O'Reilly — On the Wasie of the Coast of Ireland, iifc. 141 



first discovered in the district round Carrickfergus, about five years ago, 

 their mechanical origin was questioned. Indeed I myself thought at 

 first that they were due to the crushing by natural causes (the weight 

 of the basalt) of the flint nodules, forming the original di'ifts over the 

 atmospherically eroded surfaces of the chalk. The chippings around 

 the edges -of the flakes can, however, only be accounted for by 

 artificial means, as they afford clear evidence of design in their forms 

 and mode of occurrence. Subsequent examination clearly showed me 

 that every flake, no matter how rude its form, or how sharp its edge, 

 exhibited at one end a flat surface, transverse to the longest axes of 

 the flake, and from this surface a blow was given at a point on it, 

 which caused a flake to come off from the original nodule, and this 

 flake below the point of concussion, exhibited a conchoidal fracture 

 and a ' bulb of concussion,' features which could only be formed by, 

 and were the result of, ' an intelligent blow.' And further on he 

 says : ' The conclusions which my present information on this subject 

 leads me to arrive at with regard to the origin and explanation of the 

 mode of formation of these flint flakes are these : Dming the period 

 of formation of our present raised sea-beaches, the men of that period 

 resorted to the out-crop of the chalk for flint nodules, fi'om which to 

 manufacture their mallets, hand-axes, knives, rude spear- and arrow- 

 heads, and other implements, and these are the rejecta of that 

 manufacture during an unknown period, the localisation of the raw 

 material conducing to the localisation of the worked implements, lost 

 ■or rejected, and which was then covered by the sea, but which is now 

 the land skirting the the present coast line.' These flakes are 

 generally found close to the upper surface of the drift gravel, but at 

 Ballyholme Bay near Bangor, they occui' at a depth of from 6 to 8 

 feet from the surface, in stratified sand and gravel. On the beach 

 under the cliff there is a submerged bog, with stems and roots of trees 

 visible at low water. 



Worked flint-flakes are also found on Beagh Island, in Strangford 

 Lough, in a raised beach on the north of the island. About 1 mile 

 north of Ballywalter, near Ballyferris Point, is a raised beach 

 consisting of stratified sands and shells. It is about 3 feet above 

 high- water mark." 



Memoir Geological Survey of Ireland (Sheets 49, 50, and part of 

 61), 1871. The district considered is situated wholly in the County 

 Down and along its eastern shore. 



(p. 11.)—" The two islands of the ' North and South Bocks ' lie 



