Westuopp — Earthworks and Ring-Walls in Co. Limerick. 11 



wonder why we Irish cannot complete the record of even a few parishes. An 

 English parish (with perhaps one or two hill forts, a church and castle, and a 

 few lesser monuments) is finite, and can be completed; but the antiquities in 

 the wilds, and even in tamer parts, of Ireland approach the infinite, and the 

 longer one works the more lesser remains seem left to be recorded after that 

 work is published. 



Save for the mote of Shanid, I do not recall a single earthwork in this 

 county which has been described with any clearness before this century, and 

 none with any fullness. I long avoided the subject myself, though my 

 knowledge of several of the forts extends over forty years. I hoped the 

 North Munster Archaeological Society might have done the work ; but the 

 Society did nothing of the sort, and it now (since the death of its Secretary, 

 Dr. George J. Fogerty) seems unlikely to undertake it. I know of no 

 local antiquary who is doing anything in that direction. So far I have only 

 published a general plan of the earthworks at Shanid, and detailed ones of 

 those at Kilbradrau and Cloncagh.' Mr. P. J. Lynch had published one 

 (with sections) of the fine mote at Kilfinnan, along with Dr. G. Fogerty's 

 photograph ;- he has also given us a valuable monograph on the dolmens of 

 the county ;^ but this does not afiect our subject. No elaborate paper on any 

 fort in the county has been published as yet. Even the more casual mention 

 is very rare. FitzGerald's History contains a description of what are stated 

 erroneously to be the remains on Knockfennell* (but probably on another 

 fortified hill), beside Lough Gur ; casual mention of " Danish forts " by him 

 and Lewis, and short notes on Shanid, complete the bibliography. Of 

 accessible written material Windele's manuscripts have a few brief notes and 

 rough sketch sections; while the Ordnance Survey Letters — so helpful for 

 the churches and castles of Co. Limerick — hardly describe, even briefly, any 

 of the forts. 



1 rish archaeological nomenclature is in the making ; old-fashioned 

 people resent any desertion from the old but inaccurate terms— for 

 example, from our misleading use of " cromlech " ; so we use " castle " for 

 little residential peel towers, hardly ever military works, and " abbeys " for 

 small cells and collegiate churches. We are justified by the usage of 

 mediaeval writers and the local nomenclature, whether in France or Ireland, 

 in using the word "mote" for any earthwork, but will confine it here to 



1 Jouinal R. S. Antt. Jr., vol. xliii, p. 251 (Cloncagh) ; Proe. R. I. Acad., vol. xxiv, 

 p. 275 (Kilbradrau), and vol. xxv, pi. xviii (Shanid). 



2 Journal R. S. Antt. Jr., vol. xli, p. 389, Kilfinnane. 



^ Limerick Field Club Journal, vols, ii, iii, and N. Munster Arch. Soc., vol. i, sqq. 

 ■• Loc. cit., vol. i, p. 313. 



[2*] 



