84 Annual Meeting. 



As accuratelj' as I can ascertain the position of the grave on 

 the ordnance map, it should have been placed at a point 12' 

 W.N.W. of the letter B in the name of the townland of Bally- 

 craig Lower, on sheet No. 6, County Antrim. 



Last summer, when again visiting Portrush, I was pointed 

 out by a resident, Mr. Gaston, of The Warren House, another 

 somewhat similar though smaller monument at a point on the 

 map approximately 2|" north of the second A in the same 

 townland name. The stones of which I show a roughly measured 

 plan (No. 2) are in a low lying part of the sandhills on a grass 

 covered knoll about 3 feet higher than the immediately surround- 

 ing ground. 



With one exception the stones, of which there were 18, did 

 not present any notable features, being ordinary basalt field 

 stones of no great size ; the one exception being an elongated 

 rough pillar stone, in one side of which is a round cup-shaped 

 hole about two inches across and l|" deep. I could not decide 

 if this hole was artificial or the work of nature. 



With the aid of three men, Mr. Gaston and I made con- 

 siderable excavations in the knoll. We found that its foundation 

 rested on an old raised beach of white limestone gravel, into 

 which we penetrated some depth. At no point in our excavations 

 did we find any trace of burned wood, bones or other remains 

 which would indicate that the knoll had ever been used either 

 as a place of burial or human occupation. 



With our knowledge of the shifting nature of sand in these 

 hills, it seems most extraordinary that the stones were all at the 

 surface, none being entirely buried. This fact would seem to 

 suggest that the stones could not have lain there for the number 

 of years usually attributed to monuments of the type to which 

 this one has the appearance of belonging. 



While not prepared to assert positively that the stones are, 

 or are not the remains of a monument of great antiquity, as they 

 are localfy regarded, I think it right to suggest that they may 

 have been placed there in comparatively modern times as a base 



