5y8 [Proc. B.N.F.C. 



At the formal meeting held in the mine, under the chair- 

 manship of the Vice-President, Mr. W. H. Phillips, some new 

 members were elected, and the thanks of the Club passed to 

 Mr. Walker for his attention and courtesy during the day. 



After a smart "walk back to Carrickfergus, the party had the 

 very great advantage of seeing over the Castle, by the kind 

 permission of the military authorities. This excellent example 

 of an Irish castle bristles with historic reminiscences connected 

 with the Anglo Normans, King John, the Bruces of Scotland, 

 King William, and the attack of the French under Commodore 

 Thurot in 1760. 



The origin of the name Carrickfergus has been the subject 

 of no small amount of controversy, and is more or less involved 

 in the question as to the origin of the Lia Fail, or stone of 

 destiny, that is supposed to be at present under the coronation 

 chair in Westminster Abbey. When the Royal Society of 

 Antiquarians of Ireland visited Belfast in 1892, they declared 

 that " Carrickfergus is so called from Carrig, a rock, and King 

 Fergus, who when coming here in 320 B.C. to visit the well, 

 now within the Castle, for the cure of leprosy, was shipwrecked 

 and buried at Monkstown adjoining." Mr. Samuel M'Skimin, 

 in his " History and Antiquities of Carrickfergus," refers to the 

 same legend, but points out its improbability. What Monks- 

 town could have been 320 b.c ? Amid the conflict of authorities 

 on this point, we may with confidence accept the very full and 

 clear story as given by the Rev. George Hill in his work on 

 "The Macdonnells of Antrim," where at page two he gives an 

 account of the descendants of Colla Uaish, who about the year 

 506 permanently laid the foundation of the Dalriadic kingdom 

 of Scotland. 



NAVAN. 

 II, 12, and 1 3 July. 

 It was arranged to have a three days' meeting this year on 



