442 



a very extensive view of the country all round. It must have 

 been used to great advantage as a signal tower, when Blarney 

 Castle and others in this part of the county were defended, as, 

 from its situation. Blarney commands no view. It was built 

 by the M'Carthys, as well as Blarney, Kilcrea, and Ma- 

 croom. As Kilcrea Castle can be seen from the top of Clogh- 

 phillip, a very ready mode of telegraphing may have been 

 used in those days with Macroom, and thence with all the 

 west of the County Cork. The diflBculty of approaching 

 Macroom in those times (which must have been a journey 

 from Cork of near two days) may be conjectured from the 

 account in the Pac. Hib. vol. ii. p. 602. How it obtained the 

 cognomen ' Phillip,' I am unable to account, nor could I obtain 

 any tradition relative to it from the oldest inhabitants of the lo- 

 cality. There is a stone in the north-east angle of the castle, 

 with this inscription, 'D. C. K. 1590.' I have a rubbing of 

 this stone. The nose of the head was mutilated in the fall ; 

 otherwise it is in fair condition. The forehead is encircled 

 with a band composed of lozenges, a peruke covers the ears, 

 and seems to have been formed by interweaving tresses. The 

 mouth is open. On the whole, the appearance of the face is 

 curious, though rude. There is a shank at the back by which 

 it was inserted in the wall, but, singular enough, its existence 

 was unknown until the wall fell down. If you think it would 

 be worth the acceptance of the Royal Irish Academy, I will 

 feel great pleasure in sending it up to you with the rubbing. 

 A circumstance not unworthy of mention, as it tended to 

 excite the prejudices of the country people, tended also to 

 increase the diflBculty I had in obtaining the head. The day 

 after it was discovered, the person who found it inserted it in 

 the pier of an old gate which separates the castle from a farm- 

 yard. On that evening, as the herdsman was returning home 

 through this gate in charge of a bull, the animal, noticing the 

 head, immediately took fright. His keeper, in endeavouring to 



