32 Recent Antiquarian Explorations. 



which was largely attended, as well as all the other meetings 

 held there. Dr. Soderberg, principal of the Museum at Lund, 

 in Sweden, attended our meetings at the request of the King 

 of Sweden, to report on our antiquities and other matters. For 

 this purpose he visited the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, 

 the museum at Belfast, and several private collections, including 

 the Rev. Canon Grainger's, Mr. Day's, of Cork, and others. 

 There was a paper read on the " Danes of Limerick," at which 

 Dr. Soderberg was present, and he listened with great interest 

 to the tales of devastation and ravages committed in the South 

 of Ireland by his ancestors. He replied in fairly good English, 

 and added that there are many interesting relics of Ireland in 

 his country, including some manuscripts, no doubt a portion of 

 the plunder in those ancient times. 



On Saturday a small party turned up for our last excursion 

 to the historic town of Kilmallock. It is situated in the south 

 of the County Limerick, 42 miles distant from Cork. Though 

 an insignificant town now, it was a place of very great im- 

 portance in the Elizabethan age. It was a walled town, and 

 Queen Elizabeth's representative, the President of Munster, 

 lived here. A considerable portion of the old wall is still 

 standing, outside of which is a deep and wide fosse still filled 

 with water. One of the old gates still stands, surmounted by 

 a watch tower, to which access is obtained by a small winding 

 stone staircase. From the top of this tower a fine view of the 

 surrounding country is obtained for several miles around. The 

 ruins of an ancient church and round tower are enclosed within 

 the old walls. There are also the remains of one of the finest 

 Dominican Abbeys in Ireland close by the town. The abbey 

 buildings are in a very bad state of repair, the owner of the 

 land is unwilling to vest the buildings in the Board of Works, 

 and some urgent repairs are being executed at the expense of a 

 few members of the Royal Historical and Archaeological 

 Society. The date of the foundation is fixed at 1291. The 

 founder was Gilbert, of the Clan Gibbon, ancestor of the branch 

 of the Desmond family, afterwards ealled " The White Knights." 



