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ditions under which they were found, and objects bartered 

 from hand to hand find their way at last, through the ragman, 

 to the Dublin Museum, with no reliable record as to where 

 they came from, how they occurred, or what were the sur- 

 rounding circumstances — the correct determination of which 

 constitutes the real value of all such objects. 



After employing a few men, a considerable portion of 

 earth was cleared away, and the large stones were laid bare, 

 so as to show that a large enclosure once existed on the spot, 

 measuring about 60 feet from north to south, 40 feet wide at 

 the northern end, and about 20 feet wide at the southern, as 

 shown by the accompanying lithographed plan. Within the 

 enclosure there was a group of irregular circular chambers, 

 one almost perfectly circular (from a sketch of which the 

 woodcut is taken) measured 7ft. 6in. in diameter ; and three 

 others, smaller and more irregular, all connected by a narrow 

 passage about two feet wide. The enclosure itself, as well as 

 the chambers, was formed by stones from two to four feet high, 

 set on end ; and the chambers appeared to have been at one 

 time covered over with flat slabs of stone, some of which were 

 built into the adjoining wall between two fields, and this wall 

 ran diagonally across the explored enclosure. Persons in the 

 neighbourhood remember having seen the central chamber 

 covered. During the excavation, a large quantity of broken 

 urns of various patterns were found ; some were ornamented 

 with the usual zig-zag indentations ; a number of small flat 

 stones and fragments were also found. The former were 

 probably used to cover the mouths of the urns. All these 

 objects were found scattered in the passages, and piled in 

 small heaps, and otherwise under such circumstances as de- 

 monstrated that the place was completely, rifled once, if not 

 many times, before. It was a very common practice of the 

 Danes before, and even after, their conversion to Christianity 

 to plunder the caves, cairns, and burial places, as well as the 



