86 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Sectioijs 1 Ais^D 2 — The BAKOJfiES op Ehveatty. 



The dolmens in the district of Bunratty have heen strangely 

 neglected by previous antiquaries. iSTone have been noted in the 

 Ordnance Survey letters ; in either of Miss M. Stokes' lists of Irish 

 dolmens, or in Canon Dwyer's "Diocese of Killaloe." Mr. James 

 Frost only notes Croaghane and its destroyed neighbour. ^ Mr. Borlase 

 gives my notes and illustrations of the remains at Caheraphuca, Caher- 

 loghan (with the cists wrongly located as in Moymore in the barony 

 of Upper Tulla), Eylane, Knappoge, and BaUinphunta. Plans are 

 given of the thi'ee last. 



The baronies of Bunratty extend from the borders of Galway to 

 the Shannon. The northern extremity is a grassy and hilly district 

 abounding in small lakes, and the frequent occui-rence of the place- 

 names of "Derry" and "Durra" confirm the allusions in early 

 history, showing that it was for the most part wild and wooded. 

 South of this lie large tracts of bog, then a region of crags or grassy 

 districts (in part well cultivated) with many forts of earth and stone. 

 Along the south lie the rich corcasses of the Shannon. 



is conventionally divided from the barony of Tulla, but for 

 archaeological purposes the whole district may be counted as one from 

 the Fergus to the hills of Slieve Bernagh and Slieve Aughty. 



The tribal arrangements even as recorded in the earliest legend 

 and history are probably too late to have any bearing on the dolmens. - 

 We may briefly note that Lower Bunratty nearly corresponds to the 

 ancient Tradree (Tradraighe), and is clearly marked by the two 

 streams — the E-ine or Gissagh^ flowing into Latoon creek to the north, 

 and the Owennagamagh or Eaite to the east. This ract, as noted 



1 " History and Topography of Clare" (ed. 1893), p. 11. 



2 The age of the smaller cists is very doubtful. Some may be post- Christian. 

 The " Tripartite Life of St. Patrick " (ed. W. Stokes, p. 123) mentions a " Giant's 

 Grave" 120 feet long, dating 100 years before the Saint's mission. According to 

 the Leabhar na hUidhre [Mevue Celtique, vol. xiii., 1892, p. 64) Fothaidh Airgtheach, 

 King of Erin, killed by Caeilte in a.d. 285, was buried in a cairn in " a chest of 

 stone." The alleged erection of the Clochogle dolmen, near Ballina, in the sixth 

 century, is not supported by the original narrative, and in any case could only imply 

 a secondary burial. See Mr. H. T. Knox in Journal of Eoyal Society of Antiquaries 

 of Ireland, vol. xxvii. (1893), p. 430, and vol. xxviii., p. 284. 



" Thenaraeis "Misagh " in MSS., E.I.A., 24 D 10,apoem " on the Franciscan 

 Monastery (Quin) on the Misagh." The stream is " the Gissagh atQuin"in 

 Hugh Norton's account of Clare, 1695, MSS. T.C.D., I.;^l, 2, p. 235. He calls 

 the Sixmilebridge river " the Kney." The " Gossogh " and ''Gosseogh" appear 

 in early seventeenth-century maps. 



