224 'Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



plunging down such rough and dangerous slopes, it is little wonder that hardly 

 anyone had followed its course ; only the accident of unbounded leisure, while 

 staying near the fort, encouraged me to do this. Commencing at the north- 

 eastern gap^ we go eastward down the steep slope ; the masonry is widely 

 spread, coA^ering entirely the outer ditch. After its bold plunge down the 

 slope it runs southward (always on a level, and near the contour line of 200 

 feet above the sea), along the face of the hill. Most of the stones have been 

 removed, probably for the demesne wall. Here we find another " half-moon " 

 annexe outside the wall. The removal of the material gives us measurable 

 foundations of the wall, and leaves the fosse outside it clear for most of this 

 segment, and it is remarkable that we find the fosse cut even in the crag, save 

 at one precipitous slope, and on the southern brow near the path. The wall 

 varies from 15 feet to 17 feet along the east, usually the last, which dimension 

 recurs at other points, save in the deep hollow, where the facing-stones are 

 only 12 feet apart ; the fosse is 15 feet to 18 feet wide, 3 feet or 4 feet deep, 

 and usually retains its outer mound. The outer face of three or four courses 

 of rough masonry remains at several points in the thickets along the south- 

 western curve. At this point (240 feet to 300 feet from the path up the crag 

 from the stile) there has been another fall of the wall, burying the fosse. The 

 wall runs down another steep slope (from 360 feet to 406 feet) into a natural 

 amphitheatre looking westward. Above this point lies the great collapse of 

 the second wall. The outer has unusually large facing blocks (3 feet 6 inches 

 square and 18 inches thick, some 4 feet long, others 2 feet thick), unlike the 

 flat slabs and neat small blocks in other parts. At about 780 feet from the 

 path are apparent traces of a gateway ; a well-marked hollow path leads to an 

 ope between a rock-scarp and a built pier, with two ascending " ramps " 

 inside ; the northern 3 feet wide, and partly cut into the crag. Beyond this, 

 up to the outer ring-wall, the main line has vanished from the naked crag. 

 Eound the north from the ring-wall to the north-east gap, the heaped wall, 

 fosse, and outer mound are usually well preserved. At the northern gap, 

 the mound and fosse are each 12 feet wide. A traverse runs southward to the 

 middle wall at 30 feet from the gap ; farther eastward is a small hut enclosure, 

 and up the slope near the middle line and the traverse we find two rings of 

 thin wall, 50 to 52 feet across, evidently cattle bawns, and some hut rings. 



Westward from these is the little outer rmg-wall, or caher, 100 feet in 

 diameter ; the lower part is ancient, 3 feet or 4 feet high, 7 feet 4 inches thick, 

 with a batter of 1 in 7 of good, slightly-coursed masonry, with slab filling. 



1 The two north gaps have gangways. I have long questioned the age of these features, hut the 

 gangways left in the rock-cut fosses of Doon Fort, near Kilfenora, and LisdufP near Kilkee, show 

 that in at least some instances they are contemporaneous with the forts themselves. 



