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



been much modified. In most cases a sufficient reason can be 

 suggested for the site of the various castles referred to. Ard- 

 glass, for instance, is one of the few convenient harbours on that 

 exposed coast. It was of some importance, and as might be ex- 

 pected is full of castles. Having long since lost much of its 

 relative importance, the march of improvement has spared most 

 of these structures. Though, as we have suggested, it is very 

 doubtful whether Jordan's Castle is of the age of De Courcy, 

 possibly some of the smaller ones, of which the lower walls re- 

 main, may be. Kilclief was the site of an early religious 

 settlement, and an important castle there would be natural. 



Strangford and Portaferry sprang up at the most convenient 

 crossing place into the Ards, and castles there are naturally 

 explained. One, now very ruinous, was built at Portaferry by 

 the Savage family. Audley's Castle, and Castle Ward, are, one 

 at the mouth, and the other at the head, of a small creek or 

 estuary, forming a quiet harbour for the small craft then in 

 vogue ; they also are close to the entrance to Strangford Lough. 

 The sites of Folly Castle, near Portaferry, and Castle Boy, of 

 each of which only fragments now remain, are placed on small 

 eminences, and from their summits a view could be had to the 

 nearest stronghold in each direction. 



An animated discussion ensued, and it was generally agreed 

 that it was very questionable if any castles could now be posi- 

 tively attributed to De Courcy's time of the end of the twelfth 

 century. It was stated that in the case of both Kilclief and 

 Kirkistown, fragments of carvings, &c., had been built into the 

 walls, which appeared to have formed part of earlier edifices. 



Mr. Lockwood then called attention to a bed of sand which 

 lies under the boulder clay in some brickfields near Agnes 

 Street, and which may, therefore, be possibly of interglacial 

 age, and if so, it might be worthy of careful examination by 

 geologists. 



