H 4 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



of Murrisk, I noted a remnant of an alignment of blocks, 4 to 5 feet high, 

 running east and west; only a few remain. At a marshy point between 

 Murrisk Abbey and Westport is a very remarkable monument. It consists of 

 an alignment of stones (now separated from the rest by a little creek), leading 

 eastward to a large slight ring oval in plan. In the enclosure stand six stones 

 in a hue, W.S.W. and E.X.E., about 20 feet long; they are about 3 feet high 

 and long, the fourth being 4 feet long ; there is a fallen stone to the east, 

 making seven in all. The enclosure is -i to 5 feet thick, and rarely 3 feet 

 high, with a shallow fosse and ten large blocks to the south. The whole site 

 is barely higher than the high water ; and I noticed to the west, at lowest tide, 

 the long line of a seaweed-grown causeway cut through by a deep channel. 

 I incline to the conclusion (but prefer not to assert) that the land has sunk 

 since the erection of the monument, which, from its worn condition, seems to 

 be of vast antiquity. The question depends much on scientific considerations ; 

 whether a presumable temple of perhaps the Stone Age in Ireland is so early 

 as to have been nearly submerged by the undoubted subsidence of the coast. 

 If so, the wonderful inroads of the sea on the evidently far later cliff-forts 

 sink down to almost modern events. I therefore give no decision, but state 

 the facts as to the Gortbraud monument. 



Middens and Sand-hill Monuments. 



Xear Kilgalhgan, on the east of Broad Haven, a fine cairn, 13 feet high, 

 50 feet on base, and a number of well-preserved hut-circles, small cairns, and 

 middens of shells remain. They had beeri uncovered by the wind about 

 seventy years ago; but the sand and vegetation hid them till a few years 

 since. In them Dr. G. Fogerty found a polished stone implement of which 

 Miss Knowles most kindly made a sketch. The great sandhills near Bing- 

 hanistown 1 abound in middens and monuments. Chief of these is the Lacht 

 air Iorruis, the tomb of the slaughter of Erris. It was hidden in a sandhill 

 till a great storm blew away nearly 20 feet of sand in one night, and disclosed 

 the cairn. Near it lay Lug na fulla, 5 the hollow of blood. It rests on the rock, 

 and is about 12 feet liigh and 35 feet across. On the west is a platform gilt by 

 a fosse and outer ring about 111 feet by 60 feet over all. A small cist or 

 circle is on the platform with traces of a second. Another larger cist lies 

 to the north about 63 feet from the cairn; the ground was found to be strewn 

 with thousands of human bones all around when the sand was first removed. 



1 For accounts of the Binghanistoun group see Rev. Caesar Otway, " Erris and Tyrawley." 184), 

 pp. 89-95; "W. Chambers Borlase, "Dolmens of Ireland," p. Ill; Ordnance Surrey Letters, 

 Co. Mayo [xs. K. I. Acad., 14 e 18), pp. 209, 214. 



: The mime ae-ms t.> have existed before the tombs and bones were disclosed. 



