 European Larch trees were acquired for the crannog from a variety of local and Scottish woodland suppliers, including a tree felled from the roadside. Around 150 tonnes of timber was secured from the national forestry estate through Forestry and Land Scotland.

The roundhouse is around 8 metres high from floor to thatch, with timber posts driven around a metre into the loch bed.

The floor of the crannog is six metres above the waterline.

Volunteers have worked alongside professionals to help construct the crannog, with individuals and groups giving up a total of 1000 hours to help rebuild the replica of an Iron Age home.

Mike Benson, director of The Scottish Crannog Centre, said: “Since the blaze we’ve been a bit like a Van Gogh museum without Van Gogh.

“Although we relocated to a larger site and built a new visitor centre, museum and Iron Age village within three years, constructing a new crannog, as you might imagine, was a much more ambitious project.

“The crannog is an incredible structure but it’s not just a building: it’s part of our community. As well as the Centre staff, we have committed volunteers and interact regularly with a range of charities and the people they support. Many consider our centre a home and a place of sanctuary.”