5oO Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



dealt with, namely No. 3 of the present paper; and owing to Keating's error 

 of interpolating " Athlone " next to Mohill instead of " Ath-da-on," Adoon, 

 I had been led into the error of mistaking Oughterach for either Lough 

 Oughter or Lough Achters (the old name for Lough Gowna). I therefore 

 took for granted that the ramparts leading from the latter to Grauard and 

 Lough Kinale formed some sort of subsidiary out-works to those of Eoosky 

 and Mohill. In describing No. 1 frontier I shall deal with them. Similarly 

 (at p. 319) the " AVorm Ditch," in the parish of Deun, county Cavan, did 

 not fall into line with the rest of the series of No. 3. But my subsequent 

 researches have shown that neither of these two sections of ditches was 

 really a portion of the frontier No. 3, which ran from Clones and Belturbet 

 to Lough Allen, but that those of the " Worm Ditch " joined on to those of 

 No. 2. 



Of the Alignjient of No. 1 Frontier. 



If I am correct in assigning the earliest date to the most southern 

 boundary of which I have discovered traces, it is only to be expected that 

 its ramparts would be moi'e obliterated than those of later periods. And 

 through cultivated districts or rich grasslands the spade of the farmer would 

 find the ramparts an obstruction. In Meath, therefore, traces of earthworks 

 are very rare, and for the most part I had to rely on traditional sites and 

 localities handed down as historical for generations by the occupiers of the 

 soil. Here and there a place-name corroborates the popular story, but were 

 it not for the persistence of the Pagan legend of the Black Pig, it would have 

 been hopeless to follow up this inquiry. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that 

 local antiquaries may in some instances find that some of the great double 

 ditches, which are not infrequent in Meath, are survivals, though frag- 

 mentary, of the ancient territorial boundary.' Moreover, the difiiculties of 

 personal exploration of many parts of the country, in default of railway or 

 other facilities, especially for access from the north to Oldcastle, the Fore 

 district, and Castlepollard, were so considerable that I was largely dependent 

 on the obliging services of Mr. O'Eeilly, whom I have already mentioned, in 

 addition to most valuable help received from one or two residents, to whom I 

 owe a deep debt of gratitude, and especially Mr. Crofton Eotheram, of 

 Bel view. 



Starting at Teltown (Taillten), near Donaghpatrick Bridge over the 

 Blackwater, the entrenchments are said to have passed near the Mote of 

 Girley and by Miltown Bridge near Clonmellon, there turning south-west-by- 

 west to Killallon pound. At or near this point I believe the main works of 



' See note ou Clonmellon, p. 552. 



