146 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



about two months ago, tufts of beautiful primroses and violets grew 

 under the sheltering branches. So thickly matted together were 

 these, that it was difficult to track any passage through them, except 

 by following the rather devious sheep-walks, which are interlaced, in 

 every conceivable form up to the top, when you stand on a depressed 

 cone, from which the eye ranges, with pleasure, over a most enchant- 

 ing prospect.* Some small, undefined, and unnamed object on this 

 hill is noted on the Ordnance Map. This is probably intended to 

 show the site of some remarkable remains, which consist of building 

 and lime stones, scattered in great profusion, over a circular area of 

 about fifty feet in diameter. These stones are intermixed with a 

 great proportion of what appeared to the writer to have been mortar 

 or cement. But a specimen procured establishes the fact, that it is 

 only broken surface rock, worn away by long exposure to the ele- 

 ments, f It is quite evident, those stones are the disjointed remains of 

 some very ancient building — possibly one of those rude Caishols, so 

 frequently met with in the south-western parts of Ireland. The 

 neighbouring people say it was formerly a castle of the O'Moores. 



Within the parish of Killenny, likewise, the old mansion of Kil- 

 lone, built in the Elizabethan style, and having very massive walls, 

 is yet tenanted by representatives of an old and respectable native 

 family. According to opinion long entertained by many of the 

 people in this locality, the present very intelligent lady! who occu- 

 pies this house, and who holds a large farm attached to it, has assured 

 the writer, that a church or monastery once occupied the site of this old 

 mansion. Thick masses of ivy, that completely cover a portion of 

 the garden walls, are said to screen some ornamental mullions or 

 dressings of doors or windows, subsequently walled up ; but it does 

 not seem well established, that any other traces of an ecclesiastical 

 structure there can now be discovered. 



Immediately over this mansion, and on the northern side of Kil- 

 lone Hill, near the summit, which rises to a height of 718 feet,§ there 



* The late learned and lamented Dr. O'Donovan, whose earlier years were 

 passed in the Heath Lodge, the residence of Myles O'Beilly, Esq., and adjacent to 

 this hill, must have often ascended its summit, if only to enjoy the view presented. 

 Yet, he seems either to have passed unnoticed, or forgotten, the antiquarian object 

 here described ; for, often as the writer of this paper conversed with him regarding 

 the localities and people near the Great Heath of Maryborough, he nev.er once 

 alluded to this vestige of a period long passed. 



t Such is the pronounced opinion of Dr. William K. Sullivan, M.R.I.A. 



J Daughter to the late Mr. Joseph Dunne, formerly an officer in the French 

 service, and known to Dr O'Donovan, as may be seen in his edition of the Annals 

 of the Four Masters, Vol. IV., n. (g) p. 960. In the year 1833 he was about 89 

 years old . He was regarded as one of the largest men in Europe, The writer can 

 well corroborate Dr 0' Donovan's statement, having -known Mr. Dunne, when he 

 was over 90 years old, and even then not very decrepit. His grave is yet pointed 

 out, within the ruinous nave of Kilkenny church, the family place for interment. 



§ See Ordnance Survey Townland Maps of the Queen's County, Sheet 14. 



