¹⁰Bland, F.C. "Description of a Remarkable Building, on the North Side of Kenmare River, Commonly Called Staigue Fort." The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 14 (1825): 26-27.
Regarding his evidence that the builders of the fort may have been ancient miners, Bland writes, " I have been led into this conjecture from the circumstance of there being two excavations made into the solid rock, obviously attempts in quest of ore, in the neighbourhood of this fort; both of them executed before the art of mining was understood. One of these...is sunk about eight feet into a rock of quartz, decidedly in search of ore, and is situated within a mile of [Staigue]. The other is within four hundred yards of it, and is an indentation made into a hard silicious rock...These attempts seem to have been made in the first and rudest period of the art of mining ; and most likely by the occupiers of this fort."