Coffey — Monuments of the La Tene Period. 



263 



of Castle Strange, a few yards to one side of the principal avenue. 

 There are no remains near it witli which it can be associated, and it 

 has probably been moved from its original site and placed beside the 

 avenue as an ornamental stone. No traditions are attached to it. I 

 could learn nothing about it, save that it had been in its present 

 position as long as the oldest people remembered. Its dimensions are 

 3 feet by 2 feet 3 inches by 2 feet. The carving is not in relief, 

 but incised. The under side is not carved ; the natural surface of 

 the stone has there been left untouched. Figure 6, an end view of 

 the stone, shows the form of the under side: the drawing is from a 

 photograph taken when the stone was raised to examine the under 



FiR. 4. 



side. The style of the ornament is similar to that on the Turoe stone, 

 and it must be referred to the same period. The illustrations (Plate 

 XXI., figs. 2, 3) are from the east in the Museum. The stone has 

 suffered somewhat from weathering on the top and at one side. 



The Mullaghmast Stone. — This stone is a compact limestone. It 

 measui-es, in its present condition, 3 feet by about 1 foot 3 inches at 

 the sides. It is approximately square in section. The history of the 

 stone, as far as Lord Walter FitzGerald could ascertain, is that at the 

 time the Haughton family demolished the FitzGerald castle of MuUagh- 

 mast, which formerly stood in a field on the hill culled " Oldtown," 

 this stone was found in the walls, and it was then removed to the 

 haggard of the farm of Prospect House, on Mullaghmast hill, which 

 was built out of the materials of the castle. 



