Westropp — Fortified Headlands and Castles, S. Coast Minister. 209 



line sprang from David, great-grandson of Matthew, brother of Piers (father 

 of John, Baron of Dunhill), 1280 ; David married a daughter of Nicholas le 

 Poer, of Dnnoyll ; their son Eichard was created Lord Coroghmore, and died 

 1483 ; the succession ran through Piers and Eichard (Baron le Poer, 1535 1 ), 

 from the last descended Eichard, the 6th Baron, 2 created Earl of Tyrone. 



A number of documents, few of general interest, relate to Downyll, Downe- 

 hill, and Donill, chiefly pardons dated 1559 and 1567 to Bobert of 

 Downhill and a commission to the same to execute martial law. In 1635, 

 Nicholas Power held the advowsons of Kilmeadon and Downeoyle churches, 

 the manor and millseat of Downeoyle, Ballynegeeragh (notable for its 

 splendid dolmen), Newtowne de Downeoyle, Woodtowne de Downeoyle, 

 Carrig de Downeoyle, Kilfarreise, and other lands. After the Eestoration, 

 Sir John Cole was confirmed in Donhill by the Act of Settlement, in May, 

 1666, a few months before the great fire of London. 



Woodtown, Green Island (0. S. 25). — To the east of the river mouth 

 and shingle beach, just opposite to Annestown, in the townland called 

 Woodtown or Woodstown (the old " Woodtown de Downeoyle), is a pro- 

 montory fort. 3 It once defended a large headland, two portions of which 

 have been successively cut off by the collapse of natural arches and form the 

 Green Island ; no Irish name for the fort was found by me, or, apparently, by 

 Father Power. The sea is now cutting along a line of cleavage under the 

 fosse and a deep drift cap. The mounds and fosse have been destroyed for 

 36 feet from the dangerous western edge, 3 the fosse and inner rampart, for 

 35 feet more. The chasm runs inside the fosse for 33 feet, curiously even 

 dimensions. The rest of the works for 120 feet is fairly intact, but a chasm 

 runs through the fosse for 15 feet at its east end. The outer mound is 18 feet 

 wide and only a couple of feet at its highest. The fosse, though somewhat 

 filled, is 5 feet 6 inches deep and 6 feet wide below. The inner mound 

 rises up to 7 feet 4 inches above it and 3 feet 6 inches over the garth ; it 

 probably had a dry-stone wall, but no stones remain. The west section is of 

 interest, a deep bed of yellow clay, over it a thin grey layer of splintered 



1 I presume he is the " Lord Power " who served King Henry VIII at the siege of 

 Bologne. 



2 Journal R. S. Antt. Ir., vol. xxxvi, p. 253. 



3 The early Irish (who were, as we see, practical geologists, as to stone and clay) 

 avoided such spots as a rule. We find, however, the rath dug in light soil and so unstable 

 (Trip. Life St. Patrick), and Bishop Dalam objecting to a site for burial on Iniscatha, 

 Co. Clare. "The land is clay and brittle ; the sea shall cut it away " (" Lives of the 

 Saints from the Book of Lismore." ed. W. Stokes, p. 212). A similar legend is told of 

 the fine double-crescent earthwork at Knockeen Castle, near Dunmanus, which I hope 

 to give in the closing section of this paper on the forts of West Co. Cork. 



