Westropp — Earthworks and Ring-walls in County Limerick. 487 



the little town on the steep bank of the Maigue, near the weirs and mills, and 

 has a pleasant view over the loops of the river to the tall towers of the Lower 

 Castle and the bine spurs of Knockfirena. The road has cut into its 

 southern edge, but otherwise it is little injui'ed, and, indeed, is perfect to the 

 north and east. The fosse runs down the slope so boldly that the central 

 mound is 18 feet high to the north, and 10 to 12 feet high elsewhere. The 

 mound is 104 feet across, with steep sides, the top being slightly rounded. 

 Some regard this as evidence of sepulchral, non-residential character ; but 

 (like most of the tests asserted so positively, yet with so very little evidence, 

 by strong theorists) this is most doubtful. The rounding may easily have 

 been effected by the trampling of cattle and by the weather ; many 

 undoubted tumuli have flat summits. The top is 63 feet across. The inner 

 fosse is 12 feet to 1 8 feet wide below ; the ring outside is 1 feet high, and from 

 24 feet to 18 feet thick. The outer fosse is 10 feet to 12 feet wide, and 4 feet 

 deep, the outer ring being rarely over a foot high and 24 feet thick in its 

 present state; it most probably was once capped by a dry-stone wall, like so 

 many other forts in the county. I'here seems to be a slight trace of a third 

 fosse to the east. The whole earthwork measures from 190 feet to 211 feet 

 over all, and is about 500 feet round.' 



LoTTERAGH LowER FoKT.^If the last be the fort of Aedan, the Lower 

 Fort may be regarded as the traditional Bnujli of Oilioll Olom. It lies at the 

 bend of the river to the north-west of the east fort, beside the laneway to the 

 Lower Castle. It is a fort of the ordinary type, and also lies on a steep slope. 

 It is strange that such sites had such an attraction for early fort-makers, 

 whether on account of drainage, or for what other reason is hard to assert. 

 No doubt the ancient folk understood the advantage of keeping the source of 

 drinking-water uudefiled by not putting a fort too near the spring, but 

 marshy land certainly had little terror for them, and was selected even when 

 dry and more commanding sites lay near. 



The garth is 84 feet across inside, its rampart 9 feet thick, and now 

 merely 2 feet over the garth, though probably once stone- walled. The garth 

 is 18 feet above the fosse to the north and south, but 30 feet over it on the 

 river side. The central mounds have a base 22 feet to 25 feet thick. The 

 fort is hard to measure accurately over all ; it is about 150 feet across at the 

 level of the west side. Outside is a second fosse 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep, 

 an outer ring 18 feet wide, and another shallow hollow like a third fosse, but 

 probably a mere source for the earth used in the second ring. 



LiswiLLiAM. — To the north-west of the Lower Castle is a fort bearing the 



' See plan and view. Plates XL, XLI, No. 3. 



