44 Recent Archaeological Explorations in Co. Sligo. 



from the Linen Hall, Donegall Street, Belfast, to county Sligo 

 is related in the Dublin Penny Journal. Mr. Walker, who 

 lived at the early part of the present century, opened many of 

 the ancient sepulchral monuments in county Sligo, without 

 leaving any record of the various finds he made, and afterwards 

 disposed of them to an English nobleman, thus doing an irre- 

 parable injury to Irish archaeology. 



Amongst the more recent explorers are Mr. James Ferguson, 

 author of " Rude Stone Monuments ;" Colonel Cooper, of 

 Markree ; Colonel Wood Martin, the present indefatigable 

 Editor of the Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeolo- 

 gical Association of Ireland ; Mr. W. F. Wakeman, and others 

 who have given interesting records of ancient monuments 

 of Pagan and Christian origin. Amongst those are the 

 cromlechs, stone circles, and forts, in the townland of Car- 

 rowmore, within three miles from Sligo, and first described 

 by Beranger during his visit in 1779. The visit of Beranger to 

 Innismurray in that year is a most interesting narrative, as 

 recorded in a late number of the Archaeological Journal, where 

 the primitive customs of its inhabitants are described. Mr. 

 W. F. Wakeman has copiously illustrated and described the 

 plain and inscribed monuments of Innismurray. There is also 

 the great megalithic structure, or, as it is called, the Irish 

 Stonehenge, situated four and a half miles from Sligo, in the 

 townland of Magheraghanrush, to which I shall again refer. 

 This ancient and unique monument is described in the Journal 

 of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 

 in a paper read by Mr. Edward T. Hardman before the meeting 

 held in Kilkenny on 16th April, 1879. It is also referred to by 

 Mr. James Ferguson in his book on " Rude Stone Monuments," 

 published in 1872. In January, 1886, I visited the Deerpark, 

 accompanied by two friends from Sligo. We went to it for the 

 purpose of examining this monument, and to more thoroughly 

 explore the Deerpark. 



The lecturer proceeded to describe this great structure, of 

 which he had maps and accurate measurements. It is 104 feet 

 in length, and 28 feet in breadth at the widest part. Mr. Fer- 



