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



affect my general statements regarding the great antiquity of 

 the true rath or lis. In about half of the cases recorded, the 

 M forts" demolished were evidently sepulchral, as urns con- 

 taining human bones were found ; and in the great majority of 

 the others nothing more than some rude stone implements are 

 mentioned. Of the five or six remaining, we may safely class 

 most as crannoges ; for instance, one at Inisloughlin described 

 as <l almost inaccessible as it was situated in a bog." Here 

 round metal balls were found (a common crannoge form), both 

 name and situation prove it to have been a crannoge. In the 

 same category I would place the " fort " mentioned at Knock- 

 more, where " oak planks dressed by an edged tool were found 

 five feet under the surface," from the depth mentioned we may 

 safely assume the "surface" to have been bog. With regard to 

 the forge dross found in demolishing forts in Ballycarrickmaddy, 

 may this not have been simply calcined clay, which might be 

 looked for about the fire-hearths mentioned ? Here, again, we 

 have no description of the two " forts " given by which to class 

 them ; and, further, as no iron weapon has yet turned up that 

 can be connected with a rath, we may safely dismiss this (l forge 

 dross" also. There remains, in fact, just one case that seriously 

 deserves notice, that of the fort at Ardmore, in the parish of 

 Killead, which, from its description, was evidently a true rath ; 

 and here were found, " in the ditch, quantities of bones of deer 

 and small-sized cows, broken earthenware, a bronze pin, and 

 pieces of mortised wood." This solitary instance forms just such 

 a complete exception that it rather tends to prove the opposite 

 rule ; for here, and here only, we have no less than four classes 

 of remains, usually absent, found all together " in the ditch " of 

 this one rath. All probability points to a second settlement 

 here in much later times, either on the rath itself or so near it 

 as to make the moat a convenient dumping place for refuse. 



The plates have been kindly supplied by J. Vinycotnb, Esq. 



