1893-94.] 75 



bricks and building new houses within a few yards of both of 

 them. 



There was probably a fort at Duncairn, near where the 

 residence of the Macrory's stood ; but of this I have no positive 

 information, although many people believed the small circular 

 mound known as the ice house, that stood revealed when the 

 trees and shrubbery were cut away, to have been the remains 

 of an ancient residence. 



The next rath is at Fortwilliam, close to the residence of George 

 S. Clark, J.P. A very small portion now remains, planted 

 with large sallagh trees. Under this rath is a souterrain, into 

 which many people have told me they have entered. It stands 

 upon a drum or knoll of gently rising ground, its situation 

 being a rather commanding one, overlooking the sloping 

 ground to the sea, including the now obscured promontory 

 called Ringan's Point, at the bottom of fortwilliam Park. 

 The elevated situation of the rath at Fortwilliam marked it 

 out in Elizabethan times as the spot for a fortification for the 

 English soldiery, for a few paces to the north of the ancient 

 dwelling there still exists in almost its original condition a 

 very fine earth-work, square in shape, with two corner bastions 

 surrounded by a fosse, varying from ten to twelve feet deep, 

 with an outer rampart of earth four to six feet high (see plate). 

 The centre square measures sixty-two feet on the four sides, 

 and is surrounded by a low bank three feet high ; but the 

 most remarkable features are the two circular bastions at the 

 diagonal corners, viz., the N.E. and S.W., both perfect, and 

 corresponding in the surrounding rampart and fosse to the 

 body of the fort. The N.E. one measures in diameter ten feet, 

 and the other is a little larger, measuring fifteen feet. The 

 extreme diameter of the whole works is about a hundred and 

 twenty feet. R. M. Young, M.R.IA., in his valuable " Town 

 Book," states — "The square earthen redoubt known as Fort- 

 william was almost certainly non-existent in Essex's time, 

 and corresponds in plan with another fort having similar 

 small bastions at the four angles to receive cannon, situated 



