140 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



III-YIII. Knockshakawee, Co. Coke. 



On the townland of Cnoe Sean-Mhaighe, called " Knockshanawee " on the 

 Ordnance Map, near Crookstown, is a small rath-cave, in which Mr. Crerniu, 

 of Cork, discovered some Ogham inscriptions. 



An account of the rath appears in the Journal of the Cork Historical and 

 Archaeological Society, 1911, p. 59, hut without any attempt at deciphering 

 the inscriptions, which, indeed, would have been impossible in their 

 situation in the cave. Sir Bertram Windle wrote, asking me to join him in an 

 examination of the souterrain ; and I accordingly visited it with him and 

 Mr. Michael Murphy, of Cork, on the 4th April, 1913. The cave was com- 

 pletely closed up, and the son of Mr. O'Connor, on whose farm the fort is 

 situated, kindly opened it for us. I found Ogham-writing on two lintels and 



on one supporting stone : my decipherments were, Branit s, Qikabi 



magiZugtmi, and Icanawi respectively ; but I recognized that in the position 

 of the stones it was impossible to be certain of either the accuracy or complete- 

 ness of these transcripts. We agreed that it would be necessary to open the 

 cave and to expose the whole series of lintels. This was done in October, 

 1913, on two days' visit to the site. We had the advantage of the company 

 of Sir John Rhys, who joined us ; and the following readings were taken by 

 him and me jointly. In our company also was Mr. Cremin, the original 

 discoverer of the stones ; Mr. Murphy, whose local knowledge is well known, 

 and was of the greatest service; Rev. M. J. Murphy; and last but not least, 

 the Rev. C. Coakley, C.C., of Farran, who rendered us invaluable assistance 

 in many ways. Xot only were the three stones which I had seen on the 

 previous visit properly examined, but three additional inscriptions, whose 

 existence could not be so much as suspected, came to light, making six in all. 

 The stones, which had thus been completely lost to sight, were very 

 properly removed to Cork, and are now housed in University College, 

 where their exceptionally interesting inscriptions can be examined by all. 



There is a very bad plan, and some photographs, of the fort itself in 

 the Journal of the Cork Society above referred to. The centre of the fort 

 is, as is frequently the case, raised above the surrounding country. It is 

 surrounded by a vallum with a fairly deep fosse outside, and traces of a 

 second vallum outside. A faint ridge might possibly be a third vallum; but 

 it requires a lively imagination to accept this. A flat boulder, on the face 

 of the inner vallum, turned toward the fosse, is alleged to be the entrance to 

 caves, but we found nothing to confirm this. 



The souterrain, which was not quite in the middle of the enclosure, was a 

 passage running in a line BT.N.W. from the entrance. It was 14 feet 8 inches 



