Wakeman — Antiquities at Knockninny. 337 



the cromleac afford, there can be no question. In many parts of Ire- 

 land may he seen rude structures of stone, of an oblong form, and just 

 sufficiently large to contain a human body. This early style of grave 

 was usually covered by one or more large flat stones, and would ap- 

 pear to have suggested the true cromleac. Eroni the latter, no doubt, 

 has been derived or developed the dolmen, or as our people usually 

 style such monuments, " giants' graves." From these again there is 

 but a step to what may be considered the highest development of 

 pagan sepulchral architecture, as found in western Europe. I allude, 

 of course, to the tumuli of the Boyne and to those on Sliabh-na- 

 callighe, in the county of Cavan. A question has long been agitated 

 amongst antiquaries, whether the "giants' graves" are not merely 

 the skeletons of chambered tumuli. Mr. Gr. A. Lebour, in " Nature," 

 May 9, 1872, presents some striking remarks illustrative of this sub- 

 ject. In referring to the principal dolmens and tumuli of Einistere, 

 he says: — "In most cases in that department, the dolmens occupy 

 situations in every respect similar to those in which the tumuli are 

 found, so that meteorological, and indeed every other but human 

 agencies, must have affected both in the same degree. Notwithstand- 

 ing this, the dolmens are invariably bare, and the kists are as con- 

 stantly covered ; there are no signs of even incipient degradation and 

 denudation in the latter, and none of former covering in the first. 

 It would be unwarrantable to suppose that, had the dolmens been un- 

 covered by human beings, no vestiges of the mounds would remain, 

 or that this perfect and unaccountable removal of material being- 

 allowed, the skeleton, i.e., the part containing the most useful stones, 

 should be left unscattered. There is, however, a more important point 

 of difference between the dolmens and the barrow kists— namely, 

 that in the chambered tumuli there is almost always present a floor- 

 stone — a part of the structure which I have never seen at the base of 

 any of the dolmens of the region in question. And there can in their 

 case be no chance of removal, as the floor-stone would necessarily be 

 the last to remain in its place. The dolmens again, as a rule, were 

 evidently erected with no attempt at nice adjustment of the sides or 

 top, whereas tokens of some care and trouble are to be found in the 

 way in which most of the entombed kists are built." 



All that Air. Lebour has said of the dolmens, &c, of Einistere ap- 

 plies to similar megalithic groups found in Ireland ; yet, some of our 

 most accomplished antiquaries hold the opinion that all our cromleacs 

 and dolmens, great and small, were anciently thus covered. That such 

 was not the case with very many examples is abundantly proved. 

 We have, for instance, in the county of Cavan, not far from the village 

 of Blacklion, three truly magnificent so-called " giants' graves," the 

 larger of which measures 47 feet in length, by about 10 in breadth. 

 Near it is a cromleac, the covering stone of which measures 1 5 feet 5 

 inches, by 15 feet in breadth. Almost immediately adjoining occur 

 stone-circles, a " rocking- stone," and a large number of " gallaims " or 

 pillar stones. These monuments were certainly never covered. 



