260 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



by tlie daughters of the late S. W. Haughton, of Carlow, owners of 

 the property, and has been placed in the ISTational Collection. 



Last year Mrs. Coote, of Carrowroe, Roscommon, sent me photo- 

 graphs of a" stone at Castle Strange, near Eoscommon, which she 

 thought might be of interest. Here was another stone carved with 

 trumpet-pattern. This time the La Tene character of the ornament 

 was unmistakable. This stone appeared to me to be so important that 

 I forthwith determined to visit it, and make a cast of it for the 

 Museum. Mr. Coote gave me every assistance ; and with his help I 

 was able to take a mould of the stone in plaster, from which a cast 

 has been placed in the Museum. I should mention that Mr. John 

 Byrne, the present tenant of Castle Strange, spared no trouble for us, 

 and most kindly undertook the packing and forwarding of the mould 

 after we had left. 



I had heard some time previously of a stone near Loughrea, in the 

 neighboui'ing county of Galway, which was said to have caiwing on it 

 of spirals. I had endeavoured to get a photograph of the stone, but had 

 not been successful. 



On seeing the stone at Castle Strange, I lost no time in visiting 

 the one at Loughrea, on the chance that it might be of the same class. 

 I was surprised to find that it was the most remarkable example of 

 the three, richly carved with La Tene ornament in bold relief. Mr. 

 Dolphin, the owner, readily consented to a cast being taken, which has 

 been placed in the Museum. 



It will be convenient to describe these stones in reverse order of 

 discovery. I shall therefore take the Loughrea stone first. 



It stands in front of Mr. Dolphin's house at Turoe, about three 

 miles from Loughrea, Ordnance map, 6-inch sheet 97. It was moved 

 to its present position by Mr. Dolphin's father some fifty years ago. 

 A small fort a short distance to the west of Turoe House was pointed 

 out to me as the place from which the stone had been taken. It was 

 said to have been inside the fort. Subsequently an old man, said to 

 be the oldest inhabitant of the locality, brought me to the exact spot, 

 as well as he could remember, from which it had been taken. This 

 proved not to be within the fort, but some distance to the west of the 

 fort, towards the bottom of the slope on the top of which the fort is 

 placed. The old man's recollection was'quite clear that the stone was 

 outside the fort. There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that the 

 stone had any connexion with the fort. 



In its present position it stands 4 feet above ground, and measures 

 3 feet and 2 feet 4 inches at the sides. It is an erratic boulder of 



