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SCANDINAVIAN ANTIQUITIES OF DUBLIN. 1 53
on the Stein, it will be perceived
that such evidence
of Scandinavian origin is not indispensable.
Of these monuments the tumuli. are the first to
claim attention.
In 1646 an attempt was made to fortify Dublin Scandinavian
tumuli on the
by earthworks, at which Carte says the Marchioness
of Ormonde and other noble ladies "condescended
to carry baskets of earth." To procure this earth they
levelled one of the tumuli on the Stein, of which
there is an engraving in Molyneux's Discourse on
Danish Mounds in Ireland, 1
following description which we copy
and another with the
from Ware's
Antiquities.
"In November, 1646, as people were employed
in removing a little hill in the East Suburbs of
Dublin, in order to form a line of fortification, there
was discovered an ancient sepulchre, placed S.W.
and N.E., composed of eight black marble stones,
of which two made the covering, and was supported
by the others. The length of this monument was
six feet two inches, the breadth three feet one inch,
and the thickness of the stone three inches. At
each corner of it was erected a stone, four feet high,
and near it, at the S.W. end, another ^stone was
placed in the form of a pyramid, six feet high,
of a
rustic work, and of that kind of stone which is
called a millstone. The engraving given is a
of the monument taken before it uas
draught
demolished. Vast quantities of burnt coals, ashes,
and human bones, some of which were in part
burned, and some only scorched were found in it,
i Discourse concerning Danish Mounds, &c., in Ireland : 4to, Dublin. 1 725.
"L