Westropp — Dolmens at Ballycroum, County Clare. 9f 



the usual plan, one slab 9 feet long to the north, three to the south, 

 and one to the west, tapering eastward from 5 feet to 3 feet, and about 

 10 feet long. The covers are gone, and it has been dug up. 



Dermot and Grania are locally supposed to be saints. One man 

 thought they had built Feakle church in the old times. Evidently the 

 "Ulster priest and the old repute of the well, though it had no Christian 

 dedication, rehabilitated the character of the dolmens and their tradi- 

 tional builders, for their Paganism is forgotten, which is far from 

 being the case elsewhere in the county, and the older people connect 

 them rather with the faith of St. Mochonna of Peakle than with that of 

 the ancient chieftain's daughter, Lady Graney — "who was drowned in 

 Lough Graney, washed down the Eiver Graney, and biuied in Tom- 

 graney."^ 





Plan of Dermot and Grania' s Bed. 



A very old herdsman also told me that Grania was one of the mini:^ 

 who had built the other " Labbas," and that the " scoop " in the end 

 slab was made by his head when Tie drank out of the well. 



The name Cahergrania on the key map has no local existence. The 

 nearest trace of a stone fort is found some miles to the north-east on 

 the hill above the trees and rhododendrons of Caher, on the shore of 

 the lonely " Lake of the Sun," in the heart of Echtghe." 



^ " The Colloquy of the Ancients " mentions this lady as daughter of Finn. 

 ^ See Mr. H. Knox's interesting notes on the " dolmen well " of Tobemahol- 

 thora in Mayo. Journal, Eoy. Soc. Ant. Ireland, 1899, pp. 63 and 127. 



