Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, 



87 



The semi-official statement, above alluded to, is as follows : 



" ROUND TOWERS CLOYNE. 



" A correspondent of the Southern Reporter thus writes The announcement made in your last 

 paper, so far as regards the proceedings of the South Munster Antiquarian Society at Cloyne, men- 

 tions merely the operations of the first day, Wednesday. Those of the succeeding day were of a far 

 more decisive and interesting character. The result of the whole is stated in the proces verbal 

 drawn up on the conclusion of their researches, with the approbation of the several gentlemen pre- 

 sent, viz. : The Rev. Messrs. Rogers, Lawless, Horgan, Bolster, and Dominick Murphy ; Messrs. 

 A. Abell, R. Sainthill, J. Windele, F. Jennings, and W. Keleher. The document I send you, and is 

 as follows : 



" ' Having proceeded to excavate the tower according to order, we entered a bed of earth and of 

 decayed rotten timber (probably the fallen nests of jackdaws and other birds), interspersed with 

 decayed bones of different animals and stones. After having cleared it out betweeu three and four 

 feet, we then met a bed of broken limestone, one foot four inches in thickness, underneath which 

 was a bed of fine black earth, wherein we met with three skeletons stretched in the usual way from 

 west to east, one being under the two, part of which I have kept ; having three couple of collar 

 bones, and three front parts of the lower jaw bones the upper skeleton being the freshest. Under 

 these we met with a layer of coarse heavy stones, with the even or smooth sides up, set in coarse 

 gravel, under which were two tiers of light flags. After that we came to the solid rock. 



" ' W. CHAPMAN, Sexton.' 

 " ' Cloyne, 24th Sept., 1841.'" 



Now I would seriously ask, is it possible that any rational inquirer could give 

 credence to statements so contradictory of each other, as those which I have 



