Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 155 



any but a circular stone fortification, without cement, — are now to be found on 

 the hill : but a negative objection of this kind should have but little weight, in 

 reference to a monument so long subjected to every destructive influence ; and if 

 it were allowed, it would equally apply to all the stone monuments described as 

 existing on the hill in the twelfth century, and of which but a few vestiges can 

 now be found. It is obvious, moreover, that the absence of stones from the 

 hill, if such were the fact, might be suflBciently accounted for by the assump- 

 tion, that they were used in the erection of the old church and the wall of the 

 cemetery, as well as of the houses of the adjacent village. It is not the fact, 

 however, that no stones are found on the hill. They are found in conside- 

 rable quantity in the very situation in which they should be looked for, as re- 

 mains of the ancient Cathair, namely, forming a portion of a wall of the enclosed 

 ring of Rath na Riogh. This wall occupies about the fifth part of the whole 

 circle, and is composed of stones well adapted to the purpose of building ; the 

 remaining part of the enclosure being nearly levelled with the ground. For 

 their preservation in this portion of the circle a sufficient cause is found in the 

 circumstance, that they serve to mark the mearing of two townlands ; and, 

 though it might be conjectured that they were originally brought thither for 

 this purpose, the objection is met by the fact, that as soon as the boundary 

 diverges from the circle of the fort it is wholly formed of earth, and that no 

 other ditch or mound on the hill is formed of stones. The assumption, therefore, 

 that these stones are not of ancient existence on the spot, has no foundation even 

 in probability ; and it is only a rational inference that these are a portion of the 

 material of the ancient Cathair Crqfinn, In ancient Irish poems, this fortifica- 

 tion is sometimes called cup cpen Ueitipac, the strong tower of Temuir, an 

 appellation never applied to a Rath, but constantly to a Cathair, or circular 

 stone fort ; and Mac Firbis has preserved from an ancient authority the name 

 of its artificer, " Troylane, who cut figures, (Upoi jleatran, a olui^ Dealba)." 



In the prose description the monuments next noticed are those situated 

 within the external rings of Rath na Riogh. There are, according to this 

 account, three decras, or, as it is better stated in the copy in the Book of Glen- 

 dalough, three decra inganta, or wonderful monuments, within this Rath : 



1 . The Ruins of the House of Cormac in the south-east of the Rath, facing 

 Rath Laoghaire, which is to the south. 



u 2 



