1893*94.] 67 



all the centuries it has stood there, not a stone has been dis- 

 placed by the feet of cattle on those portions of the original 

 slope still remaining. A rough measurement shows that it 

 contained at least 200 tons of material, mostly stone ; and yet 

 this great mass rests above two feet of fine alluvial soil, in 

 which no stone is to be found as large as a marble. As the 

 central portion of this mound is still undisturbed, where the 

 cinerary urn might be looked for, the means are at hand to 

 verify the view I have taken of its object, viz., that here we have 

 a burial tumulus of pagan times. But this is not all. Within 

 twenty yards of this tumulus, and also on this fine alluvium, 

 lie three great fragments of a rock (not native to the district), 

 averaging more than a ton a-piece, and each bearing on it the 

 mark of the " villanous saltpetre " that rent the parent block, 

 while right between these fragments we find an oblong depres- 

 sion of the surface, suggesting that other large stones had been 

 extracted. Now, although this great stone was probably found 

 on some of the hills round, which are composed of boulder 

 clay, no natural process could have brought it to where we see 

 its fragments now. Only human agency can account for its 

 position ; in fact, every appearance points to its having been at 

 one time the cap-stone of a cromleach. Here, then, upon this 

 holm stood a pagan burial tumulus, and most probably a 

 cromleach too. Both must be of more recent date than the 

 surface on which they were erected. 



We have then three points of antiquity to consider. The 

 most ancient, the rath and lake ; next, the holm ; and latest, 

 the pagan tumulus and cromleach. How old are they ? Now, 

 as no pagan interments have taken place in Ireland for about a 

 thousand years, the tumulus and cromleach (the most modern 

 of these remains) must be of that age at least, but may be twice 

 that. How much older is the holm ? and how much older still 

 the lake in whose margin this rath was built ? We cannot, 

 however, hope to do more than establish the relative dates of 

 these ancient remains, and this, I believe, is done by the 

 peculiar form of this rath, in being defended by the usual moats 



