422 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



wide, run from the cairn to the inner rampart in a northerly and 

 westerly direction. The northerly one is 107 feet from the entrance y 

 the westerly heing 101 feet 6 inches further round. 



There is but a mere trace of the circular mound marked on the 

 Ordnance drawing between the second and third walls. This we 

 attempted to preserve. The ten stones surrounding it are somewhat 

 out of place, but being well imbedded, we did not disturb them. 

 Between the third and fourth is the spring well, with its ancient 

 stones yet unremovecl, flanking its sides and lining the bottom, but 

 the large flag which covered it sixty or seventy years ago has dis- 

 appeared. 



We did not find "the crowning stone." Possibly that named St. 

 Columb's, in Mr. Macky's garden in Belmont, is the inaugural stone 

 belonging to the Grianan of Aileach. The Ordnance gives a very ex- 

 cellent account of this stone, and the reasons why it is probable that 

 Grianan is the rightful owner. 



The similarities between this cairn and Staigue are significant. 

 Both situated in localities where stones are abundant, to which pro- 

 bably they owe their preservation, both nearly the same height, and 

 battered on the exterior; Staigue averaging 18 feet, and is battered 

 2 feet 7 inches ; in both little attention being paid to the laying of 

 • the stones in the interior of the wall. There are caves in the 

 neighbourhood of the one and the other. However, Grianan is a 

 more complete circle, and is not, as Staigue, battered in the interior. 

 The measurements differ also (Staigue is shown on the plan by the 

 red lines). The diameter of Staigue is somewhat greater, the walls 

 not so thick, and the galleries and doorway not so high, the former 

 being much shorter. In passing, it is well to mention that I had 

 nothing to guide me as to the height of the door, except that the 

 galleries being higher than those of Staigue, I made the doorway 

 somewhat to correspond. A moat or fosse encircles Staigue, but there 

 are no signs of such at Grianan. The rock runs evenly through and 

 appears at the opposite sides. In the one the open door looks at the 

 rising sun, in the other at the sun at mid-day. Perhaps another, 

 akin to those, may yet be shown looking at its setting. 



Between four and five years, with occasional interruptions, we con- 

 tinued dining the spring, autumn, and summer months, to prosecute 

 the work, and the workers allowed me to command them, although I 

 had not in the slightest degree any title to do so, beyond the confi- 

 dence with which my own devotion to the work had inspired them. 

 If a portion were badly built, it had of course to be taken down and 

 put up properly. Over and over again I tried their patience and for- 

 bearance in this way, and, for all this, a surly word or look I never 

 received. The respect, civility, kindness, and consideration with 

 which I was treated reached far beyond anything I could have 

 imagined. No accidents occurred ; the worst was the loss of the nail 

 of the little finger of my left hand in May, 1874. 



During the building, some of the chief difficulties we had to meet 



