Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 415 



" Some years since, Mr. Middleton, who lives in the neighbourhood of Timahoe, in the Queen's 

 County, told me that a peasant having frequently dreamed that treasure was hid in the round tower 

 of that place, induced two others to join him, and went at night, and having removed the earth, 

 came to a flag-stone, which they raised, and discovered an urn with bones therein. Mr. Middleton 

 assured me he had often conversed with those men, and had no doubt, whatever, of the truth and 

 accuracy of the statement. I mentioned this fact to Mr. George Petrie, but he repudiated the idea, 

 as utterly unworthy of belief. 



" Some years afterwards I became acquainted with Mr. Moore, of Cremorgen, near Timahoe, 

 and I requested him to inquire into the facts. Shortly after I received from that gentleman a letter, 

 of which the following is a copy, fully bearing out Mr. Middleton's statement : 



" ' My dear Sir, When I was last in town, you expressed a wish that I should make some in- 

 quiries respecting the Round Tower of Timahoe, in the Queen's County ; I have accordingly done so, 

 and find that about fifty years ago, some persons were tempted to dig within the Tower in search of 

 money, when, having gone as deep as three feet, they found a flag, and over it a very large rib, 

 which they supposed to be that of a horse, on finding which, the search was discontinued till many 

 years after, when some persons again commenced digging in the Tower, when having gone down 

 about three or four feet farther than the former persons they found a flag (stone), and under it an 

 earthen vessel filled with bones, having the appearance of being burned. This circumstance caused 

 no surprise in the persons searching, as in almost every sand-hill in the neighbourhood (of which 

 there are a great number), similar earthen vessels, filled with bones, have been found, at from four 

 to eight feet down. I received this account from eye-witnesses, on whom I could depend. 



" ' Believe me to be, your's very truly, 



" ' PIERCE MOORE.' 



" This letter, in my mind, demolishes the notion of these buildings being belfries, or even Chris- 

 tian buildings. Cremation, so far as history informs us, never obtained as a mode of sepulture 

 among Christians, therefore, iirns and burned bones being found buried within the Tower of 

 Timahoe, demonstrates an earlier period for the erection of the Round Towers." Etruria-Celtica, 

 vol. ii. pp.200, 201. 



On this statement, then, I have in the first place to remark, that I acknow- 

 ledge that it is quite true, that when Sir William Betham first acquainted me 

 with this alleged fact, I did "repudiate the idea, as utterly unworthy of belief;" 

 and now that it is, as Sir William Betham supposes, proved by Mr. Moore's 

 letter, I must say, without imputing anything like intentional misrepresentation 

 to that gentleman, that I totally reject the tale of his informants. If a Pagan urn 

 were found in this Tower, how comes it that, after all the recent explorations of 

 so many other Towers, no second urn has been found? And, if the discovery of 

 cremated bones be necessary to prove the pagan origin of the Towers, how comes 

 it that none of the bones found in the other Towers were burned? for, as to the 



