62 Proceedings oj the Royal Irish Academy. 



hill, a " hollow way," probably of remote antiquity) we reach a group of forts, 

 about 430 feet above the sea in Earlhill townland. (1) The first is on a knoll ; 

 the fosse is 8 feet wide and 4 feet to 5 feet deep ; the circular inner ring, 

 enclosing a space 41 feet across, was faced with small sandstone slabs, and is 

 6 feet to 8 feet high and 9 feet thick. There is a deep hollow of uncertain 

 age and use in the garth. The gateway faced the east ; a large block, perhaps 

 its lintel, lies beside it. (2) A natural mound, artificially shaped, lies to the 

 north of the lane. Eastward, but to the south, are the earth-forts. (3) The 

 western is 93 feet across, with small stone-facing, the ring being 9 feet thick 

 and rarely even 4 feet 6 inches high. The fosse is 6 feet wide and much 

 filled, rarely 2 feet deep. The outer ring had large blocks set in it and is 

 6 feet thick and 2 feet or 3 feet high. (4) A house-ring lies to the east of 

 the last. It has a steep bank, evidently stone-faced till very recent years, 

 with no fosse. The ring is 10 feet thick and over 6 feet high, the garth, 

 S4 feet across. It has a view of Knockfierna peak in Co. Limerick through 

 a gap in the near bill, and a fine new through the valleys to the great 

 northern range behind Killokennedy. It is 416 feet above the sea. (5) A 

 eattle-bawn, low and irregular, with an unusually broken garth, crossing 

 a low hummock, though the field was level not far away. The ring is 

 6 feet to 9 feet thick, rarely 5 feet high, and the enclosure 100 feet across. 

 (6 and 7) There are two more featureless ring-forts farther eastward in 

 Cappakea, near the long dolmen of Ardnataggle. 



The old laneway was called " Crummil's Eoad" in 1S89. The maps 

 in 1839 call the modem road, low down the ridge, " Cromwell's Eoad." 

 Tradition says that Oliver Cromwell brought his guns along the old way to 

 take Limerick. Unfortunately for the historic interest, he did not besiege 

 Limerick or come nearer than thirty miles from it at Kilbeheney, on the 

 opposite edge of the county. There is no record to connect either road with 

 the march of any of his forces. 



LlSNAGRKK (44). — In a high lateral valley, under the dolmen-crowned 

 ridge of Formoyle, near the head of the pass from Broadford to Limerick, 

 stands one of the few forts of the " low-mote " ' type in Co. Clare (like 



1 I have often found the peasantry in counties Limerick, Clare, and Kerry using the 

 term ' mote ' for any low forts, and those sometimes of stone. This is the case in Clare 

 at Ballynahown, and in Limerick at the so-called Carrigalla fort near Loughgur. The 

 latter is a remarkable hill-fortress, with strongly built ring-walls at either end. The 

 northern is oval, 75 feet across north and south, 108 feet east and west, with a wall 

 12 feet thick, faced with large blocks, 3 feet and 4 feet long, with a batter of 1 foot in five. 

 The southern, 116 feet from the last, is nearly levelled, 84 feet north and south, 112 feet 

 east and west, with similar large facing ; several enclosures (probably cattle-pens) and a 

 hut-site lie between. It has hitherto remained undescribed. 



