Elcock Pre- Historic Monuments at Carrowmore. 257 
edge, measuring nearly ten feet above ground, and as wide as 
high : its thickness is about seven inches. It has a large quad- 
rangular hole cut through it, large enough for a man to creep 
through with ease. It forms a “ mearing point ” for the three 
adjoining parishes. Why it was erected, or when, is quite lost, 
and I could learn no tradition respecting it. Is it one of the 
old Pagan oath stones, such as the Maen-an-Thol, in Cornwall, 
or as “ The Long Stone ” at Minchinhampton, in Gloucester- 
shire ? . Besides being used for swearing, such stones were used 
for curing children who had the measles, whooping-cough, &c., 
by passing the child through the hole ! A superstition which 
it is hoped is now quite gone. 
There is yet one more of the antiquities in Carrowmore 
which must be mentioned, although properly speaking not 
exactly belonging to the Moytura monuments. This is The 
Caltragh, a large Pagan burying ground, about a quarter of a 
mile due east of Cromleac No. 13. It may be seen from the 
field in which this cromleac stands, and from Listoghil. The 
Caltragh is an irregularly circular mound, about one hundred 
and fifty yards in diameter, enclosed by a wall. Some slight 
excavations made here and therfe many years ago, showed it to 
be full of human bones. The examination was difficult, owing 
to the prejudices of the neighbourhood. No burial has ever 
taken place there within the reach of tradition, and the ground 
is regarded as under a sort of taboo . Undoubtedly it dates 
from a very remote antiquity— probably much older than the 
Carrowmore monuments. 
The whole of these monuments are included in the Act for 
the Preservation of Ancient Monuments. 
There is now little doubt that the stone enclosures known as 
Druidical Circles, Druid’s Altars, and such like, are invariably 
sepulchral, with which the Druids had no sort of connection as 
to worship. The stone circles in all probability mark the 
burial places of the common soldiers who fell in the battle, and 
the cromleac in the centre, the grave of the chieftain— the 
