324 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



could be transported hither. This valley appears to have been scooped 

 out of the boulder drift of which the adjoining hills are composed — 

 probably about the close of the lasf glacial epoch — by the agency of 

 water. There is ample evidence showing that the valley is an ancient 

 river-bed, numerous natural mounds or hillocks, consisting of sand, 

 clay, and gravel, occurring here and there along its sides, together 

 with shell-marl, which is found several feet underneath the surface 

 (at lower levels of the valley), bearing testimony in favour of this 

 hypothesis. And as this valley merges into the valley of the Sillies 

 river, which runs at right angles to it about half a mile distant, the 

 probability is that when the waters of the Sillies river flowed at a 

 higher elevation- — of which its banks bear evidence — the waters 

 which filled this valley, in which the monument is built, were con- 

 nected with, and formed an arm of, the above-named river, which, no 

 doubt, covered a much larger area then than it does at present. There 

 is nothing now left to represent this ancient river or arm of the 

 Sillies, except a small stream which meanders through the valley on 

 its way to the above-named river in the distance. 



The builders of this ancient barrow selected one of these natural 

 ridges or hillocks in a recess on the north side of the valley as a site 

 for their monument. The base of this natural mound is about 10 feet 

 above the main level of the adjoining valley, and consists of fine sand 

 and clay. In order to form a horizontal foundation on which to erect 

 the structure, the top of the ridge was removed until it presented a 

 flat surface 105 feet long by 55 broad. The building which is erected 

 on the top of this mound is oblong in shape — higher and broader at 

 one end than the other. I could not give a better idea of this than to 

 say it resembles one half of a pear, cut in two longitudinally, and 

 placed on the flat side. It is built with great symmetry, and is placed 

 east and west, or nearly so, and in external appearance corresponds 

 with some of the British long-barrows, so well described and figured 

 by Sir Richard Hoare, Dr. Thurnam, and other antiquarians, with this 

 important exception — that while the broader and higher end of the 

 English barrows points to the east, the larger and higher end of the 

 " Miracles" barrow points to the west. 



On making careful measurements of the barrow, I found it to be 

 107 feet long by 55 broad, with an elevation of 13 feet from the base ; 

 the top was covered over to a depth of 2 feet with very stiff yellow 

 clay, nearly dry, and thinned out to about a foot deep on the sides. 

 When this superficial clay was removed, and the large flags which 

 formed the top and sides of the barrow were exposed, they presented 

 a very fantastic appearance — no doubt, caused by the erosive action of 

 rain water during a long period of time on the softer parts of the rough 

 thick flags, producing horn-shaped nodules measuring from 4 to 6 inches 

 in length. 



Now as to the excavation. After I had succeeded in procuring 

 every implement necessary for the undertaking, and had my men well 

 equipped with crowbars, picks, sledges, and levers of every description 



