508 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acadernij. 



bretesche erection ; the terraces on the sides of the mouud are not found in 

 mottes ; and there is not the slightest trace of the bailey at the foot. I can 

 only guess that it was an assembly or inauguration mound, possibly having 

 some radical connexion with the great ring-fort close by. One difficulty 

 about this explanation is, that such an assembly mound seems as a rule to 

 have been associated with some remarkable interment ; but I cannot satisfy 

 myself that there was ever any interment in this mound. TJiere is no trace 

 whatever of any building having been erected on the summit. 



Ill 



The question of the date of the Masonbrook mound is perhaps illuminated 

 by a sidelight from the third excavation of which 1 have to speak. This was 

 at Grannagh, midway between Loughrea and Ardrahan. The spot is marked 

 in the exact middle of sheet 114 of the six-inch map; the mound is there 

 indicated by a circular shading, in the next field but one immediately above 

 the first A of the name " bullauxanagh." My attention was directed to 

 this site also by Miss Eedington, and she with Dr. Foley (who here likewise 

 had kindly undertaken the necessary local arrangements) were associated 

 with me in the investigation. Two other friends, Miss Joy Masterman and 

 M. Maurice de Smet, were also with us. Thanks are due to Mr. Fahey, the 

 farmer owning the ground, for permission to dig. 



The principal mound at Grannagh is a scarped esker very similar to that 

 at Masonbrook, though not so long and rather wider. Its summit measure- 

 ments are 92 ft. east to west and 86 ft. north to soutli. A fosse is excavated 

 round it, with a vallum outside, corresponding in some degree to the terraces 

 that surround the Masonbrook mo.md. The summit commands a wide extent 

 of country. In one point the Grannagh mouud differs from that at Mason- 

 brook; in the middle of the summit is a shallow depression, in which there 

 is clearly the foundation of a square building of one chamber, with a door to 

 the east ; the foimdations measure 15 ft. east to west by J 7 ft. north to south. 

 It may, of course, be merely the remains of a comparatively modern cabin. 

 Plate XLV, fig. 1. 



The mound itself being clearly an adapted esker, did not seem to promise 

 much reward for the tremendous labour of digging it. But at its foot was a 

 most remarkable little earthwork which looked much more hopeful. This was 

 a mound, just over 2 ft. in height and 17 ft. 6 ins. in diameter, surrounded 

 by a vallum of about the same height and in external diameter 51 ft. 4 ins. 

 Plate XLV, fig. 2. 



On cutting into this mound we found, immediately under the surface soil, 



