Clare Island Survey — History and Archaeology. 2 47 



appearing about 1574 as Inysturke. Only one fort had been noted as existing. 

 The Ordnance Survey Letters 1 only say that " there is a kill dedicated to 

 St. Columba, and some small traces of a dun." The island belonged to the 

 O'Tooles, who were said to be a Leinster tribe, but were also alleged to be 

 derived from a certain Tuathal Ua Mhaille. 2 Dr. Charles E. Browne men- 

 tions a defaeed diin in Ballycraggy, on a bold knoll over the land-locked 

 little harbour. Of the dim, tradition says that it was built by pirates, who 

 harboured their galleys in the creek below, screened by rocks from the 

 observation of those sailing past. This " pirate crew " were the last Danes 

 in Ireland who knew how to make the bior lochlannach, a priceless drink- 

 made from the heather-bloom. The fort was surprised and taken by the 

 Irish, who slaughtered the inmates except one old Dane and his son, offering 

 to spare the captives if they told the secret of the bior, or, as others said, the 

 hiding-place of their vast treasures, the plunder of many districts during long 

 years. The old pirate, fearing that the boy might be tortured or tempted 

 into betrayal, offered to tell if his son were put to death, so that none of his 

 kin might see his treachery. This done, the father tore himself from his 

 guards, and ran, shouting insults, to the deep chasm, springing over the cliffs, 

 and carrying his secret to Odin. A closely similar story is told in Kerry in 

 connexion with the old mearings, said to mark the heather-fields. In Clare 

 the stone fort of Caherscrebeen, near Leamaneagh Castle, is also reputed to 

 contain, along with cellars full of gold, silver, and deer's fat, a vault full of 

 the bior lochlannach. 



Of the Chapel of St. Columba I found no trace in the overgrown grave- 

 yard, save some heaps of stones, reputed to be its remnants. I find no record 

 of the sojourn of the "Apostle of the Hebrides" in Turk. He may have 

 been only chosen patron, and it must be remembered that even the Norse 

 venerated " Kolumkille," and the Icelanders dedicated a church to his name. 3 

 In the graveyard are some interesting modern cists, like those in Caher 

 Island and in Corcaguiny, made of thin flags, in which the coffin is placed 

 partly above the level of the ground, and all is then covered with stones — 

 latest survival of the cist and cairn burial in Europe. Two square heaps of 

 blocks, like the prayer-stations in various parts of Ireland, remain in the 

 long valley south of the church, next the sea. 



Dun Ballyceagga. 4 — This fort lies so exactly on the bounds of Ballycragga 

 and Ballyheer that it is hard to state to which it really belongs. Dr. Browne 

 says the first, and as this gives a mark of distinction from the Dun of 



1 Co. Mayo, vol. i., p. 476. 2 Some of the Ballyheer O'Tooles emphatically deny this. 



3 kandnamabok, i. 15. See " Folk-lore," iv, p. ?29. * 8ee Plates VII-VIIJ. 



