The Crossens Canoe
This ancient canoe was found on a drained section of what was once the enormous Martin Mere , close to Crossens , by a farmer in 1899 . Reverend William Bulpit , a keen local historian , was called to examine the canoe and he quickly realised that it was extremely old and historically important . After haggling with the farmer's wife , he removed the canoe for safe keeping .
Carbon dating has identified the canoe as being from about AD 535 which tells us that people were fishing on the mossland meres nearly 1500 years ago . When it was found the canoe had been repaired with small lead sheets and a musket was discovered inside it . It's possible that the canoe was still in use or was found and reused many hundreds of years after it was made .
Eleven canoes have been recovered from Martin Mere and its perimeter but the Crossens canoe is the only surviving example .
The Crossens Canoe
This ancient canoe was found on a drained section of what was once the enormous Martin Mere , close to Crossens , by a farmer in 1899 . Reverend William Bulpit , a keen local historian , was called to examine the canoe and he quickly realised that it was extremely old and historically important . After haggling with the farmer's wife , he removed the canoe for safe keeping .
Carbon dating has identified the canoe as being from about AD 535 which tells us that people were fishing on the mossland meres nearly 1500 years ago . When it was found the canoe had been repaired with small lead sheets and a musket was discovered inside it . It's possible that the canoe was still in use or was found and reused many hundreds of years after it was made .
Eleven canoes have been recovered from Martin Mere and its perimeter but the Crossens canoe is the only surviving example .