The Ancient Forts Of Ireland PDF Download

Excerpt from The Ancient Forts of Ireland: Being a Contribution Towards Our Knowledge of Their Types, Affinities, and Structural Features It was therefore in no spirit of confidence that I approached this task. A study of many forts of our principal types in various parts of Ireland for over twenty years, and a careful examination of rich districts along the Atlantic seaboard (while showing how vast is the subject, and how little qualified I am to deal with it in its broadest aspects), shows how necessary it is that a definite beginning and some generalisation should be attempted in the hope that a new century may raise a school of students willing to devote themselves to a heavy but important task - a task not yielding popular applause, but invaluable for the right understanding of our records. Readers will, I hope, forgive the so far personal nature of this preface. We will endeavour to set out the results accumulated, hoping that others may start from our goal with wider experience, and, above all, wider knowledge of the remains of "Celtic" forts on the continent of Europe, which form the preface to the story of the Irish forts, which preface nearly all our antiquaries have left unread. Meanwhile we may hope that the little band of workers in this harvest may be encouraged to continue (with additional volunteers) the unthanked labour of publishing detailed descriptions with plans and illustrations, and still more the systematic excavation and exploration of the forts, the only sound bases for fuller treatment of the subject. Two more points we may note, first, that this Paper does not pretend to describe or to utilise all even of the more interesting forts in Ireland secondly, that it avoids ethnological speculation as much as possible, and uses the term 'Celtic' as a mere symbol for the types prevailing in Ireland. Many forts of these types were most probably constructed by tribes to which even the loosest users of the term would never think of applying the word 'Celtic.' It is impossible to divest ones self or ones Paper of all theory, but this Paper is intended to collect results, and not to advocate any theory of our own. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.