Whstkopp — Fortified Headlands and Castles in Western Co. Cork. 255 



Poet. On the north shore, near the end of the high cliffs, eastward from 

 the North Harbour, lies the third of the promontory forts ; though defaced, it 

 is well known to the old people living near it as " Port." It is marked, but 

 nameless both on the old and the new Ordnance Survey maps, near 

 Stuckaunminaun, a rugged, knife-edged "stook " of uptilted slate. Minaun, 

 apparently " kid," probably (as in Co. Mayo, in Achill and on Croaghpatrick), 

 is intended for the little ben or head. 1 At some distance to the east the low 

 coast is broken by a strand called Tradooncleara, which perhaps preserves (as 

 creeks near forts often do) the original of the fort name, " the dun of 

 Clear." 



The " Port " is a level grassy platform, nearly cut off by a narrow creek 

 from the main cliff, being joined to the field by a narrow neck. It commands 

 a beautiful view of the stacks and cliffs westward past the north harbour to 

 the dark tower of Dunanore. The neck is 30 feet across ; a straight fosse, 

 6 feet wide below and only a few feet deep, runs along it, being much filled 

 by the defacement of the inner mound. The latter is still 4 feet high and 

 15 feet thick; long trenches have been dug along it, probably by treasure- 

 seekers. It was stone-faced and capped by a dry-stone wall ; many set-blocks 

 remain in the foundation. The garth is fenced all round by a late stone- 

 capped mound, and in its enclosure, 15 feet behind the rampart, is a rect- 

 angular hollow, 3 feet to 4 feet deep, 15 feet north and south by 12 feet east 

 and west. It seems of considerable age ; the bottom is level ; it was probably 

 a house site. A large block of stone, 6 feet x 3 feet x 2 feet thick, lies close 

 beside it to the east. An old road runs along the face of the hill, not far from 

 the " Port," leading out on that amazing road that drops down the steep 

 flanks of Knockauncoohig Hill to the North Harbour. The hill bears the 

 name of the Cohig family, 2 the ancient owners (as we saw in the first part 

 of this survey), 3 from near Eosscarbery on to Timoleague. 



The other antiquities of Clear Island may be brought together, though 

 outside the general scope of this paper. There are several galldns, or rough 

 pillar- stones, none of exceptional height or character; one, named " Gallaun- 



1 So Temple Benen is changed to Temple Minnaun in Aran. Minnaunmore, between 

 Smerwick and Dunmore, in Kerry, and the Minaun Cliffs, in Achill, may be also 

 corruptions of this word. 



2 The O'Cowhig family was traditionally Brigantian (see Corca Laidhe, p. 58). 

 " O'Cowhig of the festive golden horn, O'Flyun-Arda, O'Driscoll . . . were clans not 

 of the blood of Milesius." Ptolemy places the Brigantes further to the East, but the 

 frequent appearance of the mythic Breogan in the tribal pedigrees of Southern Ireland 

 tallies fairly well with his statement. 



3 Proc. R.I. Acad., vol. xxxii, p. 92, p. 108 ; correct on p. 92, line 12, the date 250 ; it 

 is " circa b.c. 150," 



