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



ruin. The base of one of the mysterious round towers and 

 several more or less concentric grassy mounds may be seen 

 encircling the summit of the hill. These indicate foundations 

 of walls apparently long since removed. To the southeast of 

 the ruined tower, traces of an oblong foundation are visible. 

 These are supposed to be the remains of a Christian church, 

 whose early history runs back to the days of St. Patrick. 

 From a valuable paper, dated 1845, by the Rev. William 

 Reeves — now the Lord Bishop of the diocese — we learn that 

 the ancient name of the church was Nendrum, or the church 

 of Inis Mochoi, and that John De Courcey, shortly after his 

 invasion of Ireland in 1172, endowed it with certain lands, and 

 by a charter attached it to the Monastery of St. Bees in 

 Cumberland. In later times it seems to have been demolished, 

 and its very site became a matter of doubt and conjecture. 

 On the island there is also a ruined castle like that of Scatrick, 

 guarding the connecting causeway. Recrossing the channel 

 and mounting the vehicles, the return journey was made by 

 the shore road, passing on the way the church of Tullynakill, 

 close to its ancient graveyard and the ivy-clad walls of the 

 older edifice. A short halt was made at Castle Espie. The 

 now silent works, which were more than once visited by the 

 Club when they were in full operation, testify to the amount 

 of business that was done here. The magnificent range of 

 kilns on the Hoffman plan, the pottery sheds, the vast quarry 

 of rich salmon-coloured carboniferous limestone, now with 

 about 100 feet of water in it, with the powerful engine and 

 pumping gear, represent a vast amount of idle capital. The 

 botany and geology of the excursion was nil, the excessive 

 drought having scorched the vegetation, and it is also causing 

 serious anxiety to the farming community as well as putting 

 them already to vast trouble in conveying water, in many cases 

 long distances, for the use of stock, &c. 



