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"Under the window of lord Ormonde's room, at the back lawn side, was found a postern entrance connected with a gallery which runs under the court-yard in the direction of the south tower, between which and the present gateway buildings, about midway, it descends by steps and passes out under the wall towards the stables. The steps were of lime-stone and very much worn, about sixteen in number, forming two flights (see figure 4), with a stone door frame both at the foot and at the top of the landings, with holes in the jambs for bolts that gave them great security; all the jambs both of doors and windows were of a soft brown grit, of which we have now no quarry. There are more of those steps under the window of lord Ormonde's room, which were not disturbed; they led to the passage, or gallery and ditch at the town side. The bones of a human skeleton, with two or three copper coins, were found in this passage.

"Adjoining the gate buildings, the parapets of the old curtain wall were discovered, with its embrasures, spike-holes, and platform; a flight of steps ascended from the banquet or platform to the west tower, in which was the record room. We also found remains of the curtain wall in the rere front at the same level, and the old parapets of the west tower were under the stairs which led to the roof, so that it would appear that the form of this castle at a very early period was somewhat as shown in figure 6.

"In taking down the walls of the west tower, it was discovered that they had contained recesses and galleries. Of the last, we found the broken remains of the covering arch and steps, which led from it to the parapet, two feet four inches long; the north window of lady Ormonde's room was cut as if the gallery had passed through it. One of the recesses contained a window two feet six inches wide, with cut stone frame, and at each side of it was a seat formed of a flag stone; the space between the seats (AA, figure 5) was so narrow as scarcely to admit persons to sit opposite to one another with ease. The entire thickness of the walls was six feet six inches; of this the front wall was but two feet four inches, and well built; the remaining thickness was but loosely built and filled in.

"In preparing to erect the staircase and water closets in the east part of the building, adjoining the tower which overhangs the river, we had to regulate the surface of the wall connected with that tower, which, in consequence of whatever buildings had originally been connected with it having been carelessly removed, was very irregular. In removing the broken offsets as they had stood for many years, several circumstances came to light worthy of preserving the recollection of.

"At the back of the fire-place of the apartment which has latterly been used as a kitchen we found the remains of a stone stairs, which, from being four feet six inches wide, must have been an important

This room was on the ground floor adjoining the western tower; it is now used as

a dining-room, under the window of which the postern above mentioned was situated.

one, and probably the principal stairs of the castle. It landed in the small closet adjoining the tapestry room, and was only discovered by the removal of the floor, preparatory to the erection of the new additions. It was seated on a solid mass of masonry twelve feet thick, and descended to the level of the hall or room above described as a kitchen; about seven steps were found perfect and connected; they were of lime-stone in one piece each; the frame of the door at the foot of this stairs was formed of brown grit, and consisted of many small stones-the head a flat pointed arch, rudely formed. At the springing we found inserted a very strong iron hook on which the door had been hung; the iron was two and a-half inches thick, and from the working of the door the back of it was much worn; and from what we know of the wearing of iron, it must have been in its

place for many years. Lower down we found the grooves in which the fastenings for security ran, and in one of them the wooden bolt remained, but as might be expected, perfectly rotten. Another singular circumstance respecting this door was, that although the entrance to the hall or kitchen was between the same jambs, the level of the modern door was four feet below the level of the ancient one, for at that level the brown grit ceased, and lime-stone was used in the four feet; this gave the old door a most disproportioned appearance until the hacking off of the old plaster explained the cause, for the entire mass of masonry forming the original floor appeared to have been cut down to the lower level, as represented in figure 7.

"Another curious circumstance we discovered, was a spike-hole (B, figure 7) in a wall of two feet thick, which forined part of the mass of masonry on which the steps were seated; at the thickness of two feet the back of this wall had the old plastering on it; the arch of the spikehole and its stone jambs were perfect. It is obvious that the building of the mass of masonry and the seating of the steps were subsequent to the building of the thin wall which contained the spike-hole, and which appears to me to have been part of a wall enclosing some small court looking down upon the river. This circumstance carries the mind very far back into the history of this castle; for the stairs were very rude, and the immense mass of masonry on which the steps were seated was all grouted work, and yet the spike-hole and thin wall formed parts of an earlier building. The stone used in the door case and frame of the spike-hole was also different from that used in the more modern works. I am of opinion that the room at present called the tapestry room' was originally divided into two apartments, for the above stairs led to one of them, which was square; and another stairs at the other side communicated with the other, which was circular, and in the tower, which latter stairs also communicated with the platform on the curtain wall.

"The hill under the new flag tower, now in progress, was found, whilst regulating the sewers, to be strengthened or fortified with walls of masonry, running down the hill at regular intervals, and at right angles to this front of the building."

As an addendum to the above, I give a diagram (see plate on opposite page) showing the plan of the eastern tower, the "break" alluded to in Mr. William Robertson's Report, and the original hall and stair-case of the castle, as they existed before the alterations were commenced. Several small rooms and passages in the thickness of the ancient wall are also laid down on the plan, which is copied from an old drawing now in the possession of the marquis of Ormonde.

NOTES ON THE

EXCAVATION OF A RATH AT DUNBEL, COUNTY OF KILKENNY.

BY JOHN G. A. PRIM.

HAVING ascertained that a rath, or ancient Celtic fort, was being levelled and trenched on the lands of Dunbel, in the county of Kilkenny, by Mr. Michael White, the tenant of the farm, the Rev. James Graves and I considered it our duty, as Secretaries to this Society, to make a personal inspection of the operations there carried on, and ascertain whether any, and what remains of ancient art, domestic utensils, weapons, or ornaments had been discovered in the course of the work. We, accordingly, lost no time in proceeding to the spot, and saw sufficient to interest us so far as to induce us to repeat our visits frequently, and carefully superintend the operations. The result of our observations on those occasions I now beg leave to report to the Society.

The townland of Dunbel-which name the people of the locality translate "the fort of Baal," or, acccording to some, "of fire," taking the emblem by which the Pagan deity was represented as expressed by the name of the deity himself—is thickly studded over with the intrenched habitations of the aboriginal inhabitants of this country; but in the neighbourhood of the Nore, along the elevated ground above the eastern bank of the river, these remains are particularly numerous, every second or third field usually containing one or two raths, located in close contiguity, and showing that this portion of the country was densely populated in the primeval period. On the farm of Mr. White, where it is intersected by the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway, within half a mile of Bennetts-bridge, there is, or rather was, a very remarkable group of circular raths. The principal one is con

I do not mean to vouch for the correctness of this derivation, which smacks very strongly of the Vallancey school, and

perhaps was picked up by the people from some visitor imbued with the etymological mania of the worthy general.