Wkstkopp — Illarli] Forts and Sbae lIiUs in [ni-'^hniorr, Aran. IS^i 



whiik' ol' Lliis latter reach is 214 feet long, part near tlie west cliff having hcen 

 (IcsLroyuil and more fallen with the rock. At 31 feet tlic low terrace begins 

 near the liend. A ladder llight of 8 steps is formed, from 12 to 15 feet 

 from the bend (from which we shall now measure) : the lowest terrace ends in 

 steps at 30 feet ; the highest rampart disappears at 39 feet ; the sidelong steps 

 from tlie lowest to the middle terrace, and from the latter to the up[icr, are at 

 1)2 feet and 95 feet on the middle terrace ; the ladder steps on the upper with 

 7 steps, from 143 to 146 feet; the sidelong flight below, from 154 feet; 

 the rampart remaining here. Near the foot of the middle lower steps is tlie 

 chamber in the wall. The thickness at various points is : — Middle terrace, 

 4 feet to west, 5 feet 6 inches at middle, 3 feet to east ; upper terrace, 3 to 

 4 feet, generally 4 feet 8 inches in middle ; rampart, 7 to 8 feet in midcUe ; 

 general thickness, exclusive of lower terrace, 14 feet 6 inches to east ; 18 feet 

 2 inches in middle ; height, 15 to 18 feet 6 inches, where measiu'ed. 



The hut sites along the headland have completely disappeared ; uf those 

 near the wall there was a dolmen-like house of slabs, 5 feet and 6 feet long 

 and 5 feet high, 15 feet from the wall, near the modern fence. At about 

 154 feet from the bend and 12 feet from the wall, in the hollow, is a circular 

 hut 18 feet across, then an irregular one 30 feet by 14 feet, with a side cell 

 to the north-east 6 feet by 8 feet 8 inches, and D-shaped in plan. Close to 

 this is the long shapeless hut, a sort of passage, 9 feet wide, ending in a 

 rounded cell. In this are two small low opes, the northern so nearly filled 

 that we could only look into the cell. The lintel is only 7 feet long, the 

 ope 20 inches high and 28 inches wide, at 15 feet from the steps of tiie lowest 

 terrace. The southern door leads into another rounded hut, 12 feet by 15 feet, 

 with an irregular passage 23 feet long. South of this again is a somewhat 

 circular hut, with (as usual) walls 3 to 4 feet thick and 18 feet by 21 feet 

 outside. I saw no traces of middens in the fort, but the whole interior is 

 strewn with shells, usually (as I have often seen happen) dropped by sea birds. 

 So far as I can judge, most of the ladder steps are old ; the sidelong flights 

 are mostly, if not entirely, rebuilt, Ijut probably on the site of similar fliglits. 

 Much of the small inner facing, especially to the curved eastern end, is new. 

 The lower parts of the liuts are ancient, witli the two small " creep " doors 

 already named. In the more eastern part of the main wall 1 think tiiere is a 

 sloping mark, as if a sidelong flight had once run up to the terrace and been 

 closed up and its steps removed, either by early restorers or in the extensive 

 works of 1884. I was sorry to see liere, and in other forts on Aranmore, that 

 the curses of Irish archeology, the idler and rabliit-hunter, have again l)ogun 

 to tear into the terraces and to lever stones out of the wall faces. 



Fortified Headland.— O'Donovan (followed by later writers) records 



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