FOUR ANCIENT STONE FORTS Laps1zd bUit it is cle:ar that the entr1an.ce: is alt tlhe northwest cornieT, i.e., wlheire tlhie· triaeik from the stepping stones en.terrs the· fort. Theria· is a distlin.c.t reice&s some inches in width and abQut 2 fe1et in deptm. where this boulderrs of w1hich the· hut is malnly c:onistruct1ed re:ach the nia:tural rock, Utis bedng bro1u.g!bt lilllito usie to form part O:f the ~ou.th wall. The hut is 11 ft. 6 ins. fi:nside length S.E. to N. W., but the crum.btin.g wfrli.ch has tak·2n p1Jacei makies e.x1act me1a.smement difficuLt. '!hie breadth is 13 ft 3 ins. in- ~lide stiandliln;g walls. He;ight of wa.n to €fa1st of e!Il'trianice is 5 n. 21ns. on tme ~d.de n:~.arer tJhie water. With much l'le.gret we had to con.elude that this must have be12in tihe ih111t, probablly cqI11Struct.ed and a~lmost, certainly u1s1ed, by th.e pote·z1n makers. Inc1uding the recess fo·r the boa.ts.mp which is 10 f·cet Wlide total ciroumf,erence of the· is~and, outslide· the wa.11, 1s 443 fe1~:t. The width of the wiaH wlhCch c1omple1te1y surrounds it varti:e:s from 6 ft. 10 ins. to 6 ft. 3 ins., meiasurement,s b2d.ng taken in four p·Lruces. N!eiar the ihut the wall is 3 ft. 1:0 ins. high, but such ocf the wall' as is .srl:!ill s.tandng here appisiars to be all re:co!Il's:truct{o1ni, prerum:ably by :poteen makexs. ni:.ia.m-e1ter from ou:tsade of wall to oiu:t~l'.ide of wall almost due north and ~ou:bh from rbeS!ide the boaitsK:p js 121! feet. For what it ~s worth east-we.sit dli:ameter is 52 st:eps, as I made it, but the thiek undJ2!l'growtJh. made exact mErasiUremeinit, de'S;pd.t3: all tAhe Campbell family labours, impossible. 'Ilhere is: a rocky mound in the centre towards the· east 12nd of t:he i,slaind: this1 is cov.ered w1th some 3 i1rnc1h2s Qf son and many lo:ose boulde·rS obviously ta~en from the bed of the lo-c1ho: ther·e is: a tr.a.cc of a landinig-plaee out.sdde the wiali near the breach by whd1ch one apprqa.c:hes th~ hut des:c-rihed earlier. The above-mentioned mound b(.- gins to rise -25! feet from the shore on the· S.E. Slide, 3{) f1e·et frQm that on the N_,E The rise is. too unceirta.in for other s~1ch in2asur€·men ts owing to sticks, grass, etc. T!he loc1hi is to be found on Sheet 75 of the 6 in:cih O.S. ma;p, and on Shieet 23 of the 1 inic:h. map. It seems tlha.t tihe name . 'Anna.' is really tfrle· genartiv1e of, 'Annagh' and Ura t 'Loch Anniar means 'lake- or: the hoog This :propeTly d:isposies of the story o-f tihe fortress as, originally, a place of imprasonme:n.t of a 1ady nam-ed Anna held 11hisre by Qll:e orf the O'Donnells. The walls of the fortress are r1el!ia,bly said to ihiave crumbl::.:d when the 11eve:l of the loch was raii.sed to s'WJ)ply watisr for a corn mill below in the G len;ties d'irection. M·cBhane seems tic> ha.vie been tlhe name of tJhe priest who is s:aiid to have constructed the boa.t.silip, and 1888 the- y€!ar in whlch h€' came-to Glenties. The nature o.f the· m.aterlal insli.de the island and the oibvlously natural or:igin of the otiher two islands seem to rule out any i.ikeKlhQIQd that th~s ls a cra.nrnog: the wall seems mu.ch more ]ik·ely to ha.ve been built to afford prote·c'tion dn "tihe numeroulSi intertribaf conflricts by whLch th2 district was d!lsiturbed in tihe ear1ie:st histo-riical tlmea and could have been used either as a permanent store or as a te1nporary refu.g1::· f·or humans, or for both. Tihe s1te1 of a llarge for·t, now much des~troyed, can ba seen overhanig;iJilg Gle~tiies as one looks in that direct1ion from the eminence on which the- loch is situated: but t,here: does not seem to be any rn'!cess:ary conrnectjon b:=tween tlhiis fort amid the one: d'es.cribed hi:;re. Its d~srtr!Uction, at ·lefl;St,· is _the subject o.f many a tale. 497.
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