Bernard. — Exploration of Ruins of Grianan of Aileach. 421 



Subjoined are the measurements : — 



Average height, 17 feet 3 inches, Breadth, from 15 feet at base to 

 11 feet 6 inches, averaging 13 feet. Average batter, 2 feet 9 inches. 

 77 feet 6 inches from east to west in the area, and the same from north 

 to south. Entire circumference at base of the exterior 353 feet. 

 Gateway averages 3 feet 10 inches at bottom; 3 feet 1 inch at top. 

 Average height, 6 feet 7 inches. In gateway on each side of the 

 entrance two niches 9 feet 6 inches from outside of wall, and each 

 2 feet wide, being the full height of the door entrance. Very little 

 remains of these niches were left, especially the southern one. Here, 

 as elsewhere, the original is shown by tar marks, the last stone of the 

 old work being paintGd. 



On each side of the entrance there are two galleries, not extending 

 in length, as I quote from the Ordnance Survey, "one-half of its 

 entire circuit," for the northern gallery is only 29 feet eastward and 

 10 feet northward from its own entrance, the height of which at 

 orifice is 3 feet 1 inch by 1 foot 10 inches wide. The southern gal- 

 lery is 68 feet 6 inches long, with a seat 55 feet from its entrance, 

 being 13 feet 6 inches from its eastward end. The height of its 

 entrance is 2 feet 9 inches; width 1 foot 6 inches. These galleries are 

 about 5 feet high, 2 feet 2 inches wide at bottom, and 1 foot 1 1 inches 

 at top. We found the northern in a much more perfect state than the 

 southern, and when we cleared it all out, some flags of its original 

 roofing were still to be seen in situ, and at its termination northward, 

 nearly up to its roof, is a very good specimen of the ancient masonry. 

 This gallery differs from the one opposite by being 29 feet shorter, in the 

 dimensions of its doorway, in having no seat, and in running right and 

 left, the southern running only in the one direction, i. e., towards the 

 doorway. "When exposed to view, the side walls of the southern gal- 

 lery were seen to be deplorably dilapidated, in many parts broken 

 down, and the flagging entirely removed from the roof, with the ex- 

 ception of two or three. The lintels of both northern and southern 

 entrances were in their original positions. Fortunately the seat and 

 recess in the southern were not much injured. It will be found on 

 examination that the side walls of the northern are in much better pre- 

 servation than those in the southern ; but the latter are well pinned 

 up, and though unsightly, nothing need be apprehended as regards 

 stability. You will ask why it is that the southern side suffered so 

 much more than the other. This being the side of the prevalent storms, 

 and of the inclination of the hill, in my opinion, accounts for the 

 mischief not only to the gallery itself, but also to that side of the en- 

 tire structure in the south-west. 



The inner rampart is 97 feet from the doorway. Opposite to it we 

 found the ancient roadway, curving a little to the right. Between 

 this and the doorway we removed a thick covering of turf from its sur- 

 face. Few were the indications to show where it lay, for the wall 

 mentioned in the Ordnance Memoir, as marking its course, is only 

 now a record in history. Two mounds, about 2-i- feet high and 4 feet 



