W ESTROFP —Tf/pes of the Ring-Forts and similar Structures. 395 



higher than the field at its northern end, with steep banks to the south, and 

 no fosse, 105 feet across the garth, the ring 12 feet thick, 



18. — LiscocKABOE. — Lies on the eastern ridge beyond a marsh and stream. 

 Like the last, it has no fosse, and lies on the slope of the ridge. The platform 

 is 2 feet high at the summit, and terraced to 6 feet over the field at the 

 south-east. The ring, like the last fort, was highest up the slope. It is 

 6 to 7 feet high on the top of the ridge, and 3 feet over the garth to the sides. 

 It is very steep, and so evidently had a stone facing till very recent times, 

 but none remains, with a thick hedge of tall hawthorns all round its summit — 

 probably lineal descendants of the old quickset hedge. The garth measures 

 126 to 128 feet across. The name implies that it was used to pen cattle, 

 and dates at least from 1617. It, and the third ridge, called Dromscale, 

 formed separate townlands from Ooolreagh, down to 1655, if not later. 



An old road runs from the fort eastward, along the back of the ridge. 

 Beside it are two curious little mounds with rounded tops, each 15 feet across, 

 and 4 feet high, of doubtful date and character. They lie 330 feet and 470 feet 

 from the fort. At about 500 yards from the liss is another fort. The garth 

 is 6 feet, and the ring 8 to 10 feet above the field. The ground is dug away 

 to the north-west, but no fosse remains. The garth is hollowed like a plate, 

 and is almost exactly 100 feet across; the ring 12 feet thick, but hardly 

 2 feet high, forming a rim round it. 



Ballydonohan (36). 



19. — This very singular stone fort is so exceptionaP that I dare not venture 

 to theorize, but describe it as I found it, stating the difficulties, in the hope 

 that some other worker may be able to throw light upon it. It was first 

 pointed out to me by Col. O'Callaghan Westropp, not being marked on the 

 older maps of 1839, or shown accurately, or as an antiquity, on the new ones. 

 The people near it call it "the Caher," " the Dun," "the Dooneen," with 

 a valueless tradition " that it was an old fortification of the Danes." Messrs. 

 Bolton and Daniel O'Callaghan heard, from a very old woman who died 

 20 years ago, that " she remembered a cellar and rooms under it 70 years ago " 

 (about 1820). The former remembered a dry-stone wall or causeway to the 

 north-east across the marsh, and heard that " one of Cromwell's regiments, 

 going into Galway by Scariff, had overthrown the Dooneen." I have failed to 

 get any historic evidence for this event, and the tendency in Munster is to 

 accredit every destruction to " Cromwell." Still, the very definite detail as 



1 Of course some of the outline results from its following the contours of the ridge ; hut the 



great slab facing, the stone ridge and souterrains, with the problematic building enclosed, make it 

 very exceptional. 



R. I. A. PEOC, VOL. XXVII., SECT. C. [58j 



