[ 11 ] 



II. 



NOTES ON THE LAEGEK CLIFF FOETS OF THE WEST COAST 



OF COUNTY MAYO. 



By THOMAS JOHNSON WESTEOPP, M.A. 



Plate YI. 



Eead November 30, 1910. Published January 21, 1911. 



The recent examination of Clare Island, and the other islands south of 

 Achill, in county ilayo, under the auspices of the Academy, required 

 that the antiquities of these remote spots should be carefully examined and 

 recorded. I was aceorcUngly asked to explore much that was "\-irtually new 

 ground to antiquaries ; this, in its turn, necessitated more study than had 

 been previously given to the antiquities of the nearer mainland. Early 

 racial and historic considerations made this very necessary, for a great gap 

 isolated (save at Westport) all the seaboard of Mayo from the ioland parts, 

 and still more from the district from Galway, to the south coast of Munster, 

 which had been more fully studied. The result was richer than I could have 

 hoped; some even of the chief remains were unmarked on the Ordnance 

 Survey maps, and absolutely unnoticed by previous writers. Considering the 

 results of two- summers' work, it is e^ddent that, though much lying outside 

 the special district ought to be given, I should overload the report by 

 includhig it there. It seems well, therefore, to clear the groimd by describing 

 fully several of the more complex remains of the Mayo coasts to form a 

 preface to the account of the southern chff-forts in the more delimited 

 paper intended to form part of the general report. 



It is wonderful that so little is attainable about these forts. The great 

 beauty of the shores and bold mountains of the west coast of Mayo has 

 drawn many travellers to them, even when less accessible than at present ; 

 Ijut writer after writer came and went, and the forts remained undescribed, 

 with one exception. The great fort of Dunnamo, shice 1752, attracted 

 attention ; first Dr. Pococke noted it as a modern fortification of the time 

 of Elizabeth. Trotter, in 1817, saw and described it before the destruction 

 of the abattis ; O'Donovan and the Eev. Caesar Otway described it at (for 

 them) unusual length : yet there is no complete description or detailed plan 

 pubUshed to the present time. Dun Fiachra was for the first time noted 



R.I.A. PBGC, VOL. XXIX., SECT. C. [8] 



