Crannog

Crannog, Crannoge, a kind of lake-dwelling (q.v.), formerly used in Scotland, but principally in Ireland. It was an artificial island, formed of a framework of piles and staves, filled up with brushwood and kept down by stones and gravel, on the top of which was a thick layer of earth. On this huts were erected, and, when surrounded by palisades, the structure served as a stronghold. "Some existed in county Monaghan in the 16th century.