Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, $c. 81 



racter of these inscriptions, and the finding one at Ardmore is per se a demonstration that the place 

 had been in possession of the Pagans, and therefore the probability of a Gheber Tower and Ceme- 

 tery. At all events, discovery of the skeletons not being deemed absolutely conclusive, further 

 exploration in other similar structures was considered necessary. Permission from the Dean and 

 Chapter having been obtained, it was resolved to examine the Tower at Cashel. Accordingly on the 

 3rd and 4th of the present month, Messrs. Horgan, Odell, Hacket, Abell, Willes, Keleher and 

 Windele undertook the execution of that task ; they were joined at Cashel by the Very Rev. Dean Cot- 

 ton, to whose excellent taste in repairs and excavations all lovers of the picturesque and admirers 

 of the remarkable remains of antiquity which crown the rock, stand so much indebted. The door 

 of this Tower is 1 2 feet above the external plinth which forms the base of the building. The interior 

 of the structure was found filled with loose earth intermixed with human bones to a depth of 2 

 feet ; under this accumulation was found a mass of solid stone work, forming the original floor of 

 the tower, five feet nine inches below the door. Through this the workmen employed wrought for 

 two days, until late in the evening of the 4th they reached the foundation, ascertaining that the 

 masonry extended to the very floor of the rock on which the tower was based. This satisfied the 

 explorers that at least all the towers were not sepulchral. 



" Small fragments of charcoal were found at the base of the tower. Whether these could have 

 ever formed any portion of a sacred fire, once burning within the tower, who can affirm or ration- 

 ally deny ? The idea of such a possible use has however been thrown out, and again met by a 

 scepticism founded on the fewness of the particles discovered. Nothing, it would seem, less than a 

 wheel-barrow full would suit the gentleman who propounded doubts upon the subject ; but he 

 forgot that the place where they were found was a small hole not more than 18 inches diameter, 

 and of a like depth, merely opened to ascertain the distance of the rock from the surface. 



" Not content, however, with this examination, they next pitched upon the tower of Cloyne, and 

 here their operations were crowned with perfect success. On Thursday last, under the super- 

 intendence of Mr. William Hackett, the workmen, after penetrating through about two feet of 

 rubbish, reached a solid floor, about a foot in thickness, formed of small stones, laid in gravel, so 

 firmly bedded as to yield only to repeated efforts with the crow-bar and pick -axe. Under this they 

 found, within a space of six feet diameter, a stratum of earth-mould, in which were discovered three 

 skeletons, laid west and east, two of them lying side by side of each other, and the third under these. 

 The gentlemen under whose directions these researches were prosecuted, and who were in attend- 

 ance on this interesting occasion, were the Rev. Messrs. Horgan, Rogers, Jones, Bolster and D. 

 Murphy, Messrs. Hackett, Sainthill, Abell, Windele, Keleher and J. Jennings. 



" This discovery sets at rest the question, raised but not deemed satisfactorily disposed of, at 

 Ardmore ; and it stands now ascertained, that the towers of Timahoe, Ram Island, Ardmore and 

 Cloyne were, amongst other uses, appropriated to sepulchral purposes ; whilst the society have, by 

 their investigations in other directions, also established the fact, that other similar buildings, such 

 as Cashel and Kinneh, in the west of the County of Cork, were not similarly used." 



That Mr. Windele thought that the question of the Origin and Uses of the 

 Round Towers was now settled to the satisfaction of all inquirers, appears from 



VOL. XX. M 



