46 The Sepulchral Structures and 



are the only metallic objects which, if they survive, would go 

 to illustrate the civilisation o( this age. With the exception 

 of granite, most of our monumental stones are put up more 

 with an eye to present appearance than to durability ; conse- 

 quently, future antiquarians will not have the same advantages 

 when investigating this age as we have in reference to our 

 ancestors. 



Mr. James Ferguson, in his work, "Rude Stone Monu- 

 ments," after referring to Carrowmore, County Sligo, and 

 Glencolumbkill, County Donegal, speaks rather disparagingly 

 of the remaining isolated cromlechs of Ireland. He says — " It 

 is extremely difficult to write anything that will be at all satis- 

 factory regarding the few standing solitary dolmens of Ireland." 

 He says, further, if all those which are described in books or 

 journals of learned societies were marked on a map, the con- 

 clusion would be that the most of them are found on the east 

 coast, a dozen or so in Waterford, as many in Dublin and 

 Meath, and an equal number in County Down. He concludes 

 his description of Irish sepulchral monuments by saying that 

 there may be other rude monuments in Ireland besides those 

 described, but they cannot be very numerous or very important, 

 or they would hardly have escaped notice. It is to be regretted 

 that such statements should go forth uncontradicted. Only four 

 counties in Ireland up to the present time have been systema- 

 tically explored and described. The first (County Dublin) was 

 completed many years ago. Mr. Wm. Gray was next in the 

 field, having described and figured twenty-four cromlechs in 

 Antrim and Down. County Sligo, the last thus described, has 

 just been completed in the columns of " The Journal of the 

 Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland," by 

 Colonel Wood Martin, the honorary secretary. The number 

 of sepulchral monuments figured in the journal for County 

 Sligo is about one hundred. With the exception of these four 

 counties, Ireland, from an antiquarian point of view, has yet to 

 be systematically explored and described. County Donegal is 

 very rich in those remains of past ages ; indeed, with the ex- 



