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



to fix the attention and excite the interest of the visitor, by 

 whom such studies may never have been seriously considered. 

 We commenced with the great underground structures of a 

 long-vanished and forgotten race of men, whose rude memo- 

 rials date possibly from some thousands of years before Christ, 

 and which stamp their builders as being men full of energy 

 and advancement. We passed from the monuments of this 

 time to those of the cultured era of the early Church in Ire- 

 land, and completed our study for the day in the ruins of a 

 church of the Normans, whose advent practically brought to 

 a full stop the national art of Ireland, and introduced a more 

 modern and coarser grade of decoration. A drive of little 

 more than half an hour brought us to Dowth, our next stop- 

 ping-place. Owing to the heavy rainfall of the previous day, 

 the roads were quite free from dust, and even to the occupants 

 of the last vehicle there was no unpleasant element to mar 

 the prospect of the fertile valley, illuminated during the 

 whole day by brilliant sunshine. The parish of Dowth con- 

 tains a ruined church, St. Bernard's holy well, a castle attri- 

 buted to Hugh de Lacy, and the seat of the extinct Viscounts 

 Netterville, and a large rath or mound containing subter- 

 ranean passages and chambers in which human and other 

 bones were found when they were opened in 1847. The 

 members proceeded to explore these underground passages, 

 some of which open at the ground level, but to the main 

 chamber access is gained by the descent of an iron ladder, and, 

 an abundant supply of candles having been provided, the' 

 exploration presented no great hardships. Meanwhile the collec- 

 tors were busy, and the photographers were employed in record- 

 ing the various points of interest till it was time to resume 

 seats for the drive to the " Royal Cemetery " of Newgrange, 

 about two and a half miles west from Dowth. This is an 

 artificial tumulus, covering about an acre of ground, and 

 rising to a height of about fifty feet, of which Wakeman, writ- 

 ing in 1848, says: — ^'' It would be vain to speculate on the 

 age of a work situate on the Boyne which if found on the 

 banks of the Nile would be styled a pyramid, and perhaps 



