Westropp — Larr/er Clif Forts nf West Const of Co. Mayo. 21 



quantity of rocks and Hags torn from the clitl's beneath that it is impossible 

 now to form the slightest idea of its extent, ... or even to decide with 

 certainty whether it was square or round.' 



" The stone stakes . . . are now nearly worn down to the stumps by the 

 intruding Atlantic, which dashes upon them not only water, but sometimes 

 pebbles and stones of some weight. The Atlantic here is as great a destroyer 

 of antiquities as the utilitarian ! . . . The angular buildings are decidedly 

 modern ; but the stone stakes, the cyclopean wall, and the trench may be 

 of considerable age." 



The Eev. Caesar Otway^in 1845 gives a valuable sketch-plan and careful 

 description so inaccessible to most readers that I must abstract it at some 

 length : — " Dunamoa, ... a wall about 10 feet high . . ., from cliff to cliff, 

 protected oiitside by a fosse cut in the rock, and, in the centre, there was a 

 gateway, protected by outworks containing caserns and covered ways of a 

 singular and elaborate construction. This wall and the ruin bore marks of 

 remote antiquity, their stones large and cyclopean. . . . The promontory . . . bore 

 traces of being fenced all round. . . . Near the seaward front, . . . inclining to 

 the south, there are the foundations of a square building of some size ; ... its 

 exact form I could not trace, ... In front of the wall and besetting the 

 whole plain ... a great number of sharp, flaggy rocks are fixed on end. 

 Mr. Michael Anthony O'Donnell, of Termoncarra, said that he remembered 

 stones here not only much larger but more thickly set. . . . They were . . . 

 brought down to build the adjoining village." Otway cites O'Donovan's 

 extract from Trotter for their former size, and says they were taken for 

 quoins and sills in the adjoining village. Mr. O'Donnell also said that the 

 tradition ran that Dunamoa " was erected by the Burkes, and was besieged 

 and taken by the Danes." Otway's plan differs altogether from those of 

 the Ordnance Survey and Mr. Wakeman's paper ; but it is more accurate and 

 makes one regret that a man capable of such solid work has left us so little, 

 as he passed by most remains without description, while eagerly giving their 

 legends. I reproduce his plan for comparison with my own.' His reason 

 given for the destruction of the abattis is far more probable than that of 

 O'Donovan, although stones of considerable size have been washed up and 

 blown about in storms on headlands little lower than that of Dunnamo. Small 

 pillar-stones over 5 feet long, suitable for an abattis, are not iincommon on 

 the moor about a mile east from the fort. 



The three last writers to notice Dunnamo entered into little detail. 



I It is unmistakably oval. ^ " Enis and Tyrawley, pp. 67-71. 



' I was careful not to refresh my memory of his plan until my own was made ami checked on 

 the site. 



[4*] 



