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i$t& April, 1882. 



The President, Robert Lloyd Patterson, Esq., in the Chair. 



A Paper was read by Rev. Robert Workman, on 



FORTS, HOUSES, AND CHURCHES OF ANCIENT 

 IRELAND. 



Mr. Workman began by directing attention to the raths, duns, 

 and caishels as being from their number and antiquity among 

 the most important monuments of our country. These forts 

 consisted of an earthen or loose stone dyke, enclosing a cir- 

 cular space. The dyke originally had a height of from eight to 

 twelve feet. Beehive-shaped huts have been found in several 

 of these encampments, and there is often an underground 

 passage or chamber beneath them. These were doubtless the 

 fenced camps of the Irish tribes ; the chief and his immediate 

 followers harboured within them, and in time of war they shel- 

 tered the clan and the cattle against a sudden attack. Earth 

 forts were the strong places of the Irish from the most remote 

 antiquity till the end of the thirteenth century, but when the 

 English appeared upon the scene they lost their importance, as 

 being unsuitable to the new modes of warfare then introduced. 

 Mr. Workman then referred to ancient houses as throwing 

 light upon the condition of the country, since a few Irish houses 

 with their furniture would enable us to know what were the 

 habits and the civilisation of the people. Here, however, was 

 the difficulty, for Irish houses were of such frail materials that 

 they have perished. Mr. Workman held that the body of the 

 common people in the interior of the country had scarcely any- 



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