Offerton Haugh log-boat

A log-boat was found in 1888, at a depth of 2.1 m, in the bed of the River Wear at Offerton Haugh. Of oak, it was 3.5 m long, with "a flat bottom rising slightly at either end and tapering in plan and elevation. The broader end is rectangular in plan, the other rounded. A group of four holes near the sheer on the broader end are interpreted by McGrail as for thwartship strengthening. A rectangular hole on one side may have been for joining the vessel to another". It is reported to have contained human bones; stone implements "like chisels" and deer horns were said to have been found on the bottom of the stream near the same spot.
The Ordnance Survey 3rd edition 1:2500 map is marked 'Canoe, Human Remains &c. found A.D. 1888'. The find was reported in the Notes of Archaeologia Aeliana some time later in 1968. The canoe had been presented to Sunderland Museum in 1910 by the River Wear Commissioners, having been found in the bed of the River Wear at Hylton during the removal of the Brixons (Brigg Stones).