32 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



sections measure at the gateway 5 feet 6 inches and 2 feet 10 inches, the last 

 being outside ; usually the outer is the thickest, but similar inversions are at 

 Caheridoula and the crescent two-walled fort in Carran Valley, Co. Clare. The 

 wall has a slight batter, usually of 1 in 6. The garth and even part of the 

 walls are so overgrown that I cannot give the dimensions. The wall is 

 at other points 8 feet to 9 feet thick. A second but more defaced Cathair lies 

 to the west edge of the ridge, also in Ballylin — a mere overgrown ring of small 

 filling, 12 feet to 15 feet thick and a few feet high, with only a few facing 

 blocks in situ, and early house enclosures inside. 



In Craggs, to the north of the road, the forts are greatly levelled, (a) The 

 first lies in the south-west corner of the townland near a conspicuous ruined 

 cottage, and is a mere ring of filling on a low, craggy knoll, (b) Northward 

 from the east is an earthen fort with a slight fosse, the ring barely 4 feet high 

 and 8 feet thick, in an almost impenetrable bramble-brake and thicket. 

 Between these forts, in a shallow, grassy depres.'iion, one finds with surprise a 

 tombstone inscribed : " This stone was erected by Bridget Molon . . . / in 

 memory of her husband James Heal/y who departed this life / Mi 18 a.d. 1791, 

 aged/ 62 years." I have found such derelict monuments elsewhere ; they were 

 possibly cut on the spot, and for monetary reasons or procrastination never 

 taken to the grave, (c) Farther north is the foundation of a Cathair on level 

 crag, (d) To the N.N.W., in the next field, is another ring-wall 5 feet 

 8 inches thick and 5 feet high, probably later than the other forts, though with 

 fairly good facing, larger outside (as usual) than the inner. The western half 

 is destroyed. There are no house sites visible, so it may be a bawn for cattle- 

 The maps show yet another ring to the north-east, which I could not reach in 

 the thickets. 



From this point a grassy depression runs eastward with an overgrown 

 ridge to the south. In it is a large temporary pool covered with unusually 

 large-leafed "silver weed" (on my visit, September, 1908) and shimmering 

 like water. At the north-eastern edge of the townland and the main ridge 

 lies a large cathair (e) levelled to supply material for a boundary wall. It is 

 a ring of fairly large filling, rarely over 3 feet high, 120 feet over all, and with 

 remains of large fine facing, evidently the chief fort of the settlement from 

 its size and choice site on a bold knoll with a fine outlook to the Shannon 

 and Co. Clare. The ruin is much hidden by hazel, holly, and sloe. The trace 

 of an old road runs southward along the edge of the ridge beside the fort on 

 the west, (f Another fort lost in a thorny thicket I could barely locate. 

 Three reputed forts are on the low ridge near the old road in the south-east 

 corner of the townland. (G) The first is a nearly levelled late cattle-pen ; 

 (h and i) are mere foundations. The whole group, though so defaced, is a 



