14 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy ^ 



walls was easily removed. The uoith-westein reach of the old outer wall 

 was now useless, and, owing to the reach of the second wall being retained, 

 it was not required for material, so it was left standing, a problem (like that 

 of the open space to the north inside the abattis) hitherto unexplained. It 

 extends fiom near ihe present cliff to the ridge nearly opposite the seeming 

 bastion. Petrie supposed it to be an annexe, as at Dun Conor ; but the end 

 did not curve inward, nor was there any connecting wall from it to the 

 middle ring. It ended abruptly in O'Donovan's time, as now, near the rock 

 ridge.' So far as can be seen, this is the ti'ue explanation of its existence 

 and of the bare space, so regularly curving to the south-east turn, between 

 the wall and the abattis, now devoid of pillars. The work was probably 



DUK AENGUSA . 



Its proba-ble pla.n when 



, ;^'^a^•XMc^°L ai^',i«v";'l^,>^ wa? built . 



/. 

 I" 



# i 

 I >) 



No data Tf - 



maiivtolixih* - , 



third wall- ^ curved 1 



TKe Central walls were probably entire ovals'- 



Fio. 2. 



IV-J^M^^V^ 



done to open s lai^ger court beside the central fort, while the north-east part 

 of the second wall was retained to keep the middle rampart, at its most 

 exposed side, on the level of the hill-top, within range of missiles from the 

 towering inner fort. Aitows seem to have been little used by the Irish in 

 warfare ; speara were too scarce to throw, but the second wall, barely 30 feet 

 from the citadel, could be swept by stones slung or even thrown from the 

 commanding wall of the latter. The fragment itself could Ije used as an 

 extra line of defence till the enemy had struggled with great loss and 

 difficulty through the jagged and close-set pillars round its base. 



* C. C. Babbingtoii tbonghl " they " were built " where the slope of the ground seeniol to render 

 adilitioniil delrncet requisite." ArchKologia CambrensU, vul. iv,, ser. iii. 



