216 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



We then pass Tramore Bay and Brownestown Head, 1 and find, near 

 Ballyinacaw, a strong and fairly perfect fort at Coolum, in G-aultiere Barony. 



Cooloi, Illatjn'liamgowx (0. S. 27). — The fort name, as usual, is 

 forgotten, but the cove below it to the west is called Cloon-, Coon-, or 

 Coos-lianigowl, and the headland Illaun'lianigowl, Oilean'liamgallda. Who 

 "William the foreigner" may have been we have no means of knowing. 

 Legend steps in with the absurd explanation that here King William of 

 Orange and his army landed for the conquest of Ireland. The name Coolum 

 has been alleged to be later than the seventeenth century, but it is found in 

 the Down Survey map of about 1656, and was confirmed as Coolham, alias 

 Coolum, along with Brownstown, Portallug, Baghmelan or Piathmelan, 

 Credane, and Ballymacka, Ballym c David or Ballym c quaile, in Gaultiere, in 

 June, 1667, under the Act of Settlement, to Col. Charles Wheeler and 

 Sir Charles Wheeler, Baronet. 2 



Father Power says 3 that a farmer took away large quantities of stone from 

 the rampart of Coolum, which thus evidently had a dry-stone wall on its 

 inner mound, which, indeed, seems to have been usual all along the coast in 

 Cos. Mayo, Clare, Kerry, and Cork.* It consists of a fosse of unusual depth 

 and s ize, though I think mainly natural, for a continuation on a fault runs 

 down the grassy slope of the west cliff to the bay. There is an outer fosse 

 3 to 4 feet deep and 9 feet wide, with a rampart 9 feet high (4 feet inside), 

 and 15 feet thick: behind is a banquette, 30 feet wide at the main fosse. 

 The inner ditch is 9 feet to 10 feet deep, 12 feet wide below, and 30 feet 

 at the field level, deepening westward till over 16 feet deep at the edge. It 

 is 66 feet long. The gangway is 9 feet wide, and about the same distance 

 from the cliff. This lopsided arrangement occurs, not only in Ireland, but 

 in Scotland 5 and in Prance. The main mound is again very steep, in parts 

 1 in 1, usually 16 feet to 23 feet above the fosse, 25 feet thick at the base, 

 and 12 feet on top. Both flanks are grassy, though the maps give it the 

 appearance of being deeply cut by the sea ; in fact, there is no recent trace of 

 such injury. 6 There are no visible hut-sites inside, nor much outlook, the 

 fort being set back in the bay, the ground rising abruptly inland, while a 



1 Brownestown in 1566 (Inq. Exchequer No. 2) was held with Rathmollan by 

 David Browne ; in 1020 it belonged to Sir John Fitz Gerald, Inq. Chancery, Jas. I, No. 43. 

 The headland was called Horselep in the eighteenth century. 



- Act Sett., confirmation anno xis Car. II, pars 1 dorso, No. 14. 



3 "Place Names," p. 193. 



4 Such as Port-conaghra, Bunafahy (Achill), Co. Mayo, Doonaunroe, George's Head, 

 and Cloghansavaun, Co. Clare ; Doonroe (Valencia) and Minard in Kerry ; Doonah 

 (Dunbeacon), Carrigillihy (Glandore), Port (Cape Clear), and Dunsorske, in Co. Cork. 



: At Lud Castle. For plan see Plate XXI. fig. 4. 



