308 [Proc. B.N.F.C. 



various courses for the following days, which were well 

 observable from this point. After which our party scattered, 

 some to dredge the lakes and others to search the sand-dunes. 

 Our sojourn here was short, and soon we were merrily on our 

 way to dinner in our hotels. Afterwards we adjourned to 

 the Town Hall, where a fine large room was placed at our 

 disposal by the Mayor, and here the result of each collection 

 was worked out. There was a good, busy " go " about the 

 whole evening which was kept alive by the cheery ring of 

 successful work. 



On Tuesday, 13th July, our party started punctually at 

 9 o'clock for the first whole day's tour, and proceeded north- 

 wards for Lissadill and Raghly. Our first halt was about 

 five miles north of Sligo at a place called Drumcliff, to inspect 

 all that now remains of what must have been an important 

 eccelsiastical establishment in the time of the Celtic Church 

 in Ireland (known as Temyul-hoy — the yellow church) ; to 

 it was attached a college, frequented by foreigners, who came 

 from far and near to imbibe knowledge at this celebrated 

 school. " Drumcliff derives its name from a fleet of wicker 

 boats {cliahh currach) fitted out there, with the object of 

 plundering; and it is strange that after a lapse of two thou- 

 sand years Drumcliff is still locally known for a trade in 

 wicker work carried on in the village." (Col. Wood-Martin.) 



Nothing of the original work of the early settlement now 

 remains save the two crosses — the '' stony sentinels " — and 

 the stump of a round tower. Both these crosses are close 

 beside the road, in the grounds of the modern church — one 

 is a tall, ungainly stone-like work that was never finished, 

 while the second ranks high in the order of merit in the 

 Irish crosses, although we cannot place it in the first rank. 

 It bears the characteristic interlacing designs which so d^istin- 

 guish Irish work, and whose development under the care of 

 the early '' Fathers " rose to the dignity of a national orna- 

 ment. On each side of this cross, some few feet from its 

 base, is a mortise hole — being evidence that it at one time 

 possessed some attached feature, unusual in crosses, or at 



