Antiquities. 249 



Stone circles are to be found at Ticloy, Parkgate, and 

 Kilmakee, both the latter near Templepatrick ; and also at 

 Lubitavish, near Cushendall, where there is a group of thirty- 

 four stones, known as Ossian's Grave. At Ballyalton, near 

 Downpatrick, there is a circle, with an approaching avenue 

 of stones ; whilst at Ballynoe, in the same district, the best 

 of the local stone circles is to be found. It consists of two 

 circles, the inner about 20 yards in diameter, having twenty- 

 two stones, and the outer about 25 yards in diameter, with 

 about fifty stones, some of them standing 7 or 8 feet high. 

 There are also other stones around in different positions. 



F. J. B. 



Artificial Caves, or Souterrains. 



These structures may be regarded as the residences and 

 retreats of one of the primitive races who inhabited this 

 country. No two of them are alike in plan, but all have 

 a general resemblance to one another in their mode of 

 construction. The plan generally consists of chambers 

 approached by long irregular passages, sometimes straight, 

 sometimes zigzag, and often containing minor passages 

 branching from the main one; these passages vary from 

 2 feet wide to 3 feet, seldom more ; and the heights range 

 from 2 feet 6 inches to 6 feet ; while the chambers, shaped 

 like beehives, swell out to greater areas and more lofty 

 domes. The entrances to these chambers are protected by 

 barriers, sometimes single, and often double, and even triple, 

 rendering invasion an impossibility when a determined foe 

 with a weapon was there to resist. The chambers vary in 

 length up to 20 feet, but the passages often extend to 

 over 100 feet. In every case these dwellings are built of 

 rough unhewn stones, frequently of boulders, with an incline 

 inwards towards the top, where they are covered with 

 large flat stones, and in most cases they appear to have 

 been built first and then covered over with earth. Often 

 there are sewer-like passages leading to the surface which 

 may have served for the circulation of air, and their outlets 

 were carefully concealed or rendered unattractive from their 

 positions. These dwellings arc profusely scattered over both 

 counties, and are found in most unexpected places — often in 



