476 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
LXVII.—On Two Serputcurat Urns Found, In June, 1885, IN THE 
Sourn Istanp or Arran. By the Rev. Denis Munpuy, S.J. 
[Read, January 26, 1886.] 
I see leave to call the attention of the Academy to the two sepul-- 
chral urns which are exhibited here to-day. ‘‘ Finds” such as these 
are not uncommon in different parts of Ireland: indeed, there is in the 
Museum of the Academy a considerable number of such urns. But 
these two have been met with under such circumstances, that I 
thought an account of the ‘‘find’”’ might not be unwelcome to those 
members of the Academy who are interested in the study of archeology.. 
The Islands of Arran, off the coast of Galway and Clare, are well 
known to contain some of the most interesting monuments, both pre-- 
Christian and Christian, inthe kingdom. Dun Enghus, on Arranmore, 
one of the many forts, has been said by competent authority to be the 
oldest non-sepulchral stone monument in Europe. It is only those who 
have seen it and examined it closely that can form any idea of its ex- 
tent and grandeur, as well as of its admirable fitness for the purposes 
of defence for which it was originally intended. Our learned President, 
Sir 8. Ferguson, was, I think, the first who in recent times called public 
attention to the wonderful things to be seen at Arran. Many years ago, 
at a time when the study of Irish archeology was by no means fashion-. 
able, when but a few, a very few, ‘‘ like lamps shining in dark places,” 
took any interest in such pursuits, he, in a series of articles in the 
Dublin University Magazine, which showed not only a great deal of his- 
torical research, but, what was still more important as things then were, 
a heartfelt anxiety for the preservation of these monuments, called at- 
tention to them, and, I may say, originated that public opinion and con- 
cern the outcome of which has been that they have been examined, 
repaired, and placed under such care and control as will hand them 
down as they now are to the remotest times. 
It was my good fortune to be able to spend a considerable time on 
these islands last summer. When I visited the south island, which also 
goes by the name of Ara Cemhin, the island nearest to the coast of 
Clare, in the beginning of July, I found the superintendent sent by the 
Board of Works completing the repairs of the old Castle of the O’Briens 
and of the wall that surrounds it, probably a remnant of Cahir-na- 
mban, a dun which formerly stood on what is now the site of the 
castle. The beautiful little church of St. Cemhin, with the saint’s 
leaba or cell close by, and the church of St. Gobenat in the middle of 
the island, had been already restored, so far as was needed to preserve 
them from further decay. I called the attention of the very intelligent 
clerk of works—a namesake of mine, by the way—to a mound or hillock. 
