162 



of turning water into it. The fort of Dundermot, county of An- 

 trim, is an oval of sixty feet by thirty, and perfectly level on the 

 top ; this is enclosed by a very deep fosse, and below this fosse is 

 another, into which the river Maine runs in flood time. This Dun 

 is ascended by a steep winding path.* 



In the same neighbourliood stands Dun-Baught, on a high rocky 

 hill, nearly inaccessible; this was approached by two hollow ways 

 in opposite directions, and was surrounded by a deep ditch ; upon 

 the summit was a space ninety by eighty feet in area, and enclosed 

 by a lofty entrenchment fifty-feet high, forming it into an inner fort ; 

 between this entrenchment and the fosse it had a platform all 

 around, sixty-five feet broad, furnished on opposite sides with two 

 entrances from the fosse ; the two hollow ways meet together in the 

 fosse, and at their junction is the mouth of a cave, which has a 

 communication with the inner fort at top ; on the central level ves- 

 tiges of some small enclosures are still visible.f- 



That much cure was taken to render these fortresses secure by 

 various means, is evinced in the construction of Dun-Gorkin, in the 

 county of Londonderry, the fort of famine ; which name it may 

 have received from having held out till reduced by starvation. The 

 tumulus is at the base an hundred and eighty-six feet by an hun- 

 dred and twenty-nine ; the top is a circle of forty-five feet diameter, 

 surrounded by a bank and fosse ; the whole is encircled by a very 

 deep ditch, eighty-four feet wide, which is crossed by a causeway 

 constructed of piles, surmounted by cross beams, and these again 

 are covered by transverse timbers. A very large and strong gate, 

 framed of oak, has been buried opposite to this causeway ; and 



• Parocliial Surveys, I. 251. 



t Ibi^. These Duns cannot but call to mind the hill fortresses of India. 



