Page:Rude Stone Monuments.djvu/546



—I was unable to get to Glen Columbkille till this week, and I am afraid that I shall be too late to be of use to you. As, however, I did not forget to examine the monuments, I send the notes I made on them. All were written down at the stones themselves. Glen Columbkille is about 4 miles long and 3 broad. Its eastern boundary is a steep rocky mountain, from which the floor of the glen slopes down to the sea, and ends westward in Glen Bay. Glen Bay is of considerable width from its southern point, Rossan, to its northern. Glen Head, but it has only a short beach. There is also a dangerous bar, so that it is an almost impossible landing-place except for curraghs, and in smooth weather for boats. The north side of Glen Columbkille is rocky and steep, and is chiefly formed by the mountain Ballard. The south side, though in parts precipitous, and nowhere a very gradual slope, is not so steep as its opposite. The coast south and north of Glen Bay for miles is a range of cliffs, of from 1900 to 100 feet, with here and there a small beach, but no safe landing-places. South of Glen Columbkille is a smaller and shallower valley, Glen Malin. The sides of Glen Malin are all gradual; its coast is precipitous; on the south it is bounded by a mountain of large base, Leathan. Both Glen Columbkille and Glen Malin are in the parish of Glen Columbkille and barony of Banagh. Most of the great stone structures are in Glen Malin.

The monuments are of three kinds: (1) cromlechs; (2) stone chambers; (3) solitary stones. They are in groups of various size and compactness. There are five distinct groups, a considerable distance apart, and with no apparent connexion of arrangement. Three groups are on the north and two on the south side of the glen. The stones in each have been more or less disturbed, and have been made to serve in lime-kilns and byres and as malt stores. While examining one set, I felt my foot sink, and, lifting the edge of a piece of heather, found an excavation filled with barley, soaking. On getting into another cavity, I found two black lambs inside, and in another some pigs, in another calves. The most remarkable general feature of the architecture that I noticed was that the stones in each group were much of a size, but that in some groups they were a good deal larger