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| THE MOAT OF BALLYLOCHLOE, CO WESTMEATH.-This moat-an entirely artificial hill-according to Mr. T. O'Neill Russell and other Irish antiquarians-may be called the Irish Cholula, because of its peculiar resemblance to the Aztec pyramid of that name, lacking the ruins on the summit, near Puebla, Mexico. It is situated some three miles northwestward from the town of Moat, in Westmeath, and is very accessible to travelers. Mr. Russell, in his "Beauties and Antiquities of Ireland," recently published, says that it was evidently erected for a sepulchral mound, but appears to have been also used as a kind of fortress. The mode of construction is supposed to have been the cutting down of a ridge of sandhills, thus allowing the moat to rise singly from the plain to the elevation of about a hundred and fifty feet. It is of such antiquity that very little is known of its origin. The late W. M. Hennessey held that it was constructed to honor the remains of Lucha, wife of an Irish chief, who was killed in battle in the time of Queen Meave, about the year 40 B. C., and who died of grief because of her husband's death. It is situated within nine miles of the storied hill of Uisneach-one of the favorite meeting places of the ancient Irish-and is not very distant from Knock Cosgrev, or Knock Ash, the geographical centre of the island. |
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