Annual Meeting. 107 



acquaintance with the ancient spellings ; but it is easy to interpret 

 his meaning as the Round Mound, otherwise Dun de Courcy, or 

 de Courcy's Fort. 



I can find no further direct reference to the Mound of 

 Downpatrick until we get back to the entries in The Annals of 

 the year 1177. In the Four Masters the following occurs: — 

 "An army was led by John de Courcy and the Knights into 

 Dalaradia and to Dundaleathghlas ; they slew Donnell, the 

 grandson of Cathasach (this is jjossibly a mistake, or another 

 name for McDunlevy), Lord of Dalaradia. Dundaleathghlas was 

 plundered and destroyed by John and the Knights who came in 

 his army. A castle was erected by them there, out of which 

 they defeated the Ulidians twice, &c." The annals of Innis- 

 fallen, however, give us more pai'ticulars of this castle of de 

 Courcy. They record : "John de Courcy on this occasion erected 

 a strong foi't of stones and clay at Down, and drew a ditch or 

 wall from sea to sea."* This account exactly describes the 

 mound as it was before the flood gates at the mouth of the 

 Quoile were erected, when the sea came round three sides of the 

 mound ; the existing outer trench and vallum exactly correspond 

 with "a ditch or wall from sea to sea," while the inner trench 

 and motte and bailey are clearly the " strong fort of stones and 

 clay." 



In the following notes I adopt the terms ' motte ' and 

 ' bailey,' following the lines laid down by Mrs. Armitage in her 

 " Early Norman Castles of the British Isles." A motte is still 

 the French word meaning a lump or ball of earth. In Doomsday 

 it is used to designate the mound which was always a feature of 

 an early Norraau castle, and on which a wooden tower or 

 bretasch was built. These mottes were usually at one side of and 

 within a circular or oval enclosure, leaving the remainder of the 

 enclosure crescent-shaped, as in the present instance. This fiat 

 crescent-shaped enclosure was called the bailey, and corresponded 



*Annals F. M., O'Donovan ; anno 1177, note Ic. 



