Page:VCH Lancaster 1.djvu/318

 A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE and repaired it. It was dredged up near Crossens : there is no evidence in this case of great antiquity. The two canoes from Preston are of greater interest, not only because they differ somewhat in construction from those previously described, but also because the circumstances of their discovery are known and have been carefully recorded. In a considerable excavation made for the construction of the Ribble Docks at Preston, various objects of antiquity were come upon at levels which varied from lo to 20 ft, below the surface, including a bronze leaf- shaped spear-head, shown in fig. 22, and animal remains of the urus or wild ox. Associated with these were a series of human skulls, described in a later section, p. 256, which, though too few in numbers to war- rant any general conclusion, suggest by their range of indices that mixing of races which, as the evidence of art also shows, took place at the uprising of the Bronze Age with the incoming of a Celtic element among the population. The great antiquity of this stratum is well substantiated, and is of importance in considering the date of unknown types. The first of these canoes lay, when found, on a bed of gravel 14 ft. below the surface, at a distance of 130 ft. from the present river bank. It is 8 ft. 9 in. long, 2 ft. 6 in. across in extreme width, and has a greatest depth of i ft. Its stern was closed by a stern-board inserted in a groove, cut in the sides and bottom. The prow projects 10 in. forward of the dug-out portion. The stern is hollowed from the root of the tree-stem. The second of the Preston canoes (see Plate VI.- 1.) is smaller and less elaborate. Its length over all is 7 ft. 8j in., with greatest width 2 ft. 8 in., and width at the stern 2 ft. 2 in. Its depth is i ft. 2I in., while the bottom remains ijin. thick in the middle and 4 J in. thick at the stern. In the bow is an irregularly-shaped hole. There are traces of clean cutting produced by sharp metallic tools. It was found at a depth of i 3 ft., about a quarter of a mile east of Penwortham Church. Hitherto there has been found no criterion for assigning a date to such dug-out canoes from intrinsic evidence. The mere fact of simplicity of construction must not be taken alone as a sign of great antiquity. Movable stern-boards, also, are found alike in association with lake dwellings of the Bronze Age,^ and in a deposit of Late Celtic times at Buxton.' The only satisfactory dating of these canoes must be separately done from the special associations of each example. The Preston canoes seem to be as early as the Bronze Age, and the oldest in the county ; while that from Crossens may not be as old as Norman times. There remain two canoes,' found near Warrington in the Arpley Fields, each found about 20 to 25 yards northward from the former bank of the Mersey at that place before the cutting of the Ship Canal, and at a depth of about 1 8 ft. below the surface of the ground. One canoe is ribbed in two places and of considerable elaboration. It is furnished with a seat in the broader end, and several pegs are fitted regularly around the gunwale. Each one is rounded, and several plug holes are provided 1 Proc. Soc. yf„tij. Scot. xi. 21. S Ibid. ZO6. Boats fb^'uS'nt' /wa"S^to„.'°' ""^^^ "'"■ ■ '"'"■ ""' "■ ^•^^ '• ^7. Madeley on -Two Ancient 250