The Crannog Gathering

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 8 All set and change places RH with partner, all set and change back RH into promenade hold (left hand on top) facing anticlockwise
9-12 All promenade for 2 steps and set facing partner (retain hold of hands) turning Lady under crossed arms to face clockwise still in prom hold
13-16 All repeat bars 9-12 but Men raise left arm, and Ladies pull back LSh to turn under arm. All end Men with back to centre facing partner
17-20 All dance DoSiDo (or advance and holding RH Lady turns under her arm and pulls back RSh to dance out to places, Men retire)
21-24 All holding LH Man dances LSh ¾ round partner (Lady stands still) to her right and all join hands in a circle
25-32 All circle round and back and end with Men back to centre facing new partner ready to start again

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

Dance Information

Unlike the pile dwellings in the Alps, which were built on land and later submerged, crannogs were constructed directly in the water. These structures served as dwellings from the Neolithic Period to as late as the 17th or early 18th century.

In Scotland, archaeological evidence for crannogs is sparse for the Early and Middle Bronze Age and the Norse Period. Radiocarbon dating from key sites suggests that Scottish crannogs mainly date from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, around 800 BC.

Crannogs vary in construction; some are free-standing wooden structures, like those at Loch Tay, while others are mounds made of brush, stone, or timber, sometimes reinforced with timber piles. In areas like the Outer Hebrides, where timber was scarce, crannogs were often built entirely of stone with drystone architecture. Today, crannogs are typically small, circular islets, 10 to 30 metres in diameter, often covered in dense vegetation due to their inaccessibility to grazing livestock.

A Crannog In Loch Freuchie, Perthshire, Scotland

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