196 



Proceeding* of the Royal Irish Academy. 



XXXI. — On ax Ogham-inscribed Pillar-Stone, at Ballycrovane, 

 Co. Cork. By Bichard Bolt Brash, M. B. I. A. 



[Read April 27, 1874.] 



This remarkable monument is 

 situated on the shore of Ballycro- 

 yane Bay, an inlet at the entrance 

 of the great estuary of the Ken- 

 mare river, in the townland of 

 Faunkil-and-the- Woods, barony 

 of Bere, Co. Cork. (Ordnance 

 Map, Sheet 101.) 



I visited this locality under 

 the guidance of the Bev. John 

 Halahan, rector of Castletown. 

 Starting from the latter place, our 

 road lay through the mountains 

 for a distance of six miles, which 

 brought us to a high elevation 

 overlooking the bay of Kenmare. 

 Here the scenery was exceedingly 

 grand and impressive. To the 

 left towered the lofty range of 

 Slieve-Miskish, stretching along 

 the bay and appearing to rise 

 almost from the water's edge; to 

 the right, the Caha Mountains, 

 tending away towards Ardgroom ; 

 beneath us, the sheltered and 

 almost land-locked bay of Bally- 

 crovane, its wavelets sparkling in 

 the sunbeams, and its encircling 

 shores looking grim and rocky 

 with patches of bright green be- 

 tween its stony ridges. Xot a 

 tree, and scarce a shrub, was to 

 be seen in the entire of the exten- 

 sive landscape spread out before 

 us, which gave the whole an ap- 

 pearance of loneliness and seclusion 

 peculiarly oppressive. 



Descending the mountain road 

 we came to a stone-built fort, or 

 cashel, on the left hand, situated 

 in the townland of Bofickill. It 

 is about 50 feet in diameter, and 

 was enclosed by a rampart of dry- 

 stone-masonry, now much dilapi- 



