122 [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



gives much assistance by revealing, in thinly-ground slices of 

 the rock, structure which could not otherwise be recognised. 

 The general strike of the rocks — that is, the direction in which 

 the exposed edges of the strata lead — have also been found to 

 give valuable assistance in discriminating the strata in the field. 



The second paper was read by Mr. F. W. Lockwood, on 

 " The English Castles of Strangford Lough." 



The club had an excursion to Strangford last summer, when 

 they visited several castles, so that this session was a suitable 

 time for a few minutes' talk on the subject. 



The English were first invited to take part in its aifairs, or 

 in other words, invaded Ireland, in the 1 2th century, and be- 

 fore its close, John de Courcy, with twenty-two knights, fifty 

 squires, and three hundred footmen, is recorded to have made 

 his way into Down. Into the narrative of his struggles with 

 the natives, and the vicissitudes which befel him and his fol- 

 lowers, we need hardly enter. Suflftce it to say that the Eng- 

 lish quickly made good their footing in the county, and never 

 again entirely relinquished it. 



In the immediate neighbourhood of Strangford Lough, it is 

 stated that de Courcy and his followers built some twenty- 

 seven castles, besides the two beautiful abbeys of Inch, near 

 Downpatrick, and Greyabbey. 



It is familiar to all that for a considerable period the English 

 power in Ireland was chiefly centred within the part known 

 as the Pale. This stretched northward without a break to near 

 Carlingford. '1 he English districts north of this were partially 

 separated from the Pale by Carlingford Lough, and the wild 

 mountain district which surrounds it. Hence the English in 

 Down were often thrown for a time upon their own resources, 

 forming a colony by themselves, with the sea, of which they al- 

 ways retained the command, for their base. We need not look 

 in this district for any of the great structures with which the 

 Anglo-Norman name is associated in England, or in some other 

 parts of Ireland. The buildings we have now to notice are 



