1884-1885]. 323 



the King was staying there. When Diaimid rushed out to 

 escape the flames, he was stabbed by the Northern chieftain, 

 and staggering for refuge into the moat or stream which sur- 

 rounded the fort, was struck by the falling timbers, and crushed 

 or drowned. His head was carried to Clonmacnoise, and his 

 body interred at Connor. 



The early English settlers seem to have built a castle at 

 Rathmore, which was destroyed by Edward Bruce, brother of 

 King Robert, when he invaded Ulster, and raged like a fire- 

 brand through the country in 131 5. Under the fort is a large 

 souterrain or cave, of four chambers nearly 100 feet long, inte- 

 resting as being, what is unusual, hollowed out of the solid 

 rock. The entrance is now so blocked up with fallen frag- 

 ments, that the more adventurous members of the club who 

 made the attempt, were only able to penetrate about 18 feet. 

 Whilst at the fort a meeting was held — J. J. Murphy, Esq., 

 presiding — when several members were elected, and the hon. 

 secretary and other gentlemen made a few remarks on the fort 

 and other antiquities of the district. Not far distant is Done- 

 gore Hill, with its fine sepulchral mound. To this hill the 

 rebels of '98, after their repulse at Antrim, retired, and soon 

 finding their cause a hopeless one, seem to have slipped away 

 by twos and threes, leaving behind their field pieces and their 

 baggage — if they had any. 



Growing in profusion about the fort was the dwarf elder 

 {Sambiicus ebulus), known by the country people as the 

 " Dane's blood," from its being frequently found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of such structures, which are popularly, though 

 erroneously, ascribed to the Danes. Though there is no 

 evidence to connect the Danes with Rathmore, yet the name 

 of this spot is one of the first associated with the Saxon in Ire- 

 land ; for in 684 ^gfrid. King of Northumbria, sent Beret, his 

 general, into Ireland, who, after wasting much of the country, 

 was defeated at Rathmore. In this, the " first blood" between 

 the nations, it would seem the honours, such as they were, 

 rested with the Irish. The whole population of this district 



