28 



Proceedings of the Iioi/a! Irish Academy. 



of the fort as at the ends uear the cliff. This enclosure is about 400 feet east 

 and west by 200 feet north and south, but was probably at first very much 

 larger. 



The Inneu Fokt. — Tiiis fine early citadel has, as a rule, nearly monopolized 

 the attention of all antiquaries and visitors; so the descriptions before 1880 

 are fairly satisfactory. We must, however, describe it fully once again. 

 Before doing this let us first examine what O'Donovan' wrote about the 

 ramparts, which has been thoroughly misunderstood. He writes that the 

 internal division is 3 feet 4 inches thick, the central 5 feet, and the external 

 4 feet 5 inches thick ; total, 12 feet 9 inches. " The two external divisions are 



I,, 1909 

 Alteratiun in mi'ldlc wall. 



feet high 



Fio. 6— Dun Acngura. 



here raised to the height of 18 feet; but the internal division is . 

 I find in all the other forts that the internal division is generally 4 feet 

 lower than the other two." This was understood by Lord Dunraven,' W. F. 

 Wakeman,' myself, and others* to imply that the central section of the wall 



' "Ordnance Survey Lettcre," Co. Oidwny, p. 205. 



' Diinraven, " Notes on Irish Architecture," vol. i., p. 4. 



^"Traces of ll.e Elder Fnithi of Irelnnd" (Colonel Wood-Martin, 1902); Wakeman's view, 

 vol. i., p. 316. It hns /\ steps, which do not occur m Dun Conor, some thirty-four huts all over the 

 area, and the sunken way round the wall, all incorrect. 



•As corrigenda to my own errors, see Journal Roy. Sm-. Ant., Jr., vol. xxv.. p. 258, and its 

 Handbooks, ii., p. 66, and vi., p. 73. "Ancient Forts of Ireland," section 81, and tlje same essay in 

 Trans. R.I. Acnd.. vol. xxxi., p. 652. Dr. Chrislison, in " Early Fortifications of Scotland," p. l-il, 

 IS als'i misled by O'Donovan's equivocal language. The non-occurrence of n sunken way in any 

 unlniiched stone-fort, or at Dun Aengusa itself in 1 H78, should have kept me at least from this 

 mistaken interpretation. 



