1867.] ' WYNNE YOUGHAL. 7 



sea-shells and their fragments, from the base nearly to the very- 

 top, generally white, much worn, and of an aged appearance 

 (including Whelk, Mussel, Trochus, Cardium, Patella, Venus, &c.). 

 Some fragments of wood, in the form of charcoal, were found in 

 one spot lying together, near the top of the cliff; and the uppermost 

 stratum of the hill contains numerous land-shells {Helix &c.). 



Although there are no exposures of peat beneath the sand imme- 

 diately at the foot of Clay-Castle Hill, from which place it might, 

 indeed, have been washed away, and whether the hill-strata are to 

 be supposed contemporaneous with the rest of the beach or not, it 

 is nevertheless shown by the foregoing remarks to be a raised beach ; 

 so that we have here evidence both of elevation and depression, 

 which seem to have taken place in the manner which will be now 

 suggested. 



At some time (about the close of the Glacial period, perhaps) the 

 sea was further from the present land than *it is now ; or otherwise 

 the land in this neighbourhood had a greater elevation, and the low 

 ground of the Castlemartyr valley sloped gently further out to the 

 seaward, being covered by an accumulation of peat where forest- 

 trees had grown. The land became depressed — it may be, generally, 

 as such evidences are common round the shores of Ireland as well 

 as of parts of England ; but, whether generally or locally, the land 

 here sank to a depth of more than 90, perhaps 100 feet, or even 

 more. 



Subsequently to this depression of 90, 100, or more feet, the land 

 rose again, but not to its former level, though it may have nearly 

 reached this ; for a great portion of the boggy strand at the western 

 side of Youghal Bay is never more than a few feet below low-water 

 mark. 



At present, and for years past, the land seems to have been 

 subjected only to erosive action by the sea. Claycastle Cliff is being 

 rapidly reduced by atmospheric agencies ; and in dry weather 

 streams of sand, greatly increased by wind, may be seen running 

 down its face, so that in a few years hence the cliff may disappear ; 

 but I have found nothing to show that the erosive action of the 

 sea is at present being assisted by another downward movement of 

 the land. 



Dr. Smith, in his history above alluded to, mentions some islands 

 at Ballycotton Head, a few miles south-west of this place, but 

 does not notice the existence of the larger islet called Capel or 

 Cable Island, off the Point of Knockadoon, supposed to be the Ring 

 Point named by him, as there is a place called Ring in its vicinity — 

 though something in its locality, without a name, is indicated, on his 

 map of the Co. of Cork, as existing in the year 1750. Traditions 

 in the country declare this Capel or Cable Island to have been but 

 recently separated from the mainland. 



At a little distance from Claycastle Hill, on the landward side, is 

 a rounded elevation of less height, the base of which has been 



pit I met with, in the centre and south of Ireland without ever finding a trace 

 of a sea-shell or fragment of one, I am led to place the cases in contrast. 



