90 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



to me by my ingenious friend, Mr. Edmund Getty, of Belfast, in a letter dated 

 Belfast, 10th of January, 1842. 



" My friend Mr. Thomson has communicated to me your note, requesting the particulars of the 

 opening of the Round Tower of Drurnbo, and I only delayed until a rough notice I had drawn up 

 was read over by the Rev. Mr. Maunsell, by whose directions the enquiry was conducted. The 

 tower, you will recollect, has lost part of its original height, and been filled up perhaps a few feet 

 in the interior by stones thrown or fallen in, &c. The door described by Harris as 6 feet from the 

 ground is now perhaps five feet. 



" ' For the first two feet the debris thrown out very much resembled the soil of the adjacent 

 grave yard, having mixed thro' it a quantity of human bones, not in any regular form, tho' per- 

 haps more in one spot than another,' and which I feel satisfied has been thrown in from the burying 

 ground ; ' some pieces of charcoal were found, and several of the stones thrown out bore evident 

 marks of fire,' having been most probably used by persons forming fires here for temporary pur- 

 poses unconnected with the original intention of the builders. 



" 'After this depth (2 feet) the stuff removed assumed more the appearance of mortar rubbish, 

 and seemed in great measure (partly) composed of the ruins of the top of the tower which had 

 fallen in at the period of its dilapidation, which, it would seem, must have been as early as 1744, 

 for about that time Harris in his County of Down describes the tower as being much as at present. 

 Among the rubbish were large stones, a considerable number of them having marks of fire ; this is 

 also observable in the interior of the building, where there is a slight superficial vitrification, but 

 only above the surface of the ground, which has been lately excavated. Dubourdieu, in his Survey, 

 published in 1802, takes notice of this appearance in these words : At some former time very strong 

 fires have been burned within this building, and the inside surface towards the bottom has the appearance 

 of vitrification. This stuff so described was excavated to the depth of more than one foot on the first 

 day, and on the next morning the remainder of it was cast out, when the appearance changed to 

 that of a rich black mould, apparently decomposed vegetable matter, with a good deal of charcoal 

 and quantities of bones of various descriptions, chiefly of the lower animals, some boar tusks and 

 jaws, a few short horns of oxen and other remains of those animals. When this substance was 

 thrown out to the depth of about three feet, having now reached a depth of about seven feet altogether 

 below the surface, we commenced upon, a totally different soil made its appearance like the natural 

 soil of the neighbourhood, yellowish or light brown ; it appeared to be covered all over as well as 

 we could trace, with a slight coating of mortar, perhaps about one inch in thickness. Almost close 

 underneath this, and nearly opposite the doorway, was discovered the skull of a human skeleton. 

 This skeleton was afterwards explored with as much caution as possible, when it was found in a 

 very decomposed state, wanting the right arm and hand, and the two legs from the knee down. It 

 lay by compass N. N. W. by W. the head towards the west. The skull was tolerably preserved, 

 having almost a perfect set of teeth in the lower jaw; all the vertebrae remained undisturbed. In 

 the earth was found the cap (patella) of one knee. No vestige of a coffin, dress or hair was ob- 

 servable. The skeleton was removed in order to continue the excavation, which was down to the 



