122 Proceedings of the Royal Irisli Academy. 



Power Head. The castle has outside it a large fosse, straight, east and west 

 from cliff to cliff, partly cut in the rock. Being so closely similar to other 

 forts (such as Port Conaghra in Mayo, Doonegall in Clare, Brumore, Doon 

 Castle, and Dunsheane in Kerry, Dunahrattin in Waterford, Baginhun in 

 Wexford, and Dromanagh, in Co. Dublin), it may very probably be a remnant 

 of the earlier promontory-fort, 1 but there is nothing to decide the question. 

 It has no outer mound, and is of variant depth and width from 5 to 8 feet 

 deep, 21 to 25 feet wide above, and usually 12 feet below. From 7 to 10 

 feet behind it, runs a mortar-built wall on a mound. This rampart is over 

 390 feet long, about 194 feet eastward, and 166 feet westward from the keep ; 

 the broken ends and dangerous edges at the cliffs prevent more accurate 

 measurement. It had a central tower and two turrets ; the eastern had 

 fallen before 1842 ; the western seems on the point of collapse. They lie 

 76 feet to the east, and 105 feet to the west of the keep. The central tower 

 is 27 feet 3 inches long and 21 feet wide, a plain peel-tower projecting 

 12 feet before the line of rampart. The basement floor is down two steps. 

 It is irregular, about 12 feet 6 inches by 19 feet to 21 feet 5 inches. There 

 is a spiral stair in the south-east angle, resting on a corbelling, and beginning 

 at the second floor about 10 feet up, with rude plain steps and small slits. 

 The walls vary in thickness from 5 feet 9 inches to 4 feet 4 inches. Slits in 

 the west wall commanded the gateway, which adjoined the keep on that side; 

 others are to the east and south. The next floor rested on rude corbels ; it 

 was entered by a door at the foot of the stair, and had slits ; over it, and 

 under the pointed vault, was an unlighted attic. The north-east angle of 

 the tower is broken down. The top story over the vault had high battle- 

 ments for shelter to the west, but no window in that direction ; its east 

 wall is destroyed, and the steps broken, though their ends remain in the 

 well. Its slit windows faced the north and the south. 



To the east of the basement is a room 9' feet wide, with a loop in 

 the rampart. Next it is a sunken room, 35 feet 4 inches by 25 feet 

 with a recess in the north-west corner, 4 feet 4 inches deep, and walls 

 6 feet 6 inches thick. The east turret has walls only 3 feet thick ; and it 

 is 12 feet 10 inches long inside, with a north light; nearly all has fallen 

 At 8 feet from it is the end wall of a room. 



On the west the gateway, 11 feet 3 inches wide, and wall are defaced, and 

 a modern ruined house takes the place of the latter, and is 34 feet 6 inches 



1 The Plea Roll, No. 101, an. 8 Edw. II, m. 7 d, gives a suit of Milo f. Jo de Courcy 

 against Gilpatrick Oboghil " for debts in the fee of Dune." If this be Duncearmna, it is 

 the only shadow of the name known to me as existing in Norman times. The Norse 

 name had slain the memory of the prehistoric prince. 



