Wkstropp — The Fort of Dun Aenpisa in Imshmorc, Aran. 15 



Till Juue, il)01, 1 liiid ou four previous visits regarded Uie aliarp curve of 

 the middle wall as a bastion, and the waving part from it to the north-east 

 bend a mere wanton irregularity. I then compared it with O'Donovan's and 

 Petrie's plans, and foimd these so inaccurate as to this and the outer wall 

 that I was led to reconsider the whole question. It is evident that all 

 antiquaries who came to this fort hurried to the " citadel," after noting the 

 chevaux de frise and outer walls to the west and south-east (the two lines of 

 approach), passing by, with at most a casual glance, the defaced and 

 unimposing middle wall. Hence even in plans they did not lay down its 

 remarkably irregular line, but showed it as a curve. Then when I found 

 evidence for the occurrence of the "bastion " in 1878, the need of a solution 

 of the problem became evident. I accordingly re-examined it a few months 

 later, with Signer Boni and others, and realized the meaning of the strip 

 without pillars along its base. After a third complete and leisurely exami- 

 nation, made last August, I offer this solution of the problem of the middle 

 walls.' 



The central fort might seem to have required no modification, but such 

 certainly took place. The ope, leading to nothing, inside its wall, to the 

 north-west, which Mr. Babbington noted- as closed by later work, the joints 

 beside the gate, noted by Mr. P. J. Lynch, and a line of blocks to the south 

 of the gateway, outside the face of the present wall, all imply considerable 

 alterations in early times. 



The selection of the site (apart from the question of where the cliff then 

 existed) shows much forethought and skill in the earliest fort-builders. The 

 inner ring occupies a natural platform, a few feet high, its faces evidently 

 scarped artificially. The outer wards were strengthened against attack by 

 the upper and lower ridges, the middle, on the north-western and north- 

 eastern, and it and the outer wall on the eastern sides, towards the most 

 probable point of attack— Portmurvey. 



Landing in that bay, or coming from the Kilronan harbours, an enemy 

 had to struggle up a long reach of broken crag, and either up the narrow 

 slippery path to the north-east gate, or througli the hedge of jagged stone 

 spikes in face of a lofty wall. All these surmounted, the central citadel, once 

 over 18 feet high on its ridge, manned by desperate men, had still to be 

 captured. We cannot endorse Mr. Burke's suggestion' that the middle court 

 was left clear for "military manoeuvres"; it was possibly filled with huts of 



' I liope the " persoual element " in this pjinigiaph iiuiy he coiuiuiieil, us miikiiii; llie oiigiii of and 

 responsibility for the theories clear to all. 



- '' Archoeologia Caiiilireiisis," vol. iv., ser. iii., p. 96. 

 ' "South Isles of Aran,'' p. 16. 



