460 Proceedings of the Royal L-ish Acadenifi. 



Dhuibhne by his own child Diiben,' whose tribe appears on several ogham 

 stones in the Corcaguiny peninsula as " Maqi niucoi Do^innias." Cairbre 

 had sung a poem before the liberal prince at Aine Cliach, or Knoekainey. 

 There were certainly settlements of the Muscraighe among the Ui 

 Fidgeinte and at KHpeacon. We touch the most mythical of myths when 

 we deal with Cairbre Muse. There is another possible clue in the names of 

 Eathcoirpre and Tuad Claire Coirpre, named with Eath Broccan (or Glen- 

 broghaun) in the " Tripartite Life," about a.d. 43-i. The Dind Shenehas 

 mentions Dun Claire along with Luimneeh, Drumcain, and Grene as royal 

 forts about A.D. 980, in the time of King Maelsechlainn,- and the Book of 

 Eights corroborates the status of Aine, Bruree, and Kilfinnan among the king- 

 forts of Cashel. Claire does not figure otherwise during the liistoric period. 



The remains consist of a great oval earthwork, 332 feet east and west, 

 198 feet inside, and 200 feet over all, north and south. The fosse is, as 

 usual, 12 feet to 15 feet wide below, and rarely a yard deep below the field, 

 " ditched and walled with turf." The outer ring is 5 feet to 6 feet wide on 

 top and 15 feet thick. The inner rampart is nearly 40 feet thick below, and 

 is 9 feet to 12 feet high above the fosse, and 5 feet to 6 feet over the garth. 

 I found no sign of stone facing on these works or of house sites in the gently 

 sloped grassy garth. The rings are sheeted with bracken, with here and 

 there a few old hawthorns or sparse furze. There is a ledge round the outer 

 face of tlie inner ring, a set-back 6 feet to 8 feet thick, perhaps (as in the 

 Cork promontory forts, like Doonah and Carrigillihy) for a dry-stone wall, 

 but if so all has been removed. The ring of the inner rampart is 582 feet 

 round inside. There are no built gateways, but the gap to the south has a 

 gangway, and was originally the sole entrance ; other gaps to the W.N.W. 

 and the S.S.E. are evidently accidental.^ 



Sliabh Eiach (0. S. -IS, 49). 



The ancient track of the Red Road evidently ran from the Dun to the 

 summit of Sliabh riach,* which was also reached by a more gradual ascent 

 from Cush, up the steep north slope. The great hiU (lying, like a sleeping 



■ See supra, vol. xxx, p. 417, note 1, as to the Cow and Bull Rocks and their legend 

 from L. na hUidhre, Journal Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xl, pp. 184, 185 

 for Duben and Cairbre Muse. 



- Metrical Dind Shenehas, Part I (ed. Edw. G^vynn), Todd Lect. ser. R. I. Acad., 

 vol. viii, pp. 30-41. 



* See plan, Plate XL. 



* " Slievereagh Mountain in Coraon," "Sleave Reagh Mountaine, mountainous, and 

 coarse, furzy pasture," Down Survey 1627, (A) No. 59. The connexion of the summit 

 "fort" with Dun Claire is proved by the fact. 



