736 



5, two yards ; from 5 to 6, three yards. In the centre of the circle 

 are lying flat two stones, numbered on the plan 7 and 8. No. 5 is in- 

 scribed with a cup, having ten others in a circle round it ; the circle 

 measuring ten inches across, and having four other cups in an incom- 

 plete circle round this again, nearly eighteen inches across, the cups 

 being about an inch and a half in diameter and a quarter of an inch 

 deep; there are also 28 similar cups in one group on this stone. 



JSo. 8 contains a circular hole, six and a half inches in diameter, 

 cut vertically, with much precision and smoothness, to a depth of 

 three inches. For what use this may have been intended it would be 

 difficult to conjecture, if we do not suppose that the stone itself has 

 been unfinished, or not completely pierced through ; such as is de- 

 scribed by Carro (pp. 47 and 48, Paris, 1863), and again by Le Baron 

 A. de Bonstetten (pp. 15 and 16, Geneva, 1865), as a rare instance 

 occurring in cromleacs or dolmens in Palestine and in India, and espe- 

 cially in that of Trie-le- Chateau, near Gisors, in Prance, destined for 

 giving access for fresh sepultures without removing any of the stones, 

 and through a space not sufficient to admit a human body. 



The third, or southern circle, twelve yards south of the middle 

 one, and twenty-three yards in diameter, at present contains only seven 

 stones, with an eighth lying five yards west of its boundary. The 

 distance from "No. 1 to No. 2 is seven yards ; from 2 to 3, fifteen yards ; 

 from 3 to 4, four yards ; from 4 to 5, nine yards ; and Nos. 5, 6, and 

 7 adjoin one another. 



Y. 



Crowning the top of the Hill of Patrickstown, which attains the 

 height of 885 feet, there stood until within the past few years one of 

 the most conspicuous cairns in the range Its diameter is thirty-three 

 yards ; but only a few cartloads of the stones which formed it now re- 

 main, the rest having been used up by Mr. Edward Eotheram of 

 Crossdrum, the proprietor of the hill, in the construction of adjoining 

 fences.* 



Z. 



At the base of the eastern peak, on the south side, stands the 

 Moat of Patrickstown. It measures 115 paces round the base, 45 feet 

 in slant height, and 40 paces round the circumference at the top, 



* Nearly four hundred yards east of this cairn are the remains of a buying place, 

 measuring 16 x 14 yards in extent, and raised three or four feet higher than the adjoin- 

 ing ground. Early in the sixteenth century a regular battle was fought on this hill 

 between two neighbouring septs — the Plunkets and the O'Reillys ; and it is said that the 

 dead of both parties who remained on the field after the battle were interred here. The 

 inclosure contains an upright stone — possibly the shaft of a rude cross— measuring seven 

 feet in height, one foot six inches broad, and eight inches thick. 



