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‘‘The name Muntercally, in Irish Muincep Cheallaig, ‘family of 
Kelly,’ is now locally forgotten. The district, however, included that 
portion of the parish of Ahoghill which is situate in Lower Toome, west 
of the Main Water.* 
‘‘Loughtamand, as it is now called by the country people, is a lakelet 
which has been drained, situate in Lisnahunshin, a townland of the pa- 
rish of Craigs, but previously to 1835 in that of Ahoghill. It lies on 
the road from Ahoghill to Rasharkin, being about 44 miles north-west 
of the former village. 
“‘The lough is bordered on the east and south by traces of bog, and 
enclosed on the north and west by hills, three in number, from two of 
which the country slopes down with a regular fall to the Bann. Be- 
tween the hills on the north and north-west there is a considerable de- 
pression, and at this point a small stream flowed, carrying off the sur- 
face water, which, being deepened, served as a drain for the lough. 
Before the withdrawal of its contents, about thirty acres Irish were sub- 
merged, the water varying in depth from seven to ten feet. It was 
drained about forty years ago by Earl O’ Neill’s orders, but, from neglect 
of the drains, the water once more accumulated in the hollow. How- 
ever, it has been again drained, and is now under pasture. The outline 
of the basin is well defined, and, on the east side, the banks of the bog 
which formed the margin are from twenty to thirty feet in perpendicular 
height. It is of an irregular oval shape, about a mile in circumference. 
The island is situated about the middle, but somewhat nearer to the 
north and east sides. It was visible even before the drainage, and had 
a stone house upon it, said to have been a stronghold of the M‘Quil- 
lans. The island was of a circular form about seventy yards in diame- 
ter. In the draining operations the main cut was carried across the 
long diameter of the lough, from south-east to north-west, and ran 
through the middle of the island. In cutting this part ofthe drain, the 
workmen came upon several oak piles, which, on investigation, after the 
water of the lough was drained off, turned out to be the ribs of a cran- 
noge, situate in the centre of the island. These piles were from seven- 
teen to twenty feet long, and from six to eight inches thick, driven into 
the bed of the lough, and projecting above this bed about five or six 
feet. They were bound together at the top by horizontal oak beams, into 
which they were morticed, and secured in the mortice by stout wooden 
pegs. Above the top of these piles there was about three or four feet 
depthof earth; and it was only when this earth had been removed, from 
time to time, that the wooden structure was discovered in its integrity. 
The piles were twenty-six in number, and were arranged in a circle of 
about fifteen yards diameter, in the centre of the island, and just under 
where the stone house stood. From the effect of cattle trampling over 
it, and persons digging down in search of treasure, the island is now re- 
duced to the level of the surrounding ground. The horizontal beams 
* Ordnance Survey, county of Antrim, sheet 31, N. E. corner. 
