Westropp — Fortified Headlands and Castles in Western Co. Cork. 277 



satire are of curds ; in the reality of Dunlough, there are blocks with white 

 quartz masses, which might well suggest the idea. So curious is the similarity 

 that I put it on record without daring to assert that the author thought of 

 Dunloch, though he certainly pictured a closely similar fortress. 1 



Doonleen-Maolan (0. S. 138). 



The remaining promontory forts lie upon Dunmanus Bay along the 



north shore of Ivagha. The name of this fort seems uncertain, and its 



remains are nearly effaced. It is Doonleen in the map of 1842, but 



Dooneen, and the bay near it is Dooneen-coos, on the new maps. I was 



told by an old man living near it that " Mweelaun " is its Irish, and 



" Dooneen " its English, name. I presume that by " the English " he meant 



the workers on the Ordnance Survey. It is not recognized as a fort, but this 



is true of several other far better preserved promontory forts, 5 owing to 



people thinking only of ring-works as " forts." It is a rocky peninsula with 



low cliffs over which huge waves break in western gales, getting concentrated 



in the narrow bay by their run along the line of cliffs. The surface is usually 



washed away, as the name Maoldn 3 implies. The fort lies in the townland of 



Lackavaun. The old maps show a wall convex to the land between two of 



the creeks and a straight wall between two others ; the latter is alone ancient, 



and, with the name, implies a true fort. The wall was evidently a slight 



mound along the rock-ledge, with a toe of large slabs set deep on the ground. 



On it rested a wall of rather small, flat stones, forming a revetment to the 



ledge in parts, and backed with earth at the breaks. It is 78 feet long ; 



two or three layers of the laid masonry remain in parts, notably to the west, 



where the mound is cut away by a cliff fall. Some of the base slabs 



are 6 feet long, and rise 2 feet 6 inches over the soil. The outer fence, 



though curved and faced by similar slabs, hardly seems very old, and the 



ground rises outside it. At 7a feet from its western end is a horrible 



crumbling edged gap (like one of the Mayo Poulashantonas) into a long 



cave; the roof in parls is hardly a foot thick. A man was driving a beast 



loaded with two panniers, one day into the Maolan, when its foot went 



down into a hole. He got it out safely, and soon afterwards the roof fell 



in, and is still falling away along the line of fence. At the eastern end at 



1 " Vision of Mac Conglinne " (as cited above), pp. 36-38. 



2 Like the great and elaborate Dun of Kilraore, in Achillbeg ; Doonaunroe, in 

 Co. Clare ; the Dunruadhs in Kerry ; and many others. 



3 Maoldn seems to be used for a fort (presumably fiat-topped) in the Tain bo Flidhais, 

 Mayo version ; see Journal R. Soc. Antt. Ir., vol. xliv, p. 151. 



