Over sixty new illustrations have been added to the present edition of this book. I am especially indebted to the Council of the Royal Irish Academy for the use of a large number of illustrations in the chapters on the Stone and Bronze Ages, Burial Customs, and Lake-dwellings; to the Council of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, for permission to use and reproduce several illustrations and plans; to Colonel Wood-Martin, for the use of illustrations from his several works on Irish Archæology; to Mr. John Murray, for the illustration and plans of Newgrange; to Mr. Edward Stanford, for permission to use the plan of Tara from my edition of _Murray’s Handbook for Ireland_; to the Secretary and Board of Education (England), for the illustration of Monasterboice High Cross; to them and to Dr. Joyce, for the illustrations of the Chalice of Ardagh, the Cross of Cong, and Tara Brooch; and to the Rev. Maxwell Close, for details as to the measurements of several of the cromlechs and weights of the covering stones; also for the photograph from which the block of Kernanstown cromlech has been prepared. Some of the plans, and the illustrations of the Clonmacnoise Crosses (taken from Petrie’s _Christian Inscriptions_), are the work of Miss Ivy H. Cooke; the wood-blocks from these have been prepared by Mrs. Watson. To my friend Mr. S. A. O. Fitz Patrick I am again indebted for his great kindness in reading the proof-sheets of this book. It is hoped that it will supply the want felt by many interested in Irish archæology--an interest evidenced by the maintenance of their usual high standard, in the publications of the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and by the foundation in recent years of five provincial Archæological Societies, whose excellent publications deal more especially with their several fields of research. My indebtedness to the publications of the two former Bodies is apparent by references in the footnotes. For the sake of convenience of reference, I have referred throughout to the publications of the Kilkenny Archæological Society, later the Royal Historical and Archæological Association, and now the Royal Society of Antiquaries, under the last-named title, giving the year in each instance. An Index to the whole series of their _Journal_ has just been completed by the Society. JOHN COOKE. 66, MOREHAMPTON ROAD, DUBLIN, _January, 1903_. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE, v CHAPTER I. STONE MONUMENTS, 1 CHAPTER II. STONE MONUMENTS--_continued_, 48 CHAPTER III. STONE MONUMENTS--_continued_, 80 CHAPTER IV.