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L 



XI. 



A STUDY OF THE EA\l\.\' FORTS AND STONE HUTS 

 IN IXISHMOKE, ARAN ISLES, GALWAY BAY. 



15y THOMAS JOHNSON WESTROPr, M.A. 



I'LATE-S V.-VIl. 



UeailJtNE 27. Ordered for I'liblicjilion Junk 29. Published Auougt 31, I'JIU. 



" The Axiis of tlie Sea," as the " Book of Riglits " records, were in early Limes 

 i-eganled as a part of Miinsler, an aiipaiiagc of the kiiif^ of Casliol. Tliey lie 

 80 far cut oil' from that jiroviiico (ami even fartlier from the province of 

 Connauglit, to wliich they liave hecn reassigned since the later sixteenth 

 century) that they rather form a little world of their own. This isolation, 

 though moilifietl in later days hy a steamhoat service, lias maintained so many 

 touches of j)rimilivo limes and remains of early buildings tiial tliey are a 

 veritable ti-easure-house to students of tlie language, beliefs, and buildings of 

 early Ireland and its primitive condition. At one time its stone huts were 

 second in inlerost only to tiiosc of Corcaguiny and Iveragh in County Kerry ; 

 it« forts hold the firet mnk, and, indeed, have usurped more than tiieir just 

 share of attention as representative structures of their class to the outer 

 world. 



Having laid before the Academy a study of the cliief fortress. Dun Aengusa^ 

 we may be allowed to follow up the subject as exemplified in the otlier forts of 

 the same island and some typical huts. Here, as before, we will study criti- 

 cally the existing remains, and bring to l>ear on them all available records in 

 endeavouring to disc/jver what features are early, wliat justifiably restored, 

 and to eliminate as far as passible the distrust naturally engemlered by the 

 wholesale restorations of ihe year 1884. Unfortmiatcly the many sources 

 which yield so full an account of the unrestorcd Dun Aengusa fail us for the 

 most part. It is as if writera exhaustc<l Ity the comjdexity of that fort passed 

 by the rest with a feeling akin to contempt. By ill chance my own notes 

 of 1878 ou these other forts were hurried and mere general statements, with- 

 out even sketcli-plans or detailed camera-sketches, so are almost valueless 

 compared with those on Dun Aengasa and the churches. Even of these, my 

 view.s of Dubh Cathair and Dun Onaght arc lost, and that of Dun Oghil too 



