PAGAN IK E LAX D
' 3f am? thcic be which arc bcaftOttfl to he Stranaci
m then ownc Mile, bus forrainen In their ownc
Citic. tbcf mat bo continue, anc therein Battel
tbenwervca. Jot racb Ifltc 3 have not written tbeac
[inee not taken tbesc patnea.' i
Frond
Anlii.m 1'roolodyte Retrrat.
A passage in the Great Cave of Glcniff, Co. ^ligo fsee p. 5J. From a
photograph taken hy Magn< sinm light.
PAGAN IRELAND
. LV AR( 'IL GEOLOGICAL SKETCH
3 fi?antil)ook of Irigij Pre trimstian antiquities
I A
\\\ G. Wool) -.MAR TIN, M.R.I. A.
A I rHOR "l
77i,- I..: ■ Ireland
The Rude St >••■ Monuments 0/ Ireland (C . v. . &-c.)
History of Sligo, County <"t<i 1
■ ~< .
oolith jlunurou:; .Mlu.stntiom;
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO
A X D N E W YOKK
1895
[all rights reserved]
Printed at I in University Press, Dui
APR 17
Wastry n ^
&«•?«
PREFACE.
REHISTORIC Ak< lLTiOLOGY has been
j defined as ' the history of men, and
thing's which have no history.' It
has forced the hitherto silent past to
speak, and we have now indisputable
evidence that, in [reland, man has lived
through great changes of climate, and has seen
many races of animals disappear from before
him — the mammoth, probably ; the elk, reindeer,
bear, and wolf, certainly.
The earliest records of primitive man were,
until a comparatively recent period, passed
over unnoticed, although a mass of such evi-
dence proves that a Stone Age prevailed at
one time, not in Ireland alone, but in almost
everv district of tin- inhabited world. This is
confirmed by tin- analogous forms of flint im-
plements, and also the identity of ornamenta-
tion, designed by races widely separated. The
vi PREFACE.
earliest implements are found in the gravel-
drift, and are of the rudest manufacture; but
from them can be traced a continuous im-
provement and development in shape and
manufacture, until they give place to the more
highly-finished weapons of bronze. By a com-
parison of Irish waifs of antiquity with kindred
objects in other countries throughout the globe,
conjectures can be formed as to the social state
of this country during the pre-Christian period.
The descriptions which follow, of ancient re-
mains traceable to Pagan times, are derived
from the accounts of various explorations and
surveys made, in each branch, by competent
archseologists, and are here reproduced — in
many instances in the very words of the writers.
The Bibliography at the end of the volume
comprises a list of upwards of one thousand
papers and works, by about three hundred differ-
ent authors. An idea may be thus conveyed of
the vast scaffolding erected for the building of a
comprehensive guide to pre-Christian archae-
ology. In such a plethora of literature the
principal difficulty lay in selecting the best and
most suitable material for the purpose.
With regard to the quotations of national
folk-lore, as elucidating the salient features of
the ancient religions, there is little doubt that
PREFACE. vii
pre-Christian ideas still colour the beliefs of the
lower strata of the population, especially in the
South and West. Paganism there still holds
sway in the imagination of the peasantry in
remote districts, but slightly veiled in its
Christianised form, retaining thus many pri-
meval doctrines, and, strange to narrate, these
beliefs, wild legends, and mythology, when
reduced to writing, have been given as veritable
history by many writers.
It is hoped that this short sketch of Pagan
Ireland maybe acceptable to the general reader,
who, as a rule, dislikes minute technicalities.
To treat the subject exhaustively, every chapter
would expand into a volume; and, although the
reader might, perhaps, gain more insight into
minute details of the past, yet it is questionable
if he would, after perusal, obtain any clearer
general insight into the life of the remote
past. This work may also give an impetus
to future researches and investigations. Fresh
facts, in the archaeological field, accumulate
but slowly ; the world is too busy to devote
much thought to the things of the past, so
it behoves us to note them as soon as they
appear. Information with regard to any new
discovery, the titles of books, or papers, bearing
on Irish pre-Christian archaeology uncatalogued
viii PREFACE.
in the Bibliography at the end of this volume,
or any reference to Pagan times, will be thank-
fully received by the writer. Minor details may
be subjected to modification, but it is trusted
that a sufficient number of well-authenticated
facts have been accumulated to make the gene-
ral deductions tolerably firm.
For the varied subjects passed in review
numerous illustrations have been drawn, and
many, already in existence, have also been
utilized. To the Council of the Royal Irish
Academy the writer is indebted for the use of
155 illustrations, principally from the Catalogue
of Antiquities of their Museum ; the Council of
the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland lent
about 40 engravings, and but for the facilities
thus afforded it would have been extremely
difficult to produce a work on Irish archaeology.
The writer takes this opportunity of expressing
his indebtedness to the Councils of these two
Societies. The Society of Antiquaries of Scot-
land granted the use of ten plates illustrative of
the sculpturings in the chambers of the Lough-
crew group of earns ; twenty engravings of
stone moulds and of ornamentation on bronze
were given by the well-known antiquary, Sir
John Evans. Figures 51, 52, and 53 are the
property of the Anthropological Society, and
PREFACE. ix
were previously lent for The Lake- Dwellings of
Ireland. The map at the end of the volume is
reproduced by permission of the Society of
Antiquaries of London. Other illustrations are
acknowledged in the text. It may be well to
add that the attempted restorations of the Irish
elk and reindeer (figs, i and 2) are probably not
very true to nature.
Cleveragh, Sligo,
July, 1895.
Note. — Page III, line 18. White and coloured Pebbles found
with Pagan Interments. — In the present day, if a person in the
Orkney or Shetland Isles is supposed to have been affected by the
' Evil Eye,' he is cured by having administered to him water, both
externally and internally, into which has been dropped some
charms supposed to possess magical power. As a rule these are
pebbles of different colours gathered from the seashore. The
charm is considered most potent when one stone is black, another
white, the remainder being red, blue, or of greenish tint. This
clue is explanatory of the deposition of pebbles of various colours
in ancient pagan graves.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN 1-25
Lengthened duration of paganism in Ireland. — Legends of the
peopling of the country before the Flood. — Early depredators on
the Irish coast arrived from the North. — Primitive man used
flint implements. — Cave-dwellers, or troglodytes, probably the
most ancient inhabitants of" the land, being contemporar}' with
the elk, reindeer, and other animals now extinct. — Prehistoric
mammals domesticated by man. — Varieties of the Irish wolf-
dog. — Successive waves of population in Ireland. — Two distinct
types of skull discovered, the round-headed and long-headed. —
Proofs of these people having used very hard food.
CHAPTER II.
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC ? ... 26-59
Characteristic traits of human nature everywhere the same. —
How antiquarian research in Ireland should be conducted. —
Irish legends naturally divided into two epochs. — Did the pagan
Irish possess a primitive alphabet ? — Ordinary ogham alphabet. —
Inscriptions in ogham. — What are rock-scribings ? — Great num-
ber throughout Ireland. — Caution required before attaching
much importance to them. — Ludicrous mistakes regarding the
Tory-Hill inscription. — Attempts at impositions — Irregular
scorings to be viewed with suspicion. — Scribings in chambers
and passages of megalithic monuments and on sub-aerial boulders
present analogous characteristics — Early forms of this decora-
tion repeated on fictilia and on articles of bronze and of gold. —
Attempts of early man confined, as a rule, to rude lineal decora-
tive patterns. — Interlacing-tracery not to be referred to a period
antecedent to Christianity.
Xll
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
PAGE
EARLY HISTORY, 60-94
Tighernach, the most reliable of Irish scribes. — Early history, a
mixture of truth, exaggeration, allegory, and fiction. — No state-
ment should be advanced merely on the authority of Irish MSS.
■ — Should be corroborated by archaeological research. — The spade
a conclusive solver of problems. — Ancient designations of Ire-
land. — References to Ireland by early writers of Greece and
Rome. — Map of Ireland by Claudius Ptolemy. — Places identified.
—Alleged descent on Ireland by the Romans. — Few articles of
Roman manufacture found. — Little difference between the reli-
gious worship of inhabitants of Ireland and those of Britain and
of Gaul. — Description of powers exercised by the Druids. — Their
doctrines and beliefs. — Little trace of their religion now dis-
coverable. — Many deities of the Irish appear to have been
deified mortals : a species of ancestor worship. — At the advent of
the first Christian missionaries probably an unhealed feud ex-
isted between the Druids and the majority of the people who
were ancestor worshippers. — Small communities of Christians
existed before arrival of St. Patrick. — His appearance at Tara. —
Contest between Christianity and Druidism. — St. Patrick's belief
in the efficacy of the incantations and magic of the Druids. —
His employment of the shamrock as symbol of the Trinity, a proof
that the plant was probably then held in honour. — Importation
of pagan ideas and observances into Christianity. — Rites of
purification by fire and by water.
CHAPTER IV.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.— WERE THE ABORI-
GINES CANNIBALS? 95-122
Accounts of the alleged cannibalism of the ancient Irish as given
by pagan writers corroborated by St. Jerome and others. —
Descriptions by classical authorities of the savages of their day
almost identical with accounts of modern travellers of customs
still prevalent amongst savage tribes. — Recorded evidences of
cannibalism in Ireland describe customs that maybe paralleled
among practices still existent in tribes of cannibals. — Wakes, a
fragmentary relic of cannibalistic feasts. — Mould taken from a
grave, human bones ground fine, or adipocere administered to
the sick, instances where the body of the deceased is consumed,
either figuratively or in reality. — Many savage customs men-
tioned in Irish MSS.— St. Patrick condemns human sacrifice.—
The dead buried in different positions ; modi' of interments varied :
CONTENTS. xiii
PAGE
first stage carnal, then cremation, again carnal. — Great com-
mingling as one custom overlapped the other. — Remains gener-
ally fragmentary, cremations imperfect in results. — Certain
marks and cracks in human bones not a sign of cannibalism ;
animal and human bones commingled, a significant fact. — White
and other coloured oval stones. — These pieces of quartz crystal
found with the dead, emblematic of some religious idea. —
Shakspeare refers to the custom.— It is still in some places
extant. — Skeletons rarely, if ever, perfect. — In some cases the
remains thrown in promiscuously.— Account of apparent traces
of cannibalistic feast. — Remains of animals frequently occur. —
Description of earn on Topped mountain. — The cists, or re-
ceptacles for the dead, could not have received even one corpse
entire. — Traces of several individuals found. — Position of earn
affords some data by which the time of its formation may be
calculated.— Erected before the commencement of the forma-
tion of peat.— Covered then to a considerable depth by the new
growth.— Great age only approximately to be calculated-
divergence of opinion between native writers and classic
authorities and archaeological explorers.— Traces of cannibalism
exhibited in interments unimpeachable evidence; primitive in-
habitants of Erin, Caledonia, and Albion cannibals.
CHArTER V.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS, 123-176
Survivals of an older faith than Christianity.— Distinct traces
of paganism still to be found.— Undefined borderland between
paganism and Christianity.— Reactions against Christianity.—
Memory of the gods of ancient Erin almost vanished.— The
goddesses Aynia and Vera.— Badb, the war goddess, the
Valkyria of the Irish.— Neman.— Morrigan.— Macha.— Cleena,
probably the Gaulish goddess Clutonda.— Grian — Grana and
Murna degenerate into banshees or ancestral spirits, and
' witches' or ' hags.'— Deities of one period become demons of
another— not originally believed to be malignant.— Fairies prob-
ably representative of conquered races, objects of strange fear,
but not regarded as malignant or powerful for evil, as the
' hags ' or ' witches.'— Characters ascribed to supernatural
beings by savages reflect their own nature.— Their fear of the
dead— Their worship of what they dread— Also of what con-
tributes to their wants and necessities— Similarity between
eastern and Irish legends.— Some present beautiful fancies.—
Butterfly hovering near a corpse regarded as the soul of the
deceased.— Worship of pillar-stones.— Women regarded as
contaminating sacred localities.-Worship at holy wells an
x i v CONTENTS.
adoption of a heathen custom. — Pagan ceremonial of the
Desiul.— Ceremonial styled Tuathbel, i. e. left-handed, or
' withershins? employed for magical purposes, for maledictions,
or for cursing one's enemies. — Ritual for both ceremonies. —
Definition of a well-delivered malediction. — Localities in which
cursing-stones are still in sitti and employed. — Turned desiul-
wise when praying, tuathbel-wise when cursing. — Magical and
healing-stones.— Praying to standing stones. — Prayers at holy
wells. — Offerings to the spirit of the place. — Ritual used tor the
cure of disease — Description of typical wells throughout the
Kingdom. — Ritual apparently uniform. — Some wells gifted with
power of producing fair or foul weather. — Area over which well-
worship extends of great magnitude.— The lowest form of animal
life invested with power of influencing the actions of men. —
' Totem ' worship. — Certain races or families could assume the
form of wolves. — Witches that of hares. — Magical habits at-
tributed to cattle. — To boars.- — Divination. — The wren held
sacred. — Medicinal properties of herbs known. — Tree-worship.
— Relic ot a pagan procession. — Tree, stone, and well, worship
intimately connected — The gods, however, not all inanimate
objects of nature. — Some of Gaulish or Iberno-Celtic origin.
CHAPTER VI.
ARCHITECTURE— LAKE-DWELLINGS-REFUSE-HEAPS
—CHARIOTS— BOATS, 177-257
First efforts in architecture — Two great divisions. — Pagan and
early Christian. — Stone fortresses. — Cashels, their walls, flights
of steps, entrances, divisions in the interior. — Vitrified build-
ings, lines of stones outside the enceinte. — Typical cashels,
Inismurray. — Grianan of Aileach, Cahernamactierach, Cashel-
ore. —Fortified headland, Dunamoe. — Pagan architecture, and
vandalism of the Board of Works. — Stone beehive-shaped huts,
or clochans, resembling those of the Esquimaux. — Sweat-
houses. — Earthen works, raths. — Description of. — Tara. — Rath
Croghan, Whitcchurch, Dumbell. — Ardfinnan. — Souterraines
built for residences, for defence, for storehouses. — Mentioned in
writings still extant.— That in Rath of Parkmore, Murtyclogh,
Doon, Dysart. — Found unconnected with raths.— Spirit of the
Earth. — Needful to appease, before commencing to build. —
Water Spirit also required his tribute. —Irish lake-dwellings.—
How formed. — Characteristic examples given. — Stockading
round. — Huts in one discovered entire under a great depth of
peat.— An historical crannog.— Lagore.— Hitherto undescribed
rrannogs. — Lough Talt. — Lough Gill. — Nobber. — A sub-
marine crannog, Ardmorc.— Food of lake-dwellers.— Probable
CONTENTS.
age of structures.— Traces of primitive settlements on the sea
shore.— W. J. Knowles on these.— Examples given from various
parts of Ireland. — Kitchen middens and cooking places. — Bo°-
butter.— Bronze utensils.— Fire, how produced.— Bones prob-
ably used as fuel.— Means of locomotion— Chariots.— Wooden
roadways.— Canoes, currachs, paddles.— An ancient horse-
marine.— Irish possessed no navy.— Pagan Irish have not left
architectural remains which entitle them to claim high culture
and civilization.
XV
CHAPTER VII.
SEPULCHRES — PILLAR-STONES— SPEAKING-STONES- -
HOLED-STONES— STONE CHAIRS— ROCKING-STONES, 258-319
Sepulchres.— Protection by Act of Parliament nominal.— Size
depends on geological circumstances.— Cromleacs : definition
of. — Slope of covering-stones. — Surrounded by stone circles. —
Were never covered over. — Large size of table-stones.— Mount
Brown, Howth, Moytirra, Ballymascallan, Legananny, Tawn-
natruffaun, Carrowmore. — Probable mode of construction. —
Cists : description of.— Constructed below as well as on the
soil. — Strange, fantastic, and local, or descriptive designations,
bestowed by the peasantry on all this class of monuments. —
Similarity of Pagan and early Christian sepulchres. — An ' his-
torical cromleac' near Ballina. — Remarkable monument in the
Deer-park, near Sligo. — General orientation of sepulchres. —
Hammer-shaped, triangular, and dumb-bell-shaped graves.
Cams, and tumuli of later date than cromleacs.- Star-shaped
example.— Objects found in them.— Chambers not always in
centre. — Sometimes merely cenotaphs. — Newgrange group of
earns : description of.— Probable date of. — Loughcrew group of
earns : description of. — Probable date of. — Rathcroghan : ceme-
tery of. — Terraced cam near Sligo. — Cam on Knocknarea. —
Late period to which the erection of earns may be relegated. —
Ancient churches built in the immediate Vicinity of. — Earthen
barrow and tumuli : various descriptions of. — Ancient pagan
cemeteries. — Varieties of form observable in outlines of mega-
lithic and earthen monuments. — How they may be accounted
for. — Pillar- or ' cat '-stones, legends relating to, Westmeath,
Cork, Sligo, Inishbofin, &c. — Magical wands. — Speaking-
stones, legends relating to, Meath, Mayo, Tyrone, Antrim, &c.
— Holed-stones, legends relating to, Scotland, England, Ire-
land.— Original purpose for which the apertures were used. —
Alignments of stones. — Chairs of stone.— The ' Lia Fail,' or
coronation-stone, in Westminster Abbey. — Rocking-stones —
natural phenomena ; occur in groups ; frequent in some geolo-
gical formations ; various names for; mentioned by Pliny.
xvi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
PACK
FICTILIA AND STONE URNS, 320-362
Ceramic remains from ancient sepulchres compared with pot-
tery made by primitive people of the present day. — Fabrication
of earthenware by Indian tribes of Louisiana, of California, of
New Guinea. — Culinary fictilia of Irish lake-dwelling's. — Sepul-
chral fictilia. — ' Food-vessels ' and ' incense-cups ' may be styled
'secondary fictilia.' — Vase-shaped fictilia. — Distinct character-
istics of fictilia. — Manufacture of, at place of sepulture. — Stages
in the process of their manufacture. — Various styles of orna-
mentation. — Contain incinerated human and animal osseous
remains. — These supposed by the peasantry to be gold. — Cere-
monies used to make them resume their mineral appearance. —
Fracture of vessel on failure. — ' Field ' cists. — Pagans had large
cemeteries. — Numbers of urns found ; generally with mouth
downwards. — Urns enclosed in cylinders, or covered by larger
fictilia. — Base of vessel sometimes imperfect. — Supposed to be
so left to permit exit of spirit. — Mention of cremation alleged
to be absent from history or tradition. — The supposition probably
erroneous. — Urns formed of stone sometimes discovered.
CHAPTER IX.
FLINT, STONE, BONE, AND WOODEN IMPLEMENTS.— aft
BULLAUNS.— WHORLS, 363-*^-
Age of stone in Ireland almost identical with that, wherever
traces of primitive man are discovered. — Early discoveries of
flint implements imperfectly chronicled. — Latterly accurately
classified. — Superstitions prevalent with regard to flint imple-
ments. — Found in greatest quantity in the North of Ireland. —
Geological features of the districts described. — Gravels. —
Palaeolithic implements. — Neolithic implements.— Cores of flint.
— Evidence of their being formed by human agency.— Bulb of
percussion.— Hammer-stones for chipping flint.— Flint arrow-
heads. —Their varieties described. — Spear-heads. —Varieties
described.— Sling-stones.— Picks.— Chisels.— Thumb-flints, or
scrapers.— Stone hatchets and axes.— Formed of various mate-
rials.— Of jade.— Hatchets vary in form.— How fabricated.— A
few decorated and perforated.— Mode employed in hafting.—
Stone hammers.— -Stone punches.— Tracked- stones, or whet-
stones.— Stone weights.— Bone weights or rings.— Implements
of horn and bone.— Dagger-like implements of cetaceous bone.
—Axe formed of bone.— Wooden implements.— Fragment of
wooden sword.— Wooden implements supposed to have been
employed for piscatory purposes.— Wooden single-piece barrels,
CONTENTS.
xvn
containing bog-butter. — Wooden yokes.— Stone bullauns,
probably of pagan origin. — Primitive grain-rubbers.— Gradu-
ally develop into hand-mills or querns. — Spindle-whorls, by
the country-people styled fairy-millstones.— Found in greatest
number on the sites of lake- dwellings— Formed of stone and
bone.— Are of a comparatively late period.— In Ireland, as else-
where, there appears to have been both a palaeolithic and a
neolithic period.
CHAPTER X.
BRONZE IMPLEMENTS, WEAPONS-STONE MOULDS-
BRONZE FASTENERS, CALDRONS, SHIELDS, LAMPS,
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,
Metallurgic art existed at an early period amongst the primitive
inhabitants.— Doubtful if there was an age of pure copper. —
Bronze.— How formed.— Analysis of ancient metal.— Numerous
sites of ancient copper mines discovered.— Copper hatchets. —
Bronze hatchets. — Three varieties of bronze hatchets. — Simple
flat hatchets.— Winged orflanged hatchets.— Socketed hatchets.
— How hafted. — Bronze hatchet discovered with wooden handle
still adhering. — Blades when discovered covered with patina. —
Difficult for forgeries to be palmed off. — Bronze swords. —
Probable manner by which they were tempered. — Soldering an
unknown art, but bronze sometimes burned on bronze. — Sword-
blades of bronze present three distinct varieties : (i.) the leaf-
shaped sword ; (ii.) the straight -edged rapier; (iii.) the broad,
round-ended, and scythe-shaped weapon. — Different manner in
which swords were hafted. — Bronze sword scabbards. — Ter-
minals or chapes.— Pommels. — Daggers of bronze resemble
miniature swords, and may be classified in the same manner. —
Battle-axes. — Implements styled sickles. — Spear-, or javelin-
heads divided into four varieties: (i.) the leaf-shaped head;
(ii.) with loops; (iii.) loops moved up near, and then (iv.) into
blade. — Spear butt-ends of bronze. — Varieties of arrow-heads
described. — Various modes in which implements were cast. —
Sand or clay moulds, metal moulds, stone moulds. — The great
number of moulds discovered, together with the numerous
objects composed of bronze often found together in a frag-
mentary condition, afford testimony that weapons and orna-
ments of every description were manufactured in Ireland. —
Anvils of bronze. — Ring armour. — Bronze strap-fasteners. —
Harness fittings. — Single-piece and built caldrons of bronze. —
Bronze shields. — Shoes. — Lamps.— Objects for toilet purposes.
— Varieties of musical instruments. — Harps, horns, trumpets. —
Defensive armour, shields and musical instruments belong to a
recent period, in which the use of bronze and iron overlapped
and commingled.
4ft
xviii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
PAGE
GOLD, 476-512
Articles made of gold found in large quantities throughout
Ireland. — Gold in the ore of common occurence. — The Wicklow
gold-fields. — Re-discovered by a poor schoolmaster. — Gold
nuggets. —Admixture of alloy. — Records of discoveries of great
hoards of the precious metal. — The celebrated Clare 'find.' —
Enormous sums realized by it and by another discovery near
Athlone. — Golden articles buried with the dead. — Corslets,
cinerary- cases, penannular rings, cross-inscribed discs, a
proof that gold was in Erin buried with the dead. — So-called
' crowns.' — Shape repeated in other articles. — Crescentic plates,
or ' nimbi.' — the glory, or nimbus, represented round the heads
of ' saints,' of pagan origin. — Diadems or tiaras. — Gorgets. — ■
Torques, various descriptions of. — Worn by the Romans. — One
on the neck of the statue of the ' Dying Gladiator.' — Have been
discovered in an unfinished condition. — Penannular rings. —
Probably used as dress fasteners. — With cupped terminals. —
With disc terminals. — Miscellaneous collection of ornaments. —
Goldbeads. — Some copies of primitive shell-necklaces. — Conical
and double-conical beads. — Ear-rings. — Plates. — Bracelets.
Closed. — Penannular. — Breast pins and Brooches of rare oc-
currence. — Bronze weapons decorated with gold. — Ornaments
the cores of which are of copper, lead, bone, or earthenware, but
plated with gold. — Not forgeries. — The core utilized as a block
on which to work. — Silver ornaments of comparatively rare
occurence. — Probably all of the Christian period. — No coined
gold or silver money in ancient Erin. — Numerous fragments of
small earthen crucibles and pipe-clay cupels discovered. —
Evidence of the manufacture of gold ornaments in the country.
CHAPTER XII.
PERSONAL DECORATION: BONE, BRONZE, GLASS,
AMBER, JET, AND STONE ORNAMENTS 513-539
Savage man delights in adornment. — Wooden, bone, and bronze
pins. — Golden-bronze Ornaments. — Shield- or disc-headed
pins. — Penannularbronze rings. — Double-torque rings. — Spring
brooches. — Glass. — When first introduced into Ireland. — Evi-
dence of its antiquity. — Glass beads, rings, and ornaments. —
Glass enamel and enamelling. — Amber stated to be found in
Ireland. — Amber and amber ornaments. — Jet found in Ireland.
—Jet and jet ornaments. — Stone ornaments. — Quartz ear-
rings. Stone buttons, rings, and beads.— Bone discs and beads.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII.
XIX
ORNAMENTATION : CUP-MARKINGS - ROCK-SCULP- PAGE
TURING— DECORATION ON FICTILE WARE -RUDI-
MENTARY WRITING- ROCK-SCR1BINGS, 540 - 57 6
Interest shown in the study of early designs on gold, bronze,
stone, and other material.— The style establishes the fact that
they were executed by one race and by one school of craftsmen.
—Identical with continental prehistoric work.— Examples of
gold ornamentation. — Examples of bronze ornamentation.—
Examples of ornamentation and designs on stone.— On pottery.
—Ornamentation on the interior of cams identical with that on
the fictilia of lake-dwellings and of seaside settlements.— Irish
rock-sculpturing similar to that of Scotland and the Conti-
nent, and to the designs found on the fictilia of the ancient
lake-dwellings of Central Europe.
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCLUSION, 577-593
Deductions to be drawn from a careful study of Irish archae-
ology. — No complete outline of the drama of human existence
in Ireland yet been given. — Previous researches to be looked on
as homogeneous as geology and archaeology are kindred sci-
ences. — Man in the earliest period of existence a cannibal. —
Scarcely distinguisable from the brute creation.— Ancient
glories of Ireland a chimera. — Attempt to trace the develop-
ment of civilization. — Palaeolithic man. — The ice age. — Neoli-
thic man. — Bronze-using man. — Introduction of iron and
Christianity. — Traces of the prolonged struggle between the
new religion and paganism. — New ideas overlie the old, but do
not quite extinguish them. — Irish annals perfectly unreliable.—
The age of faith which accepted those statements long passed.
— Careful archaeological research can alone reproduce the his-
tory of the past.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PAPERS AND WORKS ON IRISH
PRE-CHRISTIAN ARCHEOLOGY WHICH CAME
UNDER THE WRITER'S NOTICE, 595-650
INDEX OF AUTHORS NAMED IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY, 651-655
xx CONTENTS.
PAGE
NOTES:— 656-660
Wild Horse, p. 12 ; Roman Coins, p. 75 ; White Stone, p. 113 ;
P.adhbh, p. 129; Tuapholl, p. 146; Desiul, p. 147; Garland
Sunday, p. 161 ; Sreod, p. 168 ; Distich, p. 175 ; Water Demon,
p. 214; Lake-Dwellings, p. 223; Cooking-Places, p. 244;
Chariots, p. 249; Single-piece Canoes, p. 254 ; Curragh, p. 255 ;
Tumulus, p. 296.
INDEX, 661-689
<&<s&hs>%
^
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Figures with an asterisk (*) are printed as Plates.
Page
Frontispiece. — Ancient Troglodyte Retreat. A passage in the Great Cave
of Gleniff, Co. Sligo, ... ... ... Facing Title page.
Fig. i Cervus {Megaceros) hibernicus, or Irish Elk, from fossil horns in the
Science and Art Museum, ... ... ... ... 9
2 Irish Reindeer, from fossil horns in the Science and Art Museum, ... n
3 Skull of Irish Wolf-dog, ... ... .. ... ... 15
4 Irish Wolf-dog of the Greyhound type, ... ... ... 16
5 Irish Wolf-dog of the Mastiff type, ... ... ... ... 17
6 Portion of skull of four-horned variety of sheep, ... ... 18
7 Skull of Celtic short-horned Ox, ... ... ... ... 18
8 Skull of hornless Ox, ... ... ... ... ... 19
9 Examples of round-headed and long-headed skulls, ... ... 21
10 Ordinary Ogham alphabet, ... ... ... ... ... 36
11 Ogham-inscribed stone from an underground chamber in a rath, Co.
Cork, ... ... ... ... ... ... 39
12 Scribed stone from Ardakillen, ... ... ... ... 40
13, 14 Scorings on bone pins, ... ... ... ... ... 41
15 Rock scribings, ... ... ... ... ... ••• 45
16 „ „ ... ... ... ... .. ... 46
17 Altar with Cursing Stones, island of Inismurray, ... ... 151
18 Altar at Toomour, with ' Dicket ' stones, ... ... ... "54
19 Altar at Toberaraght, with globular stones, ... ... ... 155
20 Straining stone, Killery, ... .. ... ... ••■ 155
21 Well and altars, Tubbernalt, ... ... ... •• 161
22 Well of Assistance, island of Inismurray, ... ... ... 163
23 Interior face of Cashel wall at Inismurray, ... ... ... 180
24 View of Staigue Fort, Co. Kerry, ... ... ■■■ ■•• J 8°
XX 11
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
... 182
... 183
... 185
facing 186
188
190
190
191
193
197
217
Figure
25 Section of low, or ' creep,' entrance, Inismurray Cashel,
26 Interior view of low, or ' creep,' entrance, Inismurray Cashel,
27 Ground plan of Inismurray Cashel, ...
*28 Ground plan of Greenan-Ely,
*29 General view of Cahernamactierech (rampart a.n&hee-hive'huts), facing
*3o Residence of a chief— Cashelore, Killery, Co. Sligo, ... facing
31 General view of the rampart at Dunamoe,
32 Plan of the fortifications of Dunamoe,
33 Bee-hive shaped hut, called the ' school-house,' Inismurray Cashel,
34. Sweat-house, island of Inismurray, Co. Sligo, ...
*35 General plan of the earthen remains on Tara hill, ... facing 202
36 Section of an underground bee-hive shaped hut, ... ... 205
*37 Souterrain of Ardtole, Co. Down, ... ... ... facing 206
38 Ground-plan and section of souterrain in the rath of Parkmore, ... 208
*39 Irish lake-dwelling of the isolated type, ... ... facing 216
40 Plan of crannog in Drumaleague lake, Co. Leitrim,
41 Section of crannog in the bed of the drained lake of Cloneygonnell,
Co. Cavan,
42 Section of a crannog at Ardakillen, Co. Roscommon,
*43 General view of the crannog and lake of Lochanacrannog,
44 View of upper portion of Lough Talt,
*45 Crannog hut, discovered at Inver, Co. Donegal,
*46 Cloneygonnell (Tonymore), Co. Cavan,
*47 General view of the crannog of Loughannaderriga,
'48 Partially drained lake-bed of Moynagh,
49 Section of submarine crannog at Ardmore, Co. Waterford,
'49A Site of an ancient seaside settlement, ...
*49B Plan and section of an open-air ancient cooking-place,
50 Chariots from north cross of Clonmacnoise,
50A Portion of fittings of a chariot,
51 Section of a roadway in soft ground, ...
52 Section of a roadway in firm ground, ...
53 Plan of part of a roadway showing repairs,
54-56 Single piece canoes,
57 Wooden canoe paddle from Toome Bar,
58 Stone, probably used as an anchor,
59 Curr.-uh, as recently used in Ireland, ...
219
219
facing 220
221
facing 222
facing
' 224
facing
' 226
facing 228
• •
229
facing 232
facing
" 240
247
■■
248
250
250
251
252
254
254
256
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
xxm
PACK
facing 266
facing 266
facing 266
facing 266
... 267
facing 268
... 268
facing 270
facing 272
... 274
... 276
facing 276
... 279
... 279
Figure
*6o Side view of Cromleac in the townland of Carrickglass,
*6i End view of same Cromleac,
*62 Ballymascallan Cromleac, ...
*63 Legananny Cromleac, Castlewellan, ...
64 Tawnatruffaun Cromleac, Co. Sligo, ...
*65 General view of Cromleac (No. 7), Carrowmore,
66 Ground plan of monument (No. 7), Carrowmore,
*67 ' Eglone,' near the village of Highwood,
*67A Probable means of placing Cap-stones on Cromleacs,
68 The Giant's Table, near Ballina,
69 Plan of the rude stone monument, Deer Park, near Sligo,
*7o Eastern Trilithons of the rude stone monument, Deer Park,
71 General view and plan of T-shaped grave, Co. Sligo,
72 Triangular grave, Co. Sligo,
73 Ground plan of dumb-bell-shaped rude stone monument, Achill, ... 280
*74 Cist, found in a tumulus in the Phoenix Park, also shell neck-
lace, ... ... ... ... ... facing 280
*75 General view of the remains of a passage in one of the Loughcrew
Cams, ... ... ... ... ... facing 288
*76 A chamber in one of the Loughcrew Cams, ... ... facing 289
77 Ornamented stone C, Cam U, ... ... ... ... 289
78 A loose stone from Cam F, ... ... ... ... 290
79 Ornamented stone X, Cam T, ... ... ... ... 291
*8o Stone A, Loughcrew group of Cams, ... ... facing 292
81 Ornamented stone D, Cam W, ... ... ... ... 292
82 General view of Cam, Cam's Hill, near Sligo, ... ... 294
*83 General view of Cam on summit of Knocknarea, ... facing 294
84 Plan of the various Monuments, summit of Knocknarea, ... 296
85 Earthen tumulus, near Highwood, Co. Sligo, ... ... 298
86 Holed-stone, called Cloch-bhreac, Tobernavean, Co. Sligo, ... 312
*87 The hag's chair, Loughcrew group of Cams, ... ... facing 314
88 Rocking-stone, near Highwood, Co. Sligo, ... ... ... 318
89 Rocking-stone, Cloonacool, Co. Sligo, ... ... ... 3 J 9
*90 Restorations of earthenware Vessels, ... ... facing 322
91,92 Fragments of Fictile ware, Co. Fermanagh, ... ... ... 3 2 4
93-94 Restoration of earthenware Vessels, ... ... 3 2 5> 3 2 6
95-99 Lofty type of cinerary Urns, ... ... ■•• 3 2 7 to 332
XXIV
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Figure
ioo Intermediate type of cinerary Urn, found in Co. Down,.
101-106 Secondary types of cinerary Urns, ...
107 Sepulchral stone Urn, found in Co. Antrim, ...
107A Lozenge-shaped stone implement, ...
108 Sepulchral stone urns,
109 Sepulchral stone urn,
no Hollowed stone in a sepulchral chamber of Newgrange,
in Shallow stone basin at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow,
iiia Palaeolithic types of flints,
112-115 Cores and flakes of flint, ...
116 Egg-shaped piece of felspar,
117 Flint arrow-head, found at Ballykillen, King's County,
118-120 Arrow-heads (first variety),
121-124 Arrow-heads (second variety),
125-130 Arrow-heads (third variety),
131 Javelin, or spear-head, found in Co. Down,
132 Disc of flint,
J 3i Figure with sling, from Monasterboice Cross,
134 Flint pick,
135 Chisel, thumb-flint, or scraper,
136 Mode of fastening chisel, thumb-flint, or scraper,
137-140 Stone hatchets, or axes, ...
141 Basaltic hatchets, or axes,
142 Axe of felstone, found in Co. Derry,
143 Decorated and perforated stone hatchet,
144 Stone axe, discovered in the Co. Monaghan, ...
145 Wooden handle of stone hatchet,
146 Mode of hafting stone hatchet, ... . ...
147-149 Stone hammers,
150 Punch of grey quartz, from Ross Island,
151 Quartz pebble, ...
152 Whetstone of the Metallic Age,
153 Ring of sandstone,
154-156 Weights of sandstone,
157 Stone disc,
158 Object made from the crown of a stag's horn,
159 Hone ring, found in a lake-dwelling,
38
PAGE
... Mi
334-338
35S
356
356
358
360
362
facing 370
373-376
377
378
380
38i
2,383
385
386
386
387
387
388
392
393
394
395
39<5
397
397
398
399
400
400
401
402
402
403
403
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
XXV
FIGURE
160 Stone implement, from a lake-dwelling,
161 Dagger-like implement of cetaceous bone,
*i6ia Tips of deers' horns, probably used as spear-heads,
162 Axe formed of bone,
163 Fragment of a wooden sword,
164 Wooden implement,
165 A single-piece barrel,
166 "Wooden yokes, found in Donogh Bog and Lough Erne,
i66a Spoon-shaped vessel, formed of bone,
167 Boulder stone, with bullauns,
168-169 Grain rubbers, ...
170 Section of ordinary quern, or hand-mill,
171-172 Spindle-whorls of bone,
173-174 Ornamented whorls of bone,
175 Spindle-whorls and beads from lake-dwellings,
176-178 Simple flat hatchets of pure copper,
179 Flat hatchet of bronze,
180-181 Ornamented flat twin hatchets,
182-183 Flanged hatchets,
184-185 Winged or flanged hatchets,
186 Bronze single-looped hatchet,
187 Bronze double-looped hatchet,
188-190 Socketed hatchets,
190A Flat axe, or chisel,
191 Bronze hatchet,
192 Hatchet with handle,
193-194 Bronze swords (first type),
195-196 Bronze swords (second type),
197-200 Bronze swords, or battle axes (third type).
201-206 Bronze daggers (various types),
207-208 Bronze daggers (open-work metallic handles)
209-213 Bronze daggers (socketed variety), ...
214-216 Bronze battle-axes,
217-220 Sickles, or bill-axes,
221-224 Bronze spear-heads (first variety), ...
225-230 Bronze spear-heads (second variety),
2 3i- 2 33 Bronze spear-heads (third variety), ...
C
PAGE
• 403
■ 4°4
facing 404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
413
414
415
416
417
422, 423
423
424
425
426
427
427
428
429
429
430
434
434
435
440, 441
44i
442
443
444
445
446, 447
... 448
XXVI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIGURE
234-234A Bronze spear-heads (fourth variety),
235 Bronze spear butt-end,
236-236B Triangular arrow-heads, ...
237 Single-piece mould for hatchet casting,
238-241 Stone moulds for hatchet casting, ...
242-243 Stone moulds for spear-head casting,
244-245 Half moulds for casting dagger and knife,
246 Wooden model of sword,
246A Fragment of bronze ring Armour, ...
247-248 Bronze strap fasteners,
249-253 Bronze cheek-pieces of bits,
254 Bronze head-stall, found in Co. Sligo,
255 Saucer- shaped vessel of bronze,
256 Single-piece copper caldron,
257— 257B Bronze caldrons,
258 Battle scene— warriors with shields,
259 Procession of horsemen — warriors carrying shields,
260 Bronze shield, from Lough Gur,
260A Bronze lamp,
261-264 Figures playing musical instruments,
265 Bronze trumpets and horns,
266 Manner of riveting the edges of trumpet,
266A Gold nugget, found in Co. Wicklow,
267 Gold cinerary case,
268-269 Unclosed rings,
270 Gold disc,
271 Ornament on Pottery,
272 Golden ornament,
273 Bronze pin,
274 Head of Byzantine Saint,
2 75 Figures from Clonmacnoise Cross, . .
276 Gold plate — head ornament,
277 Gold plate — diadem or tiara,
278 Golden gorget,
279 Gold torque (twisted) and penannular ornaments,
280 Bust of dying gladiator, with torque,
281 Gold torque (flat and twisted),
PAGE
• ■• 449
... 450
••• 450
... 451
... 452
• •• 454
• •• 455
... 456
••• 457
458, 459
460, 461
... 462
... 463
... 463
464, 465
... 467
... 468
... 469
... 47i
472, 473
... 474
... 475
■ •• 479
... 487
... 488
... 489
... 49°
... 491
... 492
• •• 493
• •• 493
••• 493
... 494
• •• 495
... 496
• • 497
... 498
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxvii
Figure page
282 Penannular ring of copper, ... ... ... ... i; 00
283 Bronze pin, ... ... ... ... ... ... 500
284-285 Penannular rings of gold, ... ... ... 501,502
285A .Gold ornament with disc terminals, ... ... .. 502
286-287 Penannular rings of gold and copper, ... ... ... 503
287A Miscellaneous gold ornaments, ... ... ... ... 504
288 Globular gold beads, ... ... ... ... ... 505
289 Plan and section of a double-conical gold bead, ... ... 505
289A Conical gold bead, ... ... ... ... ... 505
290 Gold plate with hook (ear-ring), ... ... ... ... 506
291 Torque-shaped ear-ring ... ... ... ... ... 506
292 Gold ring with bulbous ornament, ... ... ... ... 507
293 Plate of gold, found in Co. Cork, ... ... ... ... 508
294 Ferrule of bronze spear, from Lough Gur, ... ... ... 508
295 Gold-plated fragment oi penannular object, ... ... ... 510
296 Fragment of cetaceous bone, ... ... ... ... 510
297 Pipe-clay crucible, ... ... ... ... ... 5 11
298 Baked-clay crucible, ... ... ... ... ... 5 12
299-300 Fragments of bone pins, ... ... ... ... ... 5 X 4
301 Golden-bronze pin, with wire attachment, ... ... ... 5 T 5
302-306 Bone pins, scoops, and discs, from lake-dwelliDgs, ... 516,517
307-310 Bone pins, with attached heads, ... ... ... ••• 5*8
310A — B Fragments of worked bone, .. ... ... 5 1 "
310c Bronze pin, found in a cinerary urn, .. ... ••• 5 J 9
310D Bronze pin, found at Drumcliff, ... ... ... ••■ 5 20
311-318 Bronze pins, from sites of lake-dwellings, ... ... ••■ 5 2t>
*3i8a Bedouin girl, near the ruined city of Oudina, ... ... facing 520
319 Golden-bronze pins, from the lake-dwelling of Ardakillen, ... 5 21
320-324 Shield, or disc-headed bronze pins, ... ... ■■■ S 22
325 Penannular bronze ring, from a lake-dwelling, ... ••■ 5 2 3
326 Double torque ring, ... ... •■• ••■ ■•• 5 2 -.
327 Double ring, with unattached terminals, ... ••• ■■• 5 2 4
328 Spring brooch of bronze, ...
329 Amorphous fragment of glass,
330-334 Glass beads from lake-dwellings,
335 Glass ring, from a lake-dwelling,
336 Portion of bronze sheath,
524
526
5 2 8
5 2 9
5 2 9
XXV1U
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Figure
337
338-339
34°
34i
342
343
344-345
346
346A
347-349
350-351
352
353
354
3S5-3S 6
357-359
360-363
364
365
366-376
377-383
384-386
387-388
389-392
393-396
397
398-400
400A
401
402
4°3
404-406
407
408
409
410
•411
PAGE
Jet beads, from Co. Sligo, ... ... ••• ••• 53°
Jet beads, ... ... ••• ■•• ••• ••• 53*
Steatite dress-fastener, ... ... ... ... •■• 53 1
Jet dress-fastener, from Lanarkshire, ... ... ... 532
Jet bead, ... ... - ... •■• ••• 532
Jet bracelet, ... ... ••• ••• •■• ••• 532
Pierced quartz crystal, ... ... ... ... ... 533
Star-shaped button or dress-fastener, ... ... ... 533
Shale ring, ... ... - - ••• ••• 534
Bone combs, from lake-dwellings, ... ... ... ... 535
Unperforated bone discs, from lake dwellings, ... ... 535
Unperforated bone disc, ... ... ... ... ... 53&
Polished stone counter, ... ... ... ... ... 536
Chalk-marked board for playing a game with counters, ... ...536
Stone rings, ... ... ... ... ••■ ••• 53&
Steatite beads, ... ... ... ... ••• ... 53 8
Beads of stone, ... ... ... ••• ••• 538,539
Beads of bone, ... ... ... ■•• ■•• ... 539
Examples of gold ornamentation, ... ... ... ... 544
Examples of various kinds of ornamentation from bronze axes, ... 545
Bronze axes (various kinds of ornamentation), ... 546,55°
Cup-marked flag stones, ... ... ... ... 551, 552
Dot and circles on flag stones, ... ... ... ... 553
Rock sculpturings, ... ... ... ... 554 _ 557
Sculptured stones, from earns at Loughcrew, ... ... 559-562
Rock sculpturings (basket-work patterns), ... ... ... 564
Fragments of pottery, from Moytirra, Co. Sligo, ... 565,566
Fragment of fictile ware, ... ... ... ... ... 567
Ornamentation from the interior of earns, ... ... ... 568
Designs from Irish rock sculpturing, ... ... ... 569
Bronze axe (chequered pattern), ... ... ... ... 571
Rock sculpturings from New Grange and Mane Lud (France), ... 572
Sculpturing on the wall of a cave, Co. Fermanagh. ... ... 573
Alleged inscription on a cromleac, ... ... ... ... 573
Ornamentation on pottery, from lake-dwellings, ... ... 574
Ornamentation on a bronze dagger blade, ... ... ... 576
Map of Ivernia and the Britannic Isles, ... ... facing 594
CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN.
§ sketch of the religion, manners, customs,
ornaments, and monuments of the Pagan
Irish opens up an immense field of re-
I search. Paganism existed in the land for
untold centuries, not only before the intro-
duction of Christianity by the early missionaries, but,
it is believed, long after the period when the religion
of Christ became the acknowledged creed of Ireland.
It has left its impress — faint, it is true, but still
discernible — in the peculiar beliefs and customs of
the peasantry. People in a rude state do not. as a
rule, possess the means, nor have they the desire, to
hand down a minute account of society such as is
contained in Irish manuscripts, none of which date
from an earlier period than that of the firm establish-
ment of the New Faith. The religion, manners, and
customs of the ancient inhabitants of the land, are
herein treated from traditional folk-lore and classic
authority ; it would be of little utility to give even
a synopsis of the various legends related of the
peopling of Ireland before the flood. In most
descriptions of the territories occupied by the elder
arrivals in the country, the boundaries of the settle-
ments are, as a rule, undefined in the inland regions ;
B
2 PAGAN IRELAND :
from which it may be inferred that, for a lengthened
period, the central portion of Ireland was but sparsely
inhabited. The early depredators on the Irish coasts are,
in Bardic tales, described as swarming throughout the
German Ocean, their headquarters being the Shetland
Isles and the Hebrides. This extern force represented
many tribes of Northern Europe, and appears to have
made itself felt from a very remote period.
The descriptions which here follow of ancient remains
traceable to pagan times, are derived from the accounts
of various explorations and surveys made in each
branch by competent archaeologists ; and by a com-
parison of these waifs of antiquity with kindred objects
in other countries throughout the globe, conjectures
can be formed as to the social state of Ireland during
the pre-Christian period.
In the earliest ages of man's existence on the earth,
weapons and implements were formed of the rudest
materials accessible ; wood, bone, horn, stone, and
flint were employed before he was able to use metal for
these purposes. ' The weapon which, when launched
by the hand, is not to return to its owner, may easily
be of a less valuable material than that which man
looks upon as connected with his own person, and thus
the arrowhead of flint may have been contemporaneous
with the period of iron. The want of value in the
material pointed it out for the manufacture of those
articles, the use of which implied their loss.'
In collecting implements of flint, an unlooked-for
difficulty often occurs, owing to a superstition prevalent
amongst the peasantry, many of whom believe that
when the flints have been boiled in water, the liquid is
a certain cure of, as well as a preservative against,
sickness in cattle, and that it restores to health those
ANCIENT FA UNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN. 3
that are ailing, or (as they term it) ' elf-shot.' ' I have
known cases,' remarks W. J. Knowles, ' where the
possessor of a few flint antiquities refused to sell them,
as it was found more profitable to lend them out to
neighbours for the purpose of curing cattle than sell
them at once for a small sum.'
Counterfeit flint 'antiques' are by no means un-
common ; the most celebrated forger was undoubtedly
the well-known character ' Flint Jack.' Born in the
year 1816, of humble parentage, he in after-life went by
a hundred aliases. The skill he displayed was such
that, it is said, he included on his list of dupes the then
Curator of the British Museum. Jack, however, never
succeeded in discovering the art of surface-chipping,
which he declared was a ' barbarous art ' that had died
with the flint-using folk.
Our public and private collections represent nu-
merous and well-authenticated exhibits of so-called
Celtic antiquities ; here we have the rude-flint imple-
ments used by the earliest arrivals on our shores ;
then evidences of the metallurgic skill developed at
a later period in the fabrication of copper or bronze
axes, swords, and various weapons ; finally, personal
ornaments formed of precious or other metal, which
attest the increased skill of the inhabitants. All these
represent an unerring exposition of the manners and
arts of an early race that spread over Western Europe,
and was apparently untouched by classic civilization.
From these authentic materials may be reared a more
reliable history of the past, than from all the bardic
legends which describe the primeval occupation of
Ireland.
The interest manifested during recent years in the
prosecution of antiquarian research is very remarkable.
B 2
4 PA GA N 1REL A ND :
Towards the close of the last and commencement of
the present century, studies of this nature were con-
fined to a very limited circle. The records, however,
which have been handed down to us are increasing in
scientific estimation, and we begin to value the im-
portance of these labours. Every attempt to depict
the social and mental condition of Early Man must
necessarily be largely conjectural, but great benefits
have been conferred by the investigations of the old
school of antiquarians ; for, although their deductions
may have been fallacious, yet the facts which they have
recorded are of the greatest importance. The traces
left by the former inhabitants of the country resemble
the pages of an ancient manuscript : some are easily
decipherable, whilst others are very indistinct ; how-
ever, when read as a whole, enough remains to enable
us to form an outline of their manners, customs, and
superstitions.
It has been established, on incontrovertible evidence,
that worked flints have been discovered, under a con-
siderable depth of undisturbed alluvial gravel, in France
and Britain ; also that implements of flint and stone
have been found in the earthen, or stalagmitic floors of
caverns, in conjunction with the bones of animals long
extinct in those latitudes — such as the lion, tiger, bear,
hyena, rhinoceros, elephant, hippopotamus, mammoth,
reindeer, and megaceros.
Now, if the handiwork of man is found associated
with the remains of these extinct mammalia, it follows,
as a simple induction, that he existed contempo-
raneously with them ; and most probably migrated, as
thev did, over land which then formed a portion of the
European Continent, but which has since been eroded
by the sea. This gives point to the theory that a very
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN. 5
primitive race had overspread the Continent of Europe
long before the advent of the tribes and mixed peoples
that now inhabit it — a race which used as food not only
the urus and the bison, but also the mammoth, rein-
deer, and megaceros— a race which must have at last
reached the shores of Ireland, where they may have
carved those rude devices (that form an enigma to the
antiquary) on the face of natural rocks, or on the walls
of caves, who reared the earliest of our rude-stone
monuments, and the most primitive of our lake- )
dwellings.
The fact of the comparative absence of human re-
mains is a problem capable of an easy solution. In early
times savage man had probably no more idea of the
sanctity which now-a-days surrounds the dead, than
had the wild beasts with which he was surrounded; and
osseous remains can only be expected to be met with
under exceptional circumstances, until the period when
the body was placed in a sepulchre, protected over-
head — as in the cromleac — from the effects ot weather,
and by the side-stones, from the ravages of beasts of
prey.
The celebrated cavern of Gleniff, in the Co. Sligo,
situated high up on the mountain-side, was certainly
inhabited in former times. Some rude flint-flakes, and
a bronze hatchet — now in the collection belonging to
the Royal Irish Academy — were here found in a mass
of stalagmite, and under the present floor of the cavern
bones of recent animals were dug up by the late E. T.
Hardman.
It may however be said that no startling discovery
of cave-remains has as yet been made ; but the most
important inferences drawn by Messrs. Ussher, Adams,
and Kinahan, from the facts discovered by them in the
6 PAGAN IR ELAND :
explorations of Ballynamintra Cave, near Dungarvan,
are as follows : —
The history of the cave is divided into five distinct
periods: during the first, the cavern was excavated by
aqueous agency ; in the second, the flow of water ceased,
the cave became comparatively dry, was inhabited by
bears, and a stalagmite floor was deposited— by infil-
tration from above — over the gravel which had
been washed in by the stream. During the third
period the stalagmite floor was, from some cause, par-
tially broken up, and in places a pale, sandy earth is
intruded, enveloping the broken stalagmite and the
animal remains. In the fourth period there is an
accumulation of earth, and other deposits, and the
cave is ' inhabited by men who were contemporaneous
with the Irish elk.'
That the deposition of the two upper earthen strata
was gradual and successive is clearly shown by the
layers, formed one above the other in the grey earth.
This is corroborated by the sequence of the animal
remains, as well as by the dissimilar colouring of the
bones — the megaceros being the characteristic animal
of the former stratum, whilst domesticated animals were
most plentiful in the latter. These facts show that the
human remains, implements, and charcoal-bed, found
with the remains of megaceros, were deposited there
contemporaneously with them. The charcoal and cal-
careous seams mark successive floors during the slow
accumulation of a refuse-heap, when man was the chief
occupant of the cave. The condition of the larger
bones — especially those of the megaceros — is an
additional proof of the human occupation of the cave
at a time when those animals lived ; and the chipped
hammer-stones found in the same stratum were, in all
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN. 7
probability, the very implements with which the bones
were broken and split along their length. How the
fragments of human bones were mixed with the stone
implements and animal remains the explorers did not
venture to explain.
In the fifth period of the history of the cave, its
inhabitants used carved bone implements and polished
stone hatchets. The megaceros and bear disappear,
giving place to domesticated animals.*
The caves of Knockmore, Co. Fermanagh, were ex-
plored by Mr. Thomas Plunkett, who has given a long
enumeration of the mammalia and other relics found
in them. Some authorities believe that the remains
are quite recent. With regard to these deposits
Mr. Plunkett, however, is of opinion that ' there is
strong evidence pointing to the presence or operation
of ice in this region since these remains were depo-
sited.' If Mr. Plunkett is correct, it would appear that
the Luscans, or cave-dwellers of Fermanagh, were a
race somewhat similar to the Lapps of the present day,
who lived portions of the year in places that at other
seasons were enveloped in snow and ice.f
.' For at one time,' remarks Sir Robert Ball, ' from
its normal home at the poles the great glaciation has
spread southwards ; a sheet of ice and snow, hundreds
or thousands of feet thick, has crept from the highlands
of Norway and Sweden, has invaded Central Europe as
far as Saxony, while the greater part of Great Britain
was also submerged by an icy covering. . . . We live
at present in a zoologically impoverished age, from
which many of the largest and the finest animals, such
* Proceedings, Royal Irish Academy, vol. ii. (ser. ii.), pp. 77, 78.
t Geology of Ireland, p. 285. G. H. Kinahan.
$ PA GAN IRELAND :
as the mammoths and sabre-tooth tigers, have but
recently vanished. We should, however, be probably
correct in asserting that all the animals now inhabiting
this globe — man himself not excepted — survived through
the last glacial period, if not through one or more simi-
lar antecedent periods.' *
Dr. P. W. Joyce states that ' all our native animals,
without a single exception, have been commemorated
in names of places ... by a study of local names we
can tell what animals formerly abounded, and we are
able to identify the very spots resorted to by each par-
ticular kind.'f
The Cervus (Megaceros) hibemicus, or Irish Elk, is the
noblest representative of the extinct mammalia of Ire-
land — as at present known to us — with which primitive
man was doubtless contemporary. The largest stags'
were about seven feet in height, whilst the expanse of
their antlers — in some cases — attained to upwards of
twelve feet. Although the bones of this gigantic
animal are found in recent deposits, both in England
and on the Continent ; yet, judging by the number of
specimens discovered, Ireland would appear to have
been its favourite habitat. The fact may, perhaps, be
attributable to the comparative scarcity of its natural
enemies, the larger carnivora.
The evidence that this animal was contemporary
with man rests on the discovery of its bones, in a very
broken state, in the Cave of Ballynamintra, and in
company with stone implements. In the lake-dwellings
at Cloonfinlough its bones were also discovered in a
fractured condition. Among the abundant mammalian
* The Cause of an Ice Age, pp. 41, 177.
f Irish Names of Places, p. 468.
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN. g
debris, raised from the kitchen-midden, or refuse-heap,
of one of the lake-dwellings in Lough Rea, was the
Fig. I. — Cervus (A/egaceios) hibernicus, or Irish Elk, from fossil horns
in the Science and Art Museum.
head of a megaceros, measuring about thirteen feet from
tip to tip of the antlers ; whilst a writer* states that
Archceological Journal, vol. vii., p. 34;
10 PAGAN IRELAND :
' stone-hatchets and fragments of pottery have been
found, with the bones of this creature, under circum-
stances that leave no doubt of a contemporaneous
deposition.' In the refuse-heap of the lake-dwelling
of Breagho, portion of an antler was discovered, sawn
and perforated with holes. It does not, however,
necessarily follow that this relic had belonged to an
animal killed and utilized by the lake-dwellers ; the
horn may have been found by them on some spot
where it had rested for ages. The same explanation
may be applied to the discovery of portion of a mega-
ceros in a pagan cist.
Of the fact that the reindeer was contemporary with
man in Ireland, the evidence is more meagre than is
the case with the megaceros, although it roamed in
company with it amidst the plains of ancient Erin. Of
the several existing varieties of reindeer, the one to
which the Irish examples may be referred is the Arctic
cariboo, in which the antlers are slender and rounded,
as contrasted with the more massive and flattened beam
of the horns of the woodland cariboo found in Eastern
Canada and the Rocky Mountains. Bones of the rein-
deer were found in the Cave of Ballynamintra, in con-
junction with traces of its occupation by man.
That the bear existed contemporaneously with man in
Ireland — strange to narrate — rests upon more deficient
evidence than that with regard to the reindeer, although
in Scotland it survived until the middle of the eleventh
century. The Celtic name for bear frequently occurs
in old Irish MSS., and legends amongst the peasantry
still recount its pursuit and capture by the heroes of
antiquity. The skulls that have been discovered of
bears demonstrate that the animal was of rather small
size.
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN.
11
There can be no doubt that the wild horse existed in
Ireland as a contemporary of several animals which are
now extinct. In the Shandon Cave, at Dungarvan
[states Dr. Leith Adams], the remains of six horses
V ;W
\ % )
" : v <<? ji
i
/
Fig. 2. — Irish Reindeer, from fossil horns in the Science and Art Museum.
were found, together with those of reindeer, red-deer,
bear, and wolf. In the Ballynamintra Cave, horses'
teeth were found, together with the bones of mega-
ceros, bear, and wolf, which had been associated with
v > PAGAN IRELAND :
human remains, and those of many still existing ani-
mals. It is possible that these horses had been used as
food by the men of this period. The character of the
associated remains, and the circumstances of their
position, afford the principal evidence as to whether
the bones should be referred to wild or domesticated
varieties of the horse. There are several well-authenti-
cated instances of horses' skulls having been found in
caves at Ballintoy, Co. Antrim, and near the shores of
Lough Erne. It is not improbable that the wild horse
may have survived up to about the time when most of
its above-mentioned earliest contemporaries had be-
come extinct.
The red-deer, although now restricted to a small
area in Kerry, appears, judging from the wide-spread
abundance of its remains, to have been formerly plenti-
fully distributed all over the kingdom. The cave of
Shandon proves that it co-existed with the mammoth,
and its bones abound in the marl underlying the peat
formation, where those of the megaceros have been
found. When O' Flaherty wrote, they were very nu-
merous. Dr. Thomas Molyneux, his friend and con-
temporary, says: 'The red-deer, in those our days, is
much more rare with us in Ireland than it has been
formerly.' So late as 1752 they abounded in the
barony of Erris, Co. Mayo ; and the celebrated Irish
scholar, O'Donovan, heard from an old native — about
the year 1848 — that in his youth red-deer were com-
mon, and that he frequently saw them grazing on the
mountains among the black cattle.
Rudely-formed enclosures, surrounded by staked
fences, have often been found under a considerable
depth of bog. They are by some considered to be
traps into which the deer were driven. This class of
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN. 13
structure consists of a long lane, formed of staked
lines of palisading, gradually narrowing, but at the
end expanding into a circle, where the deer could he
killed at leisure. This cul-de-sac is supposed, some-
times, to have terminated in a quagmire, for many of
the skulls appear to have been broken in the forehead,
which could be easily effected when the animal was
embedded in mud or in a pit-fall. Among circum-
stances corroborative of the number of red-deer that
existed in former times may be mentioned the dis-
covery of quantities of the tips of stags' horns in the
refuse-heaps of lake-dwellings and in many other
localities. These pieces of bone — from three to five
inches in length— were apparently cut off from the
remainder of the horn, which was probably manufac-
tured into various implements; whilst pins, fibulae,
weapons, tools, and ornaments, formed of those tips of
horn abound in collections of antiquities.
Despite the numerous legends and the folkdore re-
lative to the hunts of giants of ancient days after magical
boars, yet prosaic investigation suggests that the herds
of wild pigs which infested the forests were all derived
from an introduced breed. The discovery of remains of
the pig in Ballynamintra Cave, however, renders it, at
least, not improbable that there may have been a wild
pig, despite the fact that all the skulls which are re-
corded belong to the same variety, namely, the long-
faced Irish pig, which, even as a domesticated breed, is
now nearly (if not altogether) extinct, its place having
been taken by others which are more suitable for
fattening purposes. Skulls of this breed are very
commonly found in the refuse-heaps of lake-dwellings.
The wolf existed in Ireland up to the commencement
of the 1 8th century, when the last of those animals is
u PAGAN IRELAND :
recorded to have been killed in the Co. Kerry. The
bones of the wolf are not easily distinguishable from
those of the dog. They have been found in associa-
tion with those of the fox, horse, reindeer, red-deer,
bear, hare, and mammoth, in Shandon Cave, Co.
Waterford, together with remains of the megaceros in
the Cave of Ballynamintra ; but in all, traces of wolf
bones are very rare.* This is most singular, when
historical references to this animal are considered.
Other wild animals which then existed, and yet with
us, are— the Alpine hare, otter, marten, badger, and
fox; whilst the following, known to have existed in
Britain, appear not to have been present in Ireland in
pre-historic times—?', e. the beaver, roebuck, moose, and
the urus or wild ox.
The Irish hare is considered to differ from that of
Great Britain, and exhibits, in several respects, char-
acteristics intermediate between the two descriptions
of British hare. The difference in the fur of the British
and Irish species is very observable, the colour of the
latter being much lighter ; the most obvious divergence
is in the tail, the upper surface of which is black in the
English, and white tinged with grey towards the base in
the Irish hare.
* The following order, made by James I. for the destruction
of wolves in Ireland, is taken from the Patent Rolls :— ' The King
being given to understand the great loss and hindrance which
arose in Ireland by the multitude of wolves in all parts of the
kingdom, did by letters from Newmarket, 26th November, 1614,
direct a grant to be made by patent to Hemic Tuttesham, who by
petition had made offer to repair into Ireland, and there use his best
skill and endeavour to destroy the said wolves, providing at his
own charge, men, dogs, traps, and engines, and requiring no other
allowance save only four nobles sterling, for the head of every wolf,
young or old, out of every county, and to be authorized to keep
four men and twelve couple of hounds in every county for seven
years next after the date of these letters.'
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN.
15
The pre-historic mammals domesticated by man
were — if judged by the traces they have left — not nume-
rous. Foremost stands the Irish wolf-dog, generally
considered to have resembled the present rough-haired
deer-hound of Scotland, and the for-
midable character of this dog is the
subject both of history and tradition.
' These records it is, moreover, now
fairly ascertained do not exaggerate the
power and strength of an animal which
was the faithful companion not only of
the hunter, but possibly also of the
warrior, in far remote, pre-historic, as
well as in more recent times,' for it
appears there is very positive evidence
that there were in Ireland, formerly, two Fj g . 3 .
races of wolf-dogs, one approaching the Skull of Irish Woif-
greyhound, the other the mastiff type. Dogr-
The discovery of several specimens of the crania of
this kind of dog in the refuse-heaps of lake-dwellings
has afforded a good opportunity of making comparative
examinations. The skull measurement of one of these
' crannog dogs ' was compared with that of an average
modern German boar-hound, and the Irish skull was in
every way the most capacious. In the Ballynamintra
Cave, besides the bones belonging to the wolf, other
specimens were referred to a dog even taller than the
wolf. ' This animal may have been domesticated by the
hunters, who are believed to have split the Irish elks'
bones for extraction of the marrow, and who manu-
factured the stone implements which were found in
the cave.'
The refuse-heaps of lake-dwellings afford evidence
of the presence of sheep and goats ; but though the
16
PAGAN IRELAND :
latter appear to have been first introduced, there is evi-
dence that sheep were in Ireland before the Christian
era, for some of the best authorities are of opinion
that both races were introduced into the country and
domesticated by man. Several crania of sheep found
on the site of the lake-dwellings at Dunshaughlin indi-
cate the existence of four-horned varieties, and one
Fig. 4.— Irish Wolf-Dog of the Greyhound type.
of them has five distinct horn cores. ' The mention
of wild cattle by early Irish historians, though not
unfrequent, does not tend to materially modify the
conclusion arrived at from a full consideration of the
evidence,' which is, that the original stock from
whence they were derived was first introduced from the
Continent of Europe to the British Isles by pre-historic
man. The skulls obtained in ancient Irish lake-dwell-
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN.
17
ings, as well as in caves, bogs, and river deposits,
indicate the existence of two well-marked races — the
Celtic short-horn, with small drooping horns, and its
ally, distinguished by a remarkable protuberance or
frontal crest between the horn-cores ; and sometimes
altogether unprovided with horns, like modern ' polled '
breeds.*
Fig. 5. — Irish Wolf-Dog of the Mastiff type.
The present geological era is characterized by the
disappearance or ' removal ' of those animals least
* For further particulars relative to the domesticated mammals
of ancient Ireland, see an article by Sir William Wilde in vol. vii.,
Proceedings, Royal Irish Academy. The foregoing account is
taken from a Paper, entitled, ' On the Collection of the Fossil
Mammalia of Ireland in the Science and Art Museum, Dublin,'
by Dr. V. Ball, C.B., F.R.S., in the 3rd vol. (series ii.) of the
Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society.
C
18
PAGAN IRELAND
ministering to the necessities and uses of man, as well
as by the progressive melioration and sporadic increase
of animals specially adapted to his ser-
vice and support. This law of nature
extends even to the occasional dis-
placement of indigenous floras, by in-
troduced plants. ' Exaltation of type
seems the one essential condition of
continuity, even with Nature's grandest Portion of Skull of
pattern — man; for wherever improve- Four-horned
t * variety ot sheep.
ment is arrested or undeveloped, ex-
tinction impends.'
Races in a state of barbarism either die out at once
in presence of a stronger and more civilized people, or
Fiir. 6.
Fig. 7.— Skull of Celtic Short-horned Ox.
their debasing characteristics are effaced by assimi-
lating intermixture with the intruding community. Man
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN.
19
cannot be considered as an insulated beinp-, he is but
one link in the great chain of animal creation.
It has been remarked that the brains of most savages
and the skulls of most primitive races arc larger, than —
in theory — they ought to be ; often
rather larger than the brains and
skulls of the average masses in-
habiting the great cities of the
present day. But this need not
cause surprise if the life of in-
telligent interest passed by the
savage child be taken into consi-
deration. From the tenderest a^e
he was observant of all the de-
vices practised by his parents for
procuring clothing, food, means
of defence, in short, all the essen-
tials of existence ; the natural
result of his wild life was health
and strength ; indeed on the prin-
ciple of the survival of the fittest,
it could only be the robust who
lived through the hardships and
climatic exposure incidental to a
savage life. The greatest incen-
tives to exertion, on the part of primitive man, are
hunger and thirst, heat ami cold ; without such spurs
to original sloth we should still probably be eating
acorns, chipping flints, and ' making ourselves as com-
fortable as might be in the company of other species.'
Almost everywhere, throughout Europe, there are
traces of a numerous people, unknown to history, who
have left very material traces of their occupancy of the
land, and tradition points to an early race of diminutive
c 2
Fi & : 8.
Skull of Hornless Ox.
20 PAGAN IRELAND :
folk who inhabited Ireland, and possibly they resembled
the Esquimaux and other tribes dwelling in the Northern
latitudes in our day. Of them have been found no
recognizable crania, and but scanty osseous remains.
They probably hunted the reindeer and the megaceros,
and were exterminated — driven out of the country, or
perhaps partly absorbed by succeeding tribes of immi-
grants. The Esquimaux and cognate people appear to
be all members of the most primitive family amongst
the nations ; climatic influence has tended to mould
them more and more into one type, so that it is quite
possible that many centuries back, the various tribes
now forming this people may have presented more
variety of characteristics.
The waters surrounding the Orkney and Shetland
Islands were fished in by Esquimaux tribes so late as the
seventeenth century, and it is probable that this race
constitutes a large proportion of the population of the
outer Hebrides. That in certain localities the inhabi-
tants of the United Kingdom show traces of such a line
of ancestry is the opinion of many modern ethnologists,
and the Iberian theorists discern a similar type in the
'small and swarthy Welshman,' the ' small dark High-
lander,' and the ' Black Celts ' to the west of the
Shannon.
The physical conformation of the races that occu-
pied the land is represented by their osseous remayisj,
these, though less abundant than could be desired, are
still to a considerable extent accessible, and thousands
of primitive sepulchral remains yet invite examination.
The engineer and the agriculturist are, from time to
time, bringing to light unlooked for ancient interments,
and though some, doubtless, have been carefully noted
by competent observers, yet in several instances,
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAN.
21
through ignorance of their value, many crania —
which of course are to be met with whole, only in
carnal interments — have either been destroyed or lost.
Like most anciently inhabited countries, Ireland has,
in past ages, been the recipient of successive waves of
population and anthropologists assure us that at least
two distinct races of immigrants — each of very marked
characteTTstlc^type — had landed on our shores. These
can now (it is alleged) be classed and identified by the
configuration of their crania; for as the brain is the
Fig-, g.— Examples of Round-headed and Long-headed Skulls.
About one-seventh real size.
seat of the intellectual capacities, the structure of the
skull is of primordial importance. The relation of the
length of the cranium to its breadth is regarded as one
of the most characteristic marks of distinction between
different races.
The form of skull attributed to the primitive inhabi-
tants of Ireland is distinguished by great length from
the front to the back of the head, and comparative
narrowness of the skull ; hence the type is by scientists
styled doJn£lio^^pjiajk i _orJm^ieaded. It is alleged
■22 PA GAN IRELAND :
that the specimens presented are too numerous and
have been found over too wide an area to permit of
their being considered mere varietie s — especially as a
similar form of skull is to be met with amongst the
aboriginal remains found in England, and over a larg\i
proportion of the continent of Europe.
Explorers who have not made the physical con-
formation of the human frame their study possess,
however, no standpoint from which to test their own
ideas. Often, when opening a ' Giant's Grave, ' work-
men have drawn attention to the great size of the
human" bones they had disinterred, when in reality
they had formed the frame-work of a man of but
medium stature. The minds of the searchers were
imbued with the idea that the bones must of necessity
be of superhuman size, for were they not found in a
'Giant's Grave'? In the same way the judgment of
an antiquary may, insensibly to himself, be biassed
by hiS own imagination regarding some preconceived
theory- A distinguished writer on archaeology has
observed : ' There is no failing to which antiquarian
observers seem more liable than seeing too much.'
The second type of Irish crania is, by some, sub-
divided into two classes — both, however, belonging to
'what scientists have named a brachy-cephalic or round-
\headed race.
The first class is represented by tl(e Celt) The skull
is of medium size, well-shaped, but with projecting
upper jaw ; the chin not massive ; the nose short
and wide, exhibiting the peculiar characteristics so
familiarized to the public by caricaturists of the Irish
peasantry.
The second subdivision of the crania of the round-
headed race is represented by what may be designated
ANCIENT FA UNA AND PRIMIT1] 7s MAN. 23
the <^arse)type. This hardy race, or races, be they
styledTormorians, or sea-rovers, made their appear-
ance on the Irish coast long before authentic history
begins. The Norse skull is regular, the nose long and
aquiline, the face narrow, the forehead straight and of
medium height ; a long oval outline in the vertical
aspect of the skull, whilst the lower jaw is distin-
guished by its square outline and massive structure —
giving a distinctive character to the face — and it differs
but little from the form of skull of the Normans.
There are also slight varieties in the form of tin-
crania of the long-headed or primitive race, for the
progenitors of the early inhabitants of Ireland probably
arrived in detached groups and at considerable inter-
vals of time, doubtless representing successive immi-
gration of varying tribes and peoples.
Variety of shape in crania (within certain limits)
appears to be the law of nature — not the exception —
and each race exhibits countless variations of mental
combinations. This is suggestive and calculated to
impress the necessity of great caution and extensive
observation of facts, before venturing to draw general
conclusions. Classification of crania into distinct
types, and then making that type the badge of a race,
is a theory of doubtful value. At any public meeting
how many varying types of crania may be observed.*
* Professor Huxley is of opinion that the greatest and most
strongly- marked differences in skulls is not a proof that they are
of different races. In his examination of the two celebrated crania
found in the caves of Engis and Neanderthal, presumed to he
amongst the oldest remains of man, he says: — 'It would be diffi-
cult tc 'find any two which differ from each other more strongly,
but I am not willing to draw any delinite conclusion as to their
specific variety from that fact. . . . are not the variations amongst
the skulls of a pure race to the full as extensive ! '
•21 PAGAN IRELAND :
Open an old pagan ' Caltragh,' and the same result
becomes apparent; skulls of every size and form may
be unearthed, though all the remains are referable to
about the same period of time, and probably all may
have belonged to one sept ; yet had these skulls been
found disassociated, they might have been viewed as
representative of totally different races.
It is worthy of observation that extreme types of
crania were represented in two specimens discovered in
the well-known ' find,' within the tumulus in the Phoenix
Park, Dublin, demonstrating that the commonly re-
ceived theory of cranial forms being more and more
stereotyped the further back we penetrate into the
obscurity of the past, is not always corroborated by
accurate observation. The occupancy of a common
tomb would imply that they were contemporaneously
interred, and that they belonged to members of the
same family or tribe, and as only bone and flint imple-
ments — together with a shell necklace — were found, it
may be considered that the period of interment was
that of a barbarous state of society.
In most instances of the discovery of perfect crania
— even those of children — the teeth appear to be much
I worn, as if by attrition of some very hard kind of food,
and the process of degradation keeping pace with the
age of the individual ; the teeth, nevertheless, although
they may be much worn, yet, with few exceptions, are
found to be in a sound and healthy condition. The
gradual abrasion of theleeth is materially influenced
by the nature of the food used. This is proved by the
fact that the teeth of sailors, who, during the greater-
part of their lives, live upon hard biscuits, are often
found to be much worn down by the constant friction
produced by this diet.
ANCIENT FAUNA AND PRIMITIVE MAX. 25
All we may be said to know with regard to primitive
man is that he was present in the country in times very
remote, hunted the megaceros and reindeer, as well as
other animals still present with us. It is probable that
this race approximated in type to that now inhabiting
the Arctic regions. It has been suggested that the
megaceros and reindeer migrated, at stated seasons,
from Brita in to Ireland, across the frozen sea, for the
climate appears to have been glacial in character, and
the primitive flint-using folk advanced and retired with
the icy mantle, either following the animals on which
they subsisted, or driven backward by a superior race or
races.
26
PAGAN IRELAND :
CHAPTER II
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC ?
iHARACTeristic traits of human nature are
pretty much the same all the world over,
and therefore instead of looking on the
pre-Christian inhabitants of Ireland as
different from ourselves, let us, on the
contrary, place ourselves in imagination in their
position, live and act as we imagine we should
have done in this exchanged existence, and throwing
off the veneer of modern civilization, we shall probably
arrive at the conclusion, that, similarly circumstanced,.
we might have lived and acted as did our predecessors,
and so furnish an illustration of the epigrammatic say-
ing: ' Grattez ie Russe et vous trouvez le Tartare.'
Investigation of the truth is the object in view :
therefore the subject ought, if possible, to be ap-
proached without prejudice, and in order to arrive at the
truth, it is desirable to test the opinions and conclusions
of those who, by a careful analysis of the probabilities
and facts recorded by them, have travelled over the
same ground before. The Irish reading public ai-e,
however, moved by impulse rather than by reasoning ;
' in nothing is this more apparent than when the
question of the genuineness of ancient Irish history is
for a moment called in question.'
Antiquarian research, in Ireland, may, with ad-
vantage, be directed towards filling in the social history
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 27
of primitive man; articles which are the result of the
handiwork of the aborigines, illustrate, with much
exactitude, life in the olden days, and cannot fail to
assist, in that object, from the deductions which must
be drawn from a state of society that necessitated the
fabrication of those relics. A good antiquary nowa-
days is said to abhor a theory as much as, it is alleged,
nature abhors a vacuum, and to launch a speculative
theory on the troublous waters, where the currents of
Paganism and Christianity meet in one blended stream,
is like launching a ship into the Maelstrom — it is in
almost certain danger of effacement. The period
during which Christianity has reigned in Ireland is
comparatively insignificant when compared with that
occupied by pre-Christian religion or religions. It is
strange that of this great epoch of the pre-historic past
we know so little, that our knowledge may be compared
to a rivulet, our ignorance to the ocean. Pride in our-
selves, pride in our ancestors, are common foibles of
human nature ; occurrences which redound to the glory,
either of the individual, or of the community, are am-
plified and dwelt upon, whilst incidents derogatory to
prestige are glossed over or ignored. O'Donovan relates
how some of his former most intimate friends became his
enemies on his expressing grave doubts regarding the
authenticity of ancient Irish history.
That which is prevalent no\\-a-days existed in times
more ancient, and especially on that border-line where
'the Creeds of Paganism had not ceased to be the
superstitions of Christianity.' The Bards and Chroni-
clers of Erin doubtless possessed accounts of the first
settlement of the Island, probably more or less founded
on tradition, and having more or less a sub-stratum of
truth ; but on the arrival of the Christian missionaries,
•_>S PAGAN IRELAND :
and the acquisition by the monks of the literary or
traditional sources of information, then these ancient
heathen histories, tales, and poems, became embedded
in a mosaic of miracle-stories and classic-legends, so
that it is nearly impossible, now, to separate the chaff
from the grain. This school of amalgamated Pagan
and Christian thought, amongst other absurdities,
traces the pedigree of the first settlers in Ireland up to
Adam. Now, that part of the assertion is correct,
namely, that Adam was the first man ; for we possess a
higher authority than ' Irish Pedigrees' for the assertion
— but there must be grave doubts regarding the con-
necting-links in the chain of unbroken descent, as
therein given, from our first Parent.
' With respect to the study of our early history, as
extracted from the annalists and biographers,' remarks
Dr. J. K. Ingram,* ' I will only say that what we most
require is, in my opinion, an increased application of
the critical spirit. We have often in the past too
readily assumed the truth of any statement found (as
the phrase is) " in one of our old books," without
examining the trustworthiness and the sources of know-
ledge of each authority. To take an example — in
O'Curry's " Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish,"
there is abundant learning — a wealth of quotation from
the Chronicles — but in criticism it falls, I think, far
short of the works of the recent Scottish historians.
Criticism, I am aware, is not always popular.'
The heroes and heroines of the earliest traditions are
certainly not Christians, whilst in the prevalent narratives,
the varnish of Christianity is thinly applied. Most of
the tales, at least those that have been at present
* Proceedings, Royal Irish Academy, vol. ii. (ser. iii.), p. 125.
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC ? 29
translated, are but clumsily patched together, so th it
the junction of the Pagan and Christian portions is
quite apparent. Take, for example, the legend of the
formation of the present Lough Neagh,* as given in
the Lebor na H-Uidre. The scene is laid in the first
century of the Christian era — consequently before the
introduction of Christianity into Ireland. In the King's
palace, which stood in the centre of the plain now
occupied by the lake, was an enchanted well ; its origin
was, to say the least, very peculiar — and when not in use
it was kept covered as, owing to its magical properties,
it would otherwise burst forth in a raging flood.
Through neglect of the ' person in charge,' it was left
one morning uncovered, when all the members of the
King's household, with the exception of three, were
drowned, and the present sheet of water was formed.
One of the persons then preserved was a woman styled
Liban, who, together with her lap-dog, was, by magic,
preserved in safety beneath the waters. Liban soon
became tired of her inactive life, and beholding, with
envy, the lively tenants of the lake darting about and
around her, expressed the wish of being changed into a
salmon. Instantly, with the exception of her head,
she was thus transformed, whilst her lap-dog became
an otter, and in this manner she continued to roam for
the space of three hundred years, until — and here the
Christianising of the old story visibly appears — she
is caught in the net of an Irish saint, is brought
ashore, resumes her human form, sings her story in
melancholy verse, receives the rites of the Church, dies
* Two remarkable properties have been ascribed to Lough
Neagh — a power of healing diseases, and a power of petrifying
wood and other substances. An analysis of the water, however,
discloses nothing to warrant such assumptions.
:S() PAGAN IRELAND :
immediately, and is buried in all the odour of sanc-
tity.
In these semi-historical tales and legends it is singular
how comparatively rare are the references to the ancient
gods of Erin, and although the early fathers tell us less
of heathendom than they knew, still it is difficult to
understand how the clerical pruning knife was able, so
scientifically, to cut off the principal characters from
the scene, and leave it so readable ; yet ' however
interesting to scholars in their original form,' remarks
Dr. Ingram, ' I do not think these tales will ever win
their way to general esteem among cultivated readers,
except as transmuted into shapes better adapted to our
ideas, and, with a certain breadth of modern thought
and feeling subtly mingled with their substance.' St.
Patrick is dragged into the legend of Cuchullin ;
sometimes, though in rare instances, Druids appear on
the scene, but how are they depicted ? Not as dignified
priests — the guardians of religion and of science — but
such as they are afterwards described by their oppo-
nents — the Christian missionaries — as mere jugglers. It
seems to be now admitted that the iron age did not really
commence in Ireland much before the introduction of
Christianity, and yet these heroes of romance are repre-
sented as cutting at each other with swords of iron —
like the Vikings of later date.
There is great similarity between the Persian story of
Rustam and the bardic tale of Conloch : an Irish chief
with an unpronounceable name and King Midas were
both afflicted with asses ears ; a king of Macedon and
also a king of Erin effected the destruction of their
enemies by apparelling a number of young men to
represent women. Thersites and Conan were both bald,
were great boasters, and great cowards ; Balor and
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 31
Perseus in some respect resemble each other; in both
stories the precautions taken are almost identical — pre-
cautions that were defeated by supernatural means— and
in both instances the decree of destiny is fulfilled by
the murder of the grandfather, whilst the peculiar
property of Balor's eye has its parallel in classic myth.
The infant Hercules strangles a serpent when yet in
his cradle; the great Irish hero Cuchullin when a child
strangles a huge watch-dog, the terror of the country
side. The Greek Adonis and the brave and
ay
Diarmuid O Duibhne are each killed by a boar; this
last-mentioned legend was certainly the most popular
and wide-spread tale current amongst the Irish-speak-
ing population, and is, of all the legends which have
descended to our days, that which has been least
Christianised.
Of legends still current, some may be traced back to
an Eastern origin. In the armorial bearings of the
borough of Sligo a hare is depicted as being held fast
by an oyster. According to local tradition the hare trod
accidentally on an open oyster, and the bivalve resent-
ing this intrusion at once closed on the foot of poor
puss. A Cork boatman recounted a similar anecdote
of a rat going to feed on an oyster, whose shell lay
invitingly open, at low water; but the oyster, closing on
his snout, held him fast until he was drowned by the re-
turning tide : this tale agrees with one of La Fontaine's
fables. The same incident — but in connexion with a
fox — was narrated, some centuries ago, to one of the
earliest western travellers as being then current in
India. Thus a story may be traced from land to land,
and from age to age ; and this agreement is very in-
teresting, as tending to point out the common sources
from which our traditions were derived.
32 PA GAN IRELAND :
In old bardic legends there are, here and there,
glimpses of past phases of thought and character cal-
culated to arrest attention. This literature comprises a
' very large number of prose tales, relating warlike ad-
ventures, voyages, tragic events, visions and the like ;
many of these are still extant, and a considerable num-
ber have been translated or paraphrased, so that, though
the renderings are sometimes unfortunate in point of
style, an English reader can form a tolerable idea of
their merit as works of imagination. As to this merit,
the most opposite opinions have been expressed. Some
have represented them as devoid of all value or interest ;
others have spoken of them as a literature of the first
order, and have almost implied that the Irish intellect of
the present day would find its best possible culture in
their study. The truth, as usual, lies between these ex-
treme views. We possess in Irish no work of genius com-
parable to the Nibelungen Lied, or the song of Roland.
To speak of the Tain-Bo-Cuailnge* as a Gaelic Iliad,
seems, to say the least, an imprudent comparison. But
without any great continuous composition, there are in
the remains which have come down to us passages of
much beauty and tenderness ; some of the tales are
impressively and touchingly told, and there is one
singular relic — "the Vision of MacConglinne " — which
* 'Even seven hundred and fifty years ago,' writes the Rev.
E. Hogan, s.j., in his translation of Cath Ruis na Rig for Boinn
(p. ix), 'such tilings were looked on as "l'histoire veritable des
temps fabuleux," as the scribe of the Tain Bo Cuailnge in the
Book of Leinster writes at fol. 104 b: "A blessing on everyone
who shall faithfully memorize the Tain in this form, and shall not
put it into any other form. But I, who have transcribed this
history, or rather fable, do not believe some things in this history
or fable. For some things in it are delusions of demons, some are
poetic figments, some seem true (similia), and some not ; some are
written to amuse fools." '
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC ? 33
is instinct with genuine humour of the Rabelaisian
type.'*'
According to modern criticism these ancient stories
naturally divide themselves into two epochs, one com-
paratively ancient, the other modern. The older series
is that of which Cuchullin is the centre, and is sup-
posed to have first been reduced to writing in the
seventh century, when monastic chroniclers converted
mythical tradition into pseudo-history, and the after-
descent of these stories belongs to written literature
rather than to oral tradition. In fact each fresh tran-
scriber adapted them to the times in which he wrote.
The legends of the second epoch cluster around
Finn MacCumhaill, who is placed in the third century
of the Christian Era. It would appear as if most
writers on the subject have accepted the date ; but
there is nevertheless a pleasing divergence of opinion;
some hold that Finn was really a very ancient mythical
personage, dragged down, so to speak, by the monks
to almost Christian times, while some of the German
school turn Finn into a ninth century leader of the
Irish against the Danes of Dublin, by whom he was
slain.
' Whether the ancient Irish, before the Christian
Era, possessed a primitive alphabet, differing essen-
tially from that in use in other parts of Europe, is a
question which has been debated by scholars with
great earnestness. Those who maintain the affirmative
appeal to the concurrent authority of the most ancient
Irish manuscript histories, according to which an
alphabet, called Ogham, was invented by the Scythian
* Dr. J. K. Ingram in Proceedings, Royal Irish Academy, vol. ii.
(ser. iii.), p. 122.
D
U PAGAN IRELAND :
progenitors of the Gaelic race, and was introduced
into Ireland by the Tuatha-de-Danaan about thirteen
centuries before the birth of Christ.' They also refer
to the oldest Irish romances, which contain allusions
to the use of Ogham, either for the purpose of convey-
ino- intelligence, or for sepulchral inscriptions ; they
point to existing monuments presenting Ogham
characters, and argue that they must be ascribed to a
remote and Pagan period.
'Those, on the other hand, who dissent from this
hypothesis, allege that the legendary accounts of the
invention of Ogham bear all the marks of fiction ; and
they contend that the nature of this alphabet, in which
the vowels and consonants are separated, furnishes
internal evidence of its having been contrived by
persons possessing some grammatical knowledge and
acquainted with alphabets of the ordinary kind. As
regards the testimony of romantic tales, they impugn
its authority by questioning the antiquity of these com-
positions, which, at most, prove the belief prevailing
at the time when they were written, as to the use of
letters in a much earlier age. Lastly, they assert that
a considerable number of the existing Ogham monu-
ments are proved, by the emblems and inscriptions
which they bear, to belong to Christian times.'*
Thus did a distinguished archaeologist sum up the
arguments advanced for and against the ancient use of
alphabetical writing in Ireland, and little, if any progress
in the elucidation of the subject has been since made ;
for with the knowledge, or want of knowledge of letters,
is involved to a great degree the genuineness or untrust-
worthiness of the Irish Annals. O'Donovan conjectures
* Catalogue, Museum Royal Irish Academy, pp. 136, 137.
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 35
that the Irish had the use of letters* at the period of
Cormac Mac Art, King- of Ireland, about a.d. 253-277.
The Romano-British Ogham bilingual inscriptions
would appear, judging by the Latin lettering, to
belong to a period certainly not earlier than from a.d.
400 to 500: bilingual inscriptions appear also in Ire-
land. The early church in Wales was closely connected
with that of Ireland, and the fact that Ogham inscrip-
tions in Britain are, it would appear, to a great extent
coincident with the area of early Irish missionary work
is a curious coincidence. ' The strong interest which
the Oghams at first excited has somewhat diminished.
Zeuss thought the method of writing which appears in
them to be possibly of great antiquity, and Stokes
believed there were found in them traces of a very
primitive form of Celtic speech ; but the tendency of
recent research has been to bring them down to a
more recent date, and the growing belief that they are
often cryptic, that is, designedly obscure, has dis-
couraged inquiry.'f
The serial arrangements of the letters of the alpha-
bet is approximately the same in many ancient lan-
guages ; this coincidence cannot be accidental, but
points to the fact of the alphabets having been
* The poet Spenser, who cannot be accused of partiality for the
Irish in his View of the State of Ireland, written in the sixteenth
century, remarks .' — 'It is certain that Ireland hath had the use of
letters very anciently, and long before England. Whence they had
those letters is hard to say. Whether they at their first coming
into the land brought them, or afterwards, by trading with other
nations which had letters, learned them from them, or devised
them among themselves, is very doubtful. The Saxons of England
are said to have their letters, learning, and learned men from the
Irish ; and that also appeareth by the likeness of the character, for
the Saxon character is the same with the Irish.'
t Dr. J. K. Ingram in Proceedings, Royal Irish Academy, vol. ii,
(ser. hi.), pp. 127, 128.
D 2
36
PAGAN IRELAND :
borrowed from the same source, and the Ogham alpha-
bet strikes the observer as being an older type of
alphabet re-arranged.
Ogham inscriptions, in general, begin from the
bottom and are read upwards from left to right ; the
alphabet consists of lines variously arranged, with
regard to a single stem-line, or to the edge of the
substance on which they are cut.
' The spectator, looking at an upright Ogham monu-
ment, will, in general, observe groups of incised
strokes of four different kinds: — (i) Groups of lines
8
L
F
;S
N
H
D
r
c
Q
or
Cu
A
O
U
£
Fig. 10.— Ordinary Ogham Alphabet.
to the left; (2) others to the right of the edge; (3)
other longer strokes crossing it obliquely; and (4)
small notches upon the edge itself. The characters
comprised in class (1) stand respectively for the letters
B, L, F, S, N, according as they number 1, 2, 3, 4, or
5 strokes; those in (2) for H, D, T, C, Q, or CU ;
those in (3) for M, G, NG, ST, or Z, R ; and those in
(4) for the vowels, A, O, U, E, I. Besides these
twenty characters, there are five others occurring less
frequently, and used to denote diphthongs, and the
letters P, X, and Y. In some instances the Ogham
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 37
strokes are cut upon a face of the stone, instead of
being arranged along an edge. In such cases an
incised stem-line, or an imaginary line passing through
the shortest, or vowel strokes, takes the place of the
edge.'' 5 ''
The greater number of the Ogham inscriptions as yet
discovered have been found in the south of Ireland,
principally in the counties of Kerry and Cork ; the
stones appear to be, for the most part, sepulchral, or
commemorative ; yet, though several proper names
occurring on Ogham monuments are to be met in the
Irish Annals, it is doubtful whether any have been so
identified as to give the data of the period in which the
individual lived whose memory it was intended thus to
perpetuate. ' It is obvious,' remarked the late Sir
Samuel Ferguson, ' that if purposes of secrecy or curi-
osity were desired, the cipher might be made more or
less abstruse by varying the number of strokes, as by
beginning with two or more at the commencement of
each series — and a great number of examples of such
cryptic Oghams may be seen in the tract on this subject
in the "Book of Ballymote." They are all, however,
resolvable into the original key-cipher, in which each
set of five commences with a single stroke, and which,
with the other more complex examples and certain
arbitrary marks for vowel combinations, is also found
in the same depository. With the key — available for
the last five hundred years — we may be surprised to
find the Ogham character still involved in so much
mystery.'
It is remarked that many of the Ogham-inscribed
stones are of a material foreign to the district in which
* Catalogue, Museum Royal Irish Academy, p. 138.
38 PAGAN IRELAND :
they have been discovered, and are generally formed of
sandstone ; this occurring so frequently would tend to
show that a block of sandstone was sought elsewhere
and brought to the required place, as being deemed
more convenient for working upon. The old sculptors
and architects appear to have possessed some know-
ledge of the chemical constituents of the materials with
which they worked. Cashels, and the sustaining walls of
passages and chambers — whether in tumuli, earns, or
souterrains — may be formed of limestone or of the
nearest description of stone available ; but when the
wish was to decorate a flagstone, careful selection was
made not only of a durable but also an easily-worked
material.
The stones, upon which Ogham inscriptions have
been found, embedded in the walls of churches, de-
monstrate that they were merely utilised as building
material, for some of them were placed in positions
which prevented their inscriptions being read, and
other stones were hammer-dressed on the angles,
portions of the inscriptions having been knocked off in
order to produce an angle suitable for the new purpose
to which it was devoted. It is alleged that at a period
when knowledge of the Ogham had been lost, or when
the memorials had ceased to command the venera-
tion of succeeding generations, these monuments were
sometimes appropriated by Christians. A cross is re-
puted to have been carved on the uninscribed end of
one stone, which had been originally fastened in the
earth, and the stone was then turned upside down, the
original top with its Ogham inscription being buried
in the ground ; whilst a writer, holding other views,
alleges that he found a cross-inscribed monument, and
into the sacred symbol some of the Ogham scores had
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC ? 89
been sunk, thus demonstrating that the Ogham had
been cut subsequent to the sculpturing of the cross.
If the question be asked why these monuments do not
all bear the sign of the cross, supposing that they all
belong to Christian times, 'it may be suggested that
in early times such may not
have been the custom, whilst
it is quite possible that some
of them may be the monu-
ments of Pagans, seeing that
Paganism survived in Ireland
for centuries after the arrival
of St. Patrick.'
Despite the tract elucida-
tory of the Ogham alphabet
in the 'Book of Ballymote,'
well known to antiquaries,
the early essayists in attempt-
ing to read these inscriptions
could make no progress.
The ordinary methods of
deciphering an inscription,
which assume that the letters
to be unravelled are di-
vided into words, are in-
applicable to the Ogham
character, which is written
Continuously ; yet a key Ogham-inscribed Stone, from an
Was SOOn discovered, for underground chamber in a rath,
Co. Cork.
in the course of investiga-
tion a group of strokes were identified as reading
Maqui, the ancient genitive form of Mac, a son. This
conclusion, it is stated, was afterwards corroborated
from a source not then known to be in existence —
Fig:, ir.
40
PAGAN IRELAND :
the monumental stone of Wales, inscribed in Roman
characters, with accompanying Oghams. In Ogham
inscriptions there is no indication of Christian hope,
no allusion to any sacred name or scriptural reference,
but only the dry formula of: —
( ■ ) the son of ( )
the first name being generally in the genitive case ;
the word stone was supposed to be understood.
One example must suffice. Fig. 1 1 represents a
monolith, formed of hard, compact, buff-coloured clay
m^mmmimmmm^mmmm.
Fu
-Scribed Stone from Ardakillen.
slate, twelve feet six inches in length — nine feet of
which is above ground — two feet nine inches in average
breadth, and nine inches in average thickness. It was
found in an underground chamber of a rath in the town-
land of Coolineagh, parish of Aghabulloge, county Cork.
After some vicissitudes it was erected in a position of
safety, near St. Olam's Well, a place of great repute in
all the surrounding country. The inscription is short,
and occupies three feet six inches in length. It is quite
legible, the scores being deeply and broadly cut : —
No, maqi Dego, i. e. No, the son of Deag.
The late R. R. Brash, in his work entitled The Ogam-
Inscribed Monuments of the Gaedhil, remarks that the name
No under the form Noe is mentioned at an early date
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC ? 41
in the Annals of the Four Masters and other Irish manu-
scripts, whilst the patronymic has been found on other
Ogham -inscribed stones.
Figs. 13 and 14 are examples of scoring on objects of
bone and stone of probably a comparatively later date ;
they were found on the sites of lake dwellings.
It is alleged that of the many Ogham inscribed
stones which have been discovered in the souterrains
of raths, few bear the sacred symbol of the Christian
Faith. These stones were merely used as materials
by the rath-builders — perhaps so late as the tenth or
eleventh century — and were drawn from more ancient
Figs. 13 and 14. — Scorings on Bone Pins.
monuments, probably from old disused graves or grave-
yards, and used by architects who felt no reverence for
such memorials. At the end of the tract on Ogham,
contained in the ' Book of Ballymote,' about eighty
different forms of the alphabet are given, exhibiting
thus the various modifications to which it had been
subjected, and on this point it has been remarked that
it was vain to assert that Irish grammarians who used
and wrote about Ogham were unacquainted with Scan-
dinavian or Anglo-Saxon runes, for amongst the Ogham
alphabets figured in the ' Book of Ballymote' are two
Runic alphabets, one styled ' The Ogham of the men
of Lochan,' the other ' The Ogham of the foreigners.'
The conclusion arrived at, as regarding the Ogham is,
that it was framed by persons acquainted with the later
and developed Runic alphabet.
Both O'Donovan and Petrie at one time were
4 possessed with a violent and overpowering prejudice
42 PAGAN IRELAND:
against the genuineness of Ogham texts in general,'
doubtless engendered by the fanciful and absurd
speculations which then passed muster as antiquarian
learning. ' Petrie,' remarked the late Sir Samuel
Ferguson, ' it may well be believed, would have been
glad, before his death, to have recalled his memorable
challenge to the Munster antiquaries to prove that the
Ardmore inscription is alphabetic writing of any kind ;
and O'Donovan, after he had subsequently seen the
legends in the Dunloe Cave — discovered in 1838 — gave
a candid testimony to their genuineness and import-
ance.'
Ogham appears to have been employed not only for
mortuary inscriptions carved on pillar-stones erected
over celebrated personages, but also in the same man-
ner as we now use the Roman alphabet, for communi-
cating by messengers.
Oghamic scribings have been found on bone-pins
and other ornaments from the lake-dwellings of Ballin-
derry and Strokestown ; the scorings seem to resemble
runic characters, but Professor Stephens of Copen-
hagen, to whom photographs of the scribings were
submitted, could not decide that they were actually
runes ; and neither Professor Rhys nor Sir Samuel Fer-
guson were able to interpret the seemingly well-marked
Oghamic scorings. ' Amongst the curious collection
at AnketePs Grove is a stone axe, on which is incised
an Ogham inscription.'*
Valiancy, in his Collectanea, \ makes mention of a
silver brooch, bearing on it an inscription in Ogham
character. The brooch in question was discovered in
* Journal, Kilkenny Archceological Society, vol. ii. (new ser.),
P- 447-
t Vol. vii., p. 149.
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 43
the year 1806 by a peasant turning up the ground on the
hill of Ballyspellan, in the Barony of Galmoy, Co.
Kilkenny. The front of the brooch is ornamented by a
device of entwined serpents ; the back presents four
lines in Ogham character ; all the words, with one ex-
ception, are proper names ; the brooch is identified as
belonging to the latter part of the eleventh or com-
mencement of the twelfth century.
It would seem that amongst people in a very rude
state of society communication can be made from great
distances. The late E. T. Hardman,when on the Geolo-
gical Survey of Western Australia, about the year 1886,
caused a message to be conveyed several hundred miles,
from the interior to the coast, by means of notches cut on
a stick by natives. These Australian ' message ' or ' talk-
ing sticks ' are very curious, for they belong to a people
devoid of what we look upon as alphabetical knowledge;
yet the notches or lines are interpreted by the recipient
in the sense intended by the sender. They are men-
tioned in Brought Smith's account of the aborigines of
Victoria. Apparently, however, the matter has not yet
been treated by a writer competent to throw a clear
light on this interesting subject ; * at any rate, messages
* Since the above was written the following article bearing on
the subject appeared in the Saturday Review, April 15, 1893: —
' Before us there lies a Rudimentary Letter. It is a piece of
wood, about five inches long by one broad; it is painted red with
blood and ochre, and has a kind of neck at about two inches from
the top ; round this neck a string is fastened ; at the very head i.
incised what seems to be a capital T ; beneath this is a large 7, as
it seems to European eyes, and a crescent moon on each side.
Below there is a broad arrow : \ . On the left-hand side, beneath,
is a row of 7s. On the back are many slanting notches, two
straight lines, and the field below is filled up with the herrin«-bone
pattern.
' This object is a Message Stick of the Wootka tribe, who dwell
sixty miles west of Lake Nash, in the northern territory of South
41 PAGAN IRELAND :
in the present day thus conveyed in Australia amongst a
rude and barbarous population, and for long distances
through hostile tribes, point to the fact that the initial
stages in the art of writing are made at a very early
period in human progress.
It is alleged that among the Fijians men sent with
messages were in the habit of using ' certain mnemonic
aids,' whilst the New Zealanders ' occasionally conveyed
information to distant tribes, during war, by marks on
gourds !'
According to an old Irish Bardic narrative, on one
occasion, the mythical hero Cuchullin, when traversing
a forest, saw an inscribed pillar-stone, and hung round
it a verse in Ogham character carved by him upon a
withe. The same hero is elsewhere represented as
sending information to-Maeve, Queen of Connaught, by
means of cutting or scribing on wands.
Australia. It is carried by an ambassador on a commercial mission
to a distant tribe, whom we may call Nootkas. The markings on
the back are tribal marks, early heraldic bearings ; and these are the
ambassador's credentials. If he bore a stick whose meaning he
could not explain, he would be in the position of Bellerophon. It
would be understood that he is to be speared by the tribe to whom
lie goes. On the back, besides the heraldic marks, are two straight
lines. These mean that he is carrying two long and heavy spears
as objects of barter. The 7, again, is a fighting weapon, a kind of
wooden axe. The crescents are war boomerangs. The T T
means that he is to stop at the station of a squatter, who uses this
mark as a brand for his sheep. Here he is to leave the heavy
boomerangs and spears. The crowd of 7s means that he is to get
as many of these wooden axes from the other tribe as he can.
Certain triangular marks represent the number of days during which
he may be absent. The whole stick thus reads: — "The Wootka
tribe to the Nootka tribe. The bearer carries boomerangs and
spears. These he is to barter with the Nootkas for wooden axes.
His leave of absence is for a week. He is to find the Nootkas near
Thompson's station."
'This stick is at once the bearer's credentials and his invoice, so
to speak. If he goes against his instructions he may be speared on
his return.'
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 45
The son of a Scottish chief is described as cutting
Ogham characters on the handle of a spear. In a.d.
408, Core, son of the King of Munster, was driven by
his father into exile. He fled to the court of a Scottish
chief, but before appearing in the king's presence, an
Ogham inscription on his
shield was discovered,
and deciphered, by a
friend, who thus saved
the prince's life ; the in-
scription being to the
effect that, should he
arrive at the Scottish
court by day, his head
was to be cut off before
evening; and if by night,
it was to be cut off before
morning.
o
What the peculiar mark-
ing called rock-scribing'
represents is a question
still unanswered, though
numerous conjectures
have been hazarded.
Cup - markings, incom-
plete rings, a series of
circles round a central
cup — sometimes with a
radial groove through
the circles — these are
the commonest types. It has often been advanced that
these incisions in the hard rock could only have been
produced with metallic implements, but it is stated that
a person experimenting, with only the assistance of a
Fig. 15. — Rock Scribings.
46
PAGAN IRELAND :
flint chisel and a wooden mallet, cut, in the space of
two hours, nearly an entire circle on a block of granite
which bore archaic devices.
"J) i
Fig. 16. — Rock Scribings.
The megalithic chambers in the earns on the hills
over Loughcrew, County Meath, are more lavishly
adorned with types of primeval sculpturing and devices
than those at present known in any district except France,
for Ireland possesses a collection of this species of pre-
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC ? 47
historic ornamentation which, in singularity, number,
and quaintness of design, is approached in point of
interest only by some of the great stone chambers of
the district of the Morbihan. In Ireland, cup-
markings appear to be the commonest form of orna-
mentation, and they present two leading varieties, i.e.
circular hollows of more or less depth, and of a
diameter varying from eighteen inches to as little as
one inch. These depressions sometimes occur singly,
but usually they are in groups ; not un frequently around,
or partly enclosing each, may be observed one or more
incised lines, often of considerable depth, to which
other markings and variations are occasionally added.
Somewhat similar rock-scribings abound in Yorkshire,
in Northumberland, on the Cheviot Hills, near Edin-
burgh, and in the Orkneys.* Various attempts have
been made to decipher their meaning. The Right
Rev. Charles Graves, Bishop of Limerick, propounded
the theory that these circular rock-carvings were rude
maps of raths, and observes : —
'It was to be presumed that the persons who carved
the inscriptions intended to represent circular objects
of some kind ; but what could these objects have heen ?
Some have suggested shields. This notion seems incon-
sistent with the fact that the same stone presents so
many circular symbols of different sizes, varying from
the small shallow cup of an inch or two in diameter to
the group of concentric circles two feet across. It also
seems probable that, as shields, in general, used to beai
* The 'dot and circle pattern' is probably the Kteis. This
emblem is stated to be almost identical in Hittite, Cypriote, Cunei-
form, and Egyptian. To solve the enigma of these scribings we
must go afield. What does this style of ornamentation represent
to the mind of the aborigines of Australia ?
4S PAGAN IRELAND :
distinctive devices, these would re-appear in the inscrip-
tions ; but the inscribed circles exhibit no such variety
as might have been expected on this hypothesis.
Again, if the circles represent shields, what could be
meant by the openings in the circumference of many of
them. Lastly, what connexion could there be between
the idea of shields and the long lines appearing in the
Staigue monument, or the short lines on that of Bally-
nasare ?
' Another idea was, that these figures were designed
to represent astronomical phenomena. This notion
was perhaps the most obvious, and the least easily dis-
proved. It harmonizes also with what has been handed
down respecting the elemental worship of the Pagan
Celts. Nevertheless it seems open to obvious objections.
In astronomical diagrams, one could hardly fail to
recognize a single symbol conspicuous amongst the rest
as denoting the sun or moon, or two such symbols
denoting both these bodies. One might also expect to
see some delineation — even by the rudest hand — of the
phases of the moon. We look in vain for these indica-
tions of an astronomical reference in the groups of lines
and circles. Again, this supposition fails to account
for the openings in the circles, and the lines which
appear in connexion with them.
' It has been suggested that these circles were intended
to serve as moulds in which metal rings might be cast.
This explanation is decisively negatived by the fact
that the circle occurs on parts of the rock which are
not horizontal. Another proposed idea is that the
circles were used for the purpose of playing some game.
The great dissimilarity which exists between the figures
on the different stones renders this explanation unten-
able. The theory which appeared the most probable,
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 49
was that the circles were intended to represent the
circular buildings of earth or stone of which traces still
exist in every part of Ireland. This conjecture was
supported by the following considerations: —
' The circles are of different sizes; and some of them
are disposed in concentric groups. The dwellings and
fortified seats of the ancient Irish were circular; they
were of various sizes, from the small cloghan or stone-
house often feet in diameter to the great camp, includ-
ing an area of some acres ; and the principal forts
had several concentric valla. The openings in the
inscribed circles may have been intended to denote
the entrances. The other inscribed lines may have
represented roads passing by, or leading up to, the
forts.'
The conjecture that these carvings were primitive
maps, representing the disposition of the neighbouring
forts, appeared to be a fanciful one, and the drawings
were laid for many years on one side ; finally, however,
Bishop Graves having re-examined this subject, came to
the conclusion that his original theory was correct, that
the centres of the circles and the neighbouring cups and
dots arranged themselves, generally, three-by-three; in
straight lines, or approximately so, and that the ancient
raths marked on the Ordnance Survey maps appear, to
some extent, to be also arranged three-by-three in
straight lines.
Another class of ' rock-scribings ' consists of scorings,
such as are found upon the flagstones of sepulchral
earns, as at Lough Crew, Dowth, and New Grange.
There is also a class of irregular scorings, some of
which may be genuine Ogham, although roughly and
irregularly executed, whilst others are of a character
which precludes their classification under this heading.
E
50 PAG A N IR EL A ND :
Some of the so-called ' cup-markings ' on sepulchral
monuments have been caused by the action of Nature,
being the well-known ' ripple marks ' common in the
old red-sandstone series ; but anyone familiar with
geological formations would not confound the artificial
with the natural work, though depressions — very like
genuine 'cup-markings' — are created on the upper
surface of calcareous rocks by the solvent action of
rain-water ; but even ignoring the undoubted traces of
the pick or pointed instrument occurring on some of
the 'cup-markings,' it is impossible to suppose that the
concentric or spiral rings, which frequently surround
the ' cups,' could be the result of geological causes.
'We shall, I think,' remarks H. M. Westropp, who
advances a very simple theory as to their formation, ' be
led to a more just conclusion as to their origin, if we
bring before our mind that the savage and primitive
man has the same fondness for imitation, the same love
of laborious idleness as the child. A child will pass
hours whittling and paring a stick, building a diminutive
house or wall, and tracing forms on the turf. The
savage will wear away years in carving his war-club and
polishing his stone-adze. These considerations lead me
to attribute these carvings and sculpture to the laborious
idleness of a pastoral people, passing the long and
weary day in tending their flocks and herds ; they
amused themselves by carving and cutting those various
figures, and the rude outlines of primitive men, in
various countries, like the rude attempts at drawing by
children, cannot but bear a family resemblance to one
another, their utter absence of art being frequently
their chief point of relationship.'*
* Proceedings, Royal Irish Acadetny, vol. x., p. 233.
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 51
W. F. Wakeman thus depicts another aspect in
which these rock carvings may be regarded : — ' Many
men of ancient and modern times, confined by necessity
to a listless existence, in an inhospitable region, might
very naturally have beguiled their hours by carving with
a stone, or metallic instrument — such figures as their
fancy prompted — upon the nearest object which hap-
pened to present a surface more or less smooth.
Scorings or designs made under such circumstances,
would be, in character, as various as the skill or
humours of their authors. Now, when in many districts
of the country, and some of them widely apart, we find
upon the sides of caves and rocks, and within the
enclosure of Pagan sepulchral tumuli, a certain well-
defined class of engravings, often arranged in groups,
and with few exceptions, presenting what may be styled
a family type, we can hardly imagine them to be the
result of caprice.'
As a proof of the caution requisite before attach-
ing importance to such objects, an incident observed,
when the mania amongst British archaeologists about
cup-markings was at its height, deserves to be re-
corded.
An Irish archaeologist chanced to walk towards
the Mumbles, near Oystermouth, South Wales, where
quarrying operations were being carried on. The
stone was in vertical strata, and as each layer was re-
moved, the face of the next exhibited cupped depres-
sions irregularly distributed over the surface, and in
considerable numbers. Mr. Brash immediately recog-
nized as a fact that which he had previously surmised,
namely, that three-fourths of the ' cup-markings ' that
had been occupying the attention of learned societies,
and filling the pages of their publications, had no
li 2
52 PAGAN IRELAND :
archaeological significance whatever, and were merely
freaks of nature !
We may all recollect in 3cott's most amusing novel
of ' The Antiquary,' the scene between Oldbuck and
Edie Ochiltree relative to the supposed Roman en-
trenchment. The Scottish example is, however, quite
paralleled by the controversy relative to the meaning
of an inscription carved on a rock situated on the
summit of Tory Hill, near Mullinavat, Co. Kilkenny,
and which Tighe, in his Statistical Observations, relative
to Kilkenny, interprets as a Phoenician inscription, and
reads it beli dinose. Vallency and Wood copied this
Tory Hill inscription, and employed it as the sole basis
of their theory respecting the Phoenician origin of the
early colonization of Ireland ; even Lanigan gravely
cites this monument as one among many ancient re-
mains in Ireland, which serve to show that their God
Bel was identical with the Sun. Its true interpretation
is here given on the authority of O'Donovan : — A
millstone-cutter went one morning early to commence
working at a millstone on the top of the hill; but his
fellow-labourers — without whose assistance he could
not well commence his work — did not join him at the
appointed time, and he therefore amused himself by
cutting his name (e. conic) and the date ( 1 73 1 ) on
the stone in question. He was so bad a scholar that
he reversed — as children constantly do — one of the
letters — the last C of his surname. The stone was at
this time lying fiat on the surface of the hill, and
remained so for many years after his death. A number
of boys repaired to the top of the hill to amuse them-
selves ; and after several rounds of boxing and wrest-
ling, they wished to try who was the best leaper, and
finding this inscribed stone ready at hand to answer
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 53
their purpose, they raised it on others to the height
required for a 'running leap'; but it happened that
they placed it in such a position that the letters
appeared reversed. They departed to their respective
homes leaving it in this position, little imagining that
they had erected an altar to any god ! Shortly after
this, some gentlemen happened to ascend the hill,
and observing the stone, were struck with the strange
appearance of the letters ; and one of them, thinking
that he had discovered an ancient inscription, made a
sketch of the stone and the letters, in their inverted
position ; and having shown this sketch to some of
the literati at Waterford, he created a celebrity for
the locality which induced many to visit Tory Hill, to
try and read the wonderful inscription.
Mistakes like this are laughed at ; but attempts, or
alleged attempts, at imposition cannot be too severely
reprobated. Towards the close of the last century a
writer in the Transact io?is of the Royal Irish Academy
gave an account of a remarkable megalithic structure,
situated on Callan Mountain, in Clare. A copy of an
Ogham inscription which was cut upon it was given,
with a translation, which set forth that a celebrated
Irish hero, named Con an, was there buried. To
support this reading, it is alleged that an Irish quatrain
was forged and cited as part of an ancient poem to the
effect that the above-mentioned warrior, had — before
engaging in battle — prayed to the sun in this locality,
that he was slain, and interred on Mount Callan, under
a flagstone which bore his name carved in Ogham
characters.
The great majority of irregular scorings on the faces
of cliffs, or on detached boulders should be regarded
with suspicion. W. F. Wakeman has pointed out that
54 PAGAN IRELAND :
' those which occur on the pillar-stone at Kilna-
saggart, Co. Armagh — though long considered to be
Ogham characters — are now universally pronounced
to be nothing more than markings made by persons
who utilized the menhir as a block, for the sharpening
and pointing of tools and weapons. The same remark
applies in full force to certain scorings and scratches
which disfigure a grand dallan, standing close to the
railway station of Kesh, Co. Fermanagh, on the
right-hand side of the line as you face towards Bun-
doran. They are found abundantly on the coping-
stones of the walls of Londonderry, and in other
localities too numerous to mention — at Killowen,
Co. Cork, they occur on a stone significantly called
Clock-na-n'ar/n, or the {sharpening) stone of the weapons." 1 *
In the year i860, J. P. Maginnis described incised
scorings found on the walls of a natural cavern known
as 'The Lettered Cave,' on Knockmore Mountain,
near the village of Derrygonnely, Co. Fermanagh,
some of which he imagined resembled runes, and
others seem to be cognate with the incised ornamenta-
tion on the stones of the Great Chambers at New
Grange ; but mixed with the ancient, are many modern
markings known to be the work of visitors to the cave,
so that much caution is required to distinguish the
genuine ancient scorings.
The rock-markings in the passages and chambers of
New Grange, and Dowth, on the river Boyne, present
characteristics readily distinguishing them from the
rock-markings of the north of England and Scotland —
one of the chief of which is, that whilst the circular
incised figures which form the bulk of the latter are
* Archceologia Hibernica, p. 80.
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC ? 55
concentric, with a central cup-like hollow, and a
channel passing through the concentric circles, the
carvings at New Grange and Dowth are, as a rule,
spirals, without the central hollow or intersecting
channel, and are associated with fern-leaf patterns,*
and also with lozenge, zigzag and chevron-like mark-
ings, which are analogous to the ornamentation of
fictile sepulchral vessels. Many of the markings of
New Grange and Dowth are proved to have been
carved before the stones were used for their present
purpose.
If we find carvings on a natural boulder — not in any
way connected with Christian use, or tradition — even
should these carvings not be strictly analogous to those
at New Grange, Dowth, or Loughcrew, yet we have
some grounds to conclude that here is an example of
a primeval custom which placed ready to the hand
of the builders of these tumuli material ready carved.
Now there are many such natural boulders scattered
throughout the country. Several stud the surface of
the green eskers, or hills, surrounding the Seven
Churches of Clonmacnoise. Close to one boulder is
a earn, called Leacht-na-Marra, or the monument of the
dead ; when a funeral approaches that famed burial-
ground, the coffin is laid down and stones thrown on
the earn. It is stated that no Christian rite was ever
performed at the boulder. On the contrary, the name
by which it is known — 'The Fairy's Stone' — points to
its pagan origin.
The most singular markings on the boulder are
apparently representations of the ancient Irish ring-
* This fern-leaf pattern is now thought to be doubtful; there is
no median line.
56 PAGAN IRELAND :
brooch ; some with a knob on top of the acus — as
frequently occurs in extant specimens — others being-
flat at top, and seeming to represent the looping of the
acus over the flat bar of a half-moon ring. The
carvings appear to have been formed by a rude-pointed
tool or pick, and are, on an average, about an inch
deep. The other boulders occurring on the hill are
studded over with cup-like hollows, evidently caused
by the solvent property of rain-water, retained in
certain natural irregularities, which were thereby
deepened and assumed the artificial aspect which they
now present.
There is an incised stone near Cranna, Co. Galway,
called by the peasantry 'The Stone of the Fruitful
Fair}'.' It is a boulder of very irregular form, measur-
ing forty-six inches by thirty-two inches, and presents,
with other ornamentation, the water-worn hollows
already described.
About a quarter of a mile from Parsonstown, on the
road to Dublin, there stood, many years ago, a globular-
shaped limestone boulder, five or six feet in diameter,
and inscribed with V-shaped marks, like the stone at
Cranna, Co. Galway, and other places ; also various
depressions or cavities, traditionally said to be the
marks of Finn Mac Cumhaill's thumb and fingers.
It was called Seefin, i. e. Finn's Seat. This stone was
removed from its ancient site on a truck to Tulla, Co.
Clare.
The giants left marks of their fingers and of their
feet on rocks. ' The saints did the same. Two exam-
ples will suffice. In the townland of Bellanascaddan,
in the Co. Donegal, there is a monolith on which are
two cup-marks. To account for these the country
people narrate that a giant, who lived in a neighbour-
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 57
ing fort, used it as his ' finger-stone,' and that the cups
on the stone are the marks of his fingers. Within
the demesne of Sheestown (in Ossory) there exists a
rock, marked with peculiar indentations, which were be-
lieved by the people to have been traces or marks of
St. Patrick's footsteps. The rock was called ' Ciscaem
Padruig,' i.e. St. Patrick's footsteps.
R. R. Brash mentions an ' inscribed cromlech,' called
' The Baalic,' in the townland of Scrahanard, which
stands on the side of a hill, about three miles west of
Macroom, Co. Cork. On the underside of the table-
stone were a series of artificial marks, covering the
surface, and consisting of lines — straight and oblique —
numerous crosses, or lines intersecting at right angles,
and other curious forms ; but they never could — accord-
ing to Mr. Brash — ' have been designed to convey a
meaning, much less a meaning to be arrived at through
the medium of phonetic exponents. They were evi-
dently the arbitrary whims of a rude race, and must
have been executed before the stone was placed in its
present position.'
In the year 1864, G. V. Du Noyer was fortunate
enough to light on a good example of carvings on an
inclined bed of rock, near the summit of Ryefield Hill,
in the townland of Ballydorragh, Co. Cavan. The
markings are described as produced, apparently by
simple scraping with a saw-like motion ; some may
have been formed by a metallic implement. The
figures most commonly represented are detached
straight-armed crosses, but not unfrequently these are
so grouped or clustered together as to form a network
of lines crossing in every direction ; in two instances
these crosses are inclosed in an oblong rectangular
figure. About a quarter of a mile north-west of ' Calliagh
5 S PA GAN IRE LA ND :
Dirra's House,' in the parish of Monasterboice, the
same explorer discovered rock-markings — produced by
a combined method of scraping and punching — on a
natural rock-surface. Some of the devices differ from
those at Ryefield, for many are of quite a Runic char-
acter. This may be accidental, just as some of the
carving on rocks in Sweden closely resemble a pair of
spectacles ; yet no one could imagine that they had
such a significance, though they possibly may be typical
of the human face ! *
In 1868 Mr. Robert Day recorded! ^ ie discovery of
a scribed rock of the red sandstone of the district,
situated near the new line of road leading from Bally-
dehob to Ban try, Co. Cork. When forming the road
the workmen cleared away a considerable depth of
earth from the face of the rock, and so exposed its
sculptured surface. The designs consist of circles,
cup-shaped cavities, penannular rings, and V-shaped
markings ; there are two perfectly-formed circles, and
three imperfect or penannular circles, together with
other curious markings.
Most of the early forms of decoration found on the
walls of early sepulchral chambers, or on the face of
natural rock, are repeated on funeral fictilia, on bronze
hatchets, and on ornaments of gold.
As a rule the attempts at art by Early Man were con-
fined to rude lineal decorative patterns, an exception
being the extraordinary and life-like representations by
the cave-men of Gaul, who incised on bone, delineations
of mastodons, reindeer, horses, and fishes. A suspicion
may be entertained that these articles are possibly for-
* Journal, Kilkenny Archaeological Society, vol. v., pp. 497-501.
t Journal, Royal Historical and Archceological Association of
Ireland, vol. i. (ser. iii.), pp. 91, 92.
ARE THE EARLY IRISH RECORDS AUTHENTIC? 59
geries. Why should such astonishing and faithful
animal-designers be confined to one small district ?
Nowhere else have traces of such skilled artists been
unearthed. Perhaps in the dim future some enthusiastic
Irish cave-explorer may bring to light an etching on
bone, or stone, similar to those discovered on the Con-
tinent ; but until that day arrives we must rest content
with the singular fact that the sculptor's art, as applied
to representations of the human or animal form, appears
to have been rarely, if ever, practised in Ireland prior
to the introduction of Christianity. Even then the
devices consisted almost entirely in ornamentation of
an arabesque character, sometimes combined with gro-
tesque animals and serpents ; if human figures were
introduced they were subsidiary to the scroll-work in
which they were entwined.
From the tenacity with which the Pagan-Christian
School of artists adhered to an almost stereotyped form
of decoration it is difficult to assign even an approxi-
mate date to many of the best specimens of elaborately-
decorated remains. It may be, however, fairly surmised
that any object of Irish art upon which interlacing
tracery is displayed should not be referred to a period
antecedent to Christianity.
60
PAGAN IRELAND !
CHAPTER III
EARLY HISTORY.
ighernach, the most reliable of early Irish
scribes, died about a.d. 1088, and if he
be accepted as an authority, Irish history
might be considered to open about two
centuries before Christ ; his words, ' omnia monu-
menta Scotorum usque Cimbeath incerta erant,' must,
as O'Donovan remarks, inspire a feeling of confidence
in the v/riter.
According to Tighernach the starting point of Irish
history was the erection of the palace of Emania. A
wild legend states its origin to be as follows : — Three
kings who had been fighting amongst themselves finally
agreed to reign for seven years — in alternate succes-
sion. They had each enjoyed the sovereignty for one
of these periods, when the first king died, and his
daughter claimed the right to reign when her father's
term of sovereignty came round ; she was opposed,
but vanquished all opposition. Her subjects suggested
that she should put her prisoners to death ; this she
refused to do, but condemned them to slavery, and
employed them in building a huge rath or fortress, and
' she marked for them the dun with her brooch of gold
from her neck,' so that the palace was called Eomuin,
from eo, a brooch, and muin, the neck.
The early history of Ireland — whether given by an-
cient or modern writers — is a strange mixture of truth,
■ EARLY HISTORY.
61
exaggeration, allegory, and downright fiction ; however,
the fact of incredible exploits being ascribed to dim
historic personages is not sufficient ground for denying
the existence of those individuals. In the early history
of almost every country, the appearance of mythical
beings is reported, and formerly it was usual to deny
the existence of such, but present-day historians rather
incline to the opinion that these may have been real
individuals who were remarkable for some great quality,
or for heroic deeds, and around whom tradition gra-
dually wove an accumulation of supernatural o-lorv.
The statements presented by many writers as true
history are, as remarked by O'Donovan, ' after all no
more than their own inferences drawn, in many in-
stances, from the half historical, half fabulous works of
the ancients. In the middle ages no story was accept-
able to the taste of the day without the assistance of
some marvellous or miraculous incidents, which, in
those all-believing times, formed the life and soul
of every narrative.'
There is a strange kind of excitement in essaying to
unravel a complicated problem, and certainly ample
room is afforded to a student desirous of analysing and
investigating the so-called history and description of
ancient Erin, which has been handed down to us and
repeated by writer after writer. The mythical stories
by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and other scribes of that
school, relative to the colonization and historv of
England, have long been consigned to the literary
waste-paper basket ; and why should the extravagant
legends related of Ireland be treated with more
leniency ? To transmit, by oral tradition, a chain of
events, extending back in an unbroken order to the
Creation, would be an impossibility; we possess also
62 PAGAN IRELAND:
good authority for not giving ' heed to fables and end-
less genealogies,' or to ' profane and old wives' fables!'
Writers of the olden school usually commenced his-
tories with fables, the length and extravagance of which
was in proportion to their estimate of the importance of
the theme; and nothing has tended so much to bring
discredit on the proper study of Irish history and Irish
antiquities as this exaggeration.
Beranger, towards the close of the last century, wrote
on this subject ; and, as remarked by Wilde, one would
imas;ine that the cautious old Dutchman had been in-
diting a prospectus for the origination of an Archaeo-
logical Society : — ' No traces remain of the grandeur of
the ancient Irish — which we are pressed to believe
without proofs — except some manuscripts which very
few can read, and out of which the Irish historian
picks what suits him, and hides what is fabulous and
absurd.'
No statement will be here advanced merely on the
authority of native annals and manuscripts, unless cor-
roborated by outside and disinterested evidence such
as is afforded by classic or foreign writers, or the
archaeological and material evidences of sepulchral
remains, dwellings, implements, ornaments, and other
traces, left by the primitive inhabitants. If material
objects be accepted as proofs of the pagan ideas and
customs of the aborigines, surely the evidence of still
existent superstitious observances of the peasantry,
which can be traced to a pre-Christian source, ought
to be received with, at least, the same authority ; and
we should look upon all these subjects as mere links
in one great chain which binds together many separate
periods of semi-culture.
It is to be hoped that research into the past, on these
EARL Y HISTOR Y. 63
lines, may contribute to the re-construction of early
history — a work which can only be finally accomplished
by many united efforts.
Evidence of the steady growth of a healthy current of
archaeological thought is apparent to the most careless
observer ; yet we have made but little progress in
higher and scientific archaeology ; and the ancient
antiquities of Ireland still remain in an unclassified
condition. For a lengthened period archaeology was
not recognized as a science, although it treats of the
arts, manners, customs, and entire past of primitive
man, whilst now-a-days it must be acknowledged as an
able assistant to ethnology and philology. It is evident
that philology, as a guide, must give place to, or rest its
evidence on, the material proofs produced by archaeo-
logy or ethnology. Indeed, a student, seeking to dis-
cover the origin of a people through analysis of the
spoken language, may be led to conclusions of the
most erroneous description. For instance, in Ireland,
a stranger, ignorant of its early history, and finding
the vast majority of the population speaking English,
might come to the conclusion that they were of English
descent. Until a comparatively recent period Irish
archaeology was in a deplorable state : travellers along
the road to antiquarian knowledge were beguiled at
every step from the true track by false guides who,
like 'Will-o'-the-wisp,' led them aimlessly about; yet
' Vallancey, Ledwich, Beauford, Betham, and others,
whom we have been taught to sneer at,' remarks Wilde,
' must be tried, like other men in similar circum-
stances, according to the light of their times; and
while we laugh at their arguments, deductions, and
assumption of learning, we must acknowledge that
we are indebted to them for many facts that might
C4 PA GAN IRELAND :
otherwise have fallen through the sieve on which both
grain and chaff were presented.'
Petrie's Essay on the origin of Irish round-towers —
a model for archaeological writers — created a literary
revolution. To the overthrow of romantic theories and
fanciful speculations, he marshalled solid arguments
and a bristling array of facts, and conclusively proved
that the round towers of Ireland, instead of being
Pagan temples of the remotest antiquity, were erected
by ecclesiastics, perhaps for belfries, but especially for
keeps or places of protection against sudden attacks.
As is the case with too many other Irish writers, the
amount of published matter which Petrie has left re-
presents most inadequately his great knowledge of
archaeology.
The present school of archaeology is pre-eminently that
of the spade ; the spade is a great solver of problems,
and destroyer of fantastical theories; it must ultimately
unfold in its entirety primitive man's ideas regarding
the dead, of the future state, of burial customs, ceremo-
nials, and institutions to which they gave rise ; it is
precisely at this early stage that the spade has much to
tell, for where historical and legendary traditions are
absent, the ultimate appeal must be to it.
The mass of literature which has appeared on the
subject of the name and meaning of the ancient desig-
nation of Ireland would fill a goodly sized volume. In
some of the earliest manuscripts, the name is written
Eriu, and one legend, which appears to bear the
impress of truthfulness, alleges, that, at some period,'
either prior to, or after, the deluge, Ireland was dis-
covered by fishermen who had been blown out to sea
in their skiff; this was at least a natural and not impro-
bable manner of discovering a new island.
EARLY HIS TORY. 6 5
Whether Ireland was known to the Phoenicians is a
subject of controversy amongst antiquarians. Even had
these energetic traders been acquainted with the island,
it is more than probable that they would have tried
to conceal their knowledge — as they were unwilling to
allow other maritime nations to discover the sources
from which they drew their riches. We have the well-
known and hackneyed story of the wily Phoenician ship-
master who, observing that, on his voyage to Britain,
he was followed by a Roman galley which watched his
course, voluntarily ran his vessel on a shoal, on which
his pursuer also struck. The Phoenician, who was
either a better, or more fortunate seaman, floated off
his craft, but the Roman galley went to pieces.
The earliest writers of Greece and Rome who are
supposed to refer to Ireland, have spoken of it in a
manner so vague, that very little can be learnt from
their words ; even if Ireland may be identified as Thule,
as the 'Sacred Island,' or the poetic 'Island of the
Blest,' in which the golden age of innocence and purity
still continued to flourish after all the rest of the world
had become corrupt: but these verses from Claudian are
conclusive as to the designation of Thule — at any rate
in the poet's time — not being applicable to Ireland: —
' The Orkney's dripped (with blood) when the Saxons
were put to flight ; Thule grew warm with the gore of
the Picts ; icy Ireland bewailed the heaps of (slain)
Scoti.'
Rufus Festus Avienus, a poetical writer of the fourth
century, a.d., professes to have derived his information
from a Carthaginian source ; and he is, it is alleged, the
only ancient author as yet known, who specially applied
the epithet of 'The Sacred Island' to Ireland. His
account is curious; he states that at a distance of two
F
66 PA GAN IRELAND :
days' sail from the ^Estrymnides, lay an extensive island
calleii-tii£_J3acred Island, inhabited by the nation of
ti e Hi berniansT) The legend of an ' Isle of the Blessed,'
or of a submerged continent, is still preserved in the
folk-lore of almost every European nation. O'Flaherty
states that the island of Hy-Brassil — marked on many
old charts — was in his time, ' often visible.' The sub-
ject has inspired several poets with beautiful fancies
which have been woven into pathetic ballads. Many
attempts were made to discover this fabled island.
Leslie, of Glaslongh, described as ' a wise man and a
great scholar,' was so imbued with the belief in its
real existence as to take out a grant of the isle from
Charles I. Edmond Ludlow, the celebrated republi-
can, escaped to the Continent, in a vessel chartered
at Limerick, to sail in search of Hy-Brassil ; and so
firm was the belief in the actual existence of this
enchanted island, that the captain of the ship was
allowed to depart unquestioned. A pamphlet, pur-
porting to give an account of the discovery of Hy-
Brassil, obtained circulation in London in 1675. The
existence of a land which would restore the aged
to the full vigour of youth was of world-wide belief,
but all attempts to discover this land necessarily ended
in disappointment. Nevertheless, the strange spirit of
adventure thus engendered, laid open to view countries
which might otherwise have remained for centuries
unknown.
A country of indefinite magnitude, called the island
of Brassil, is marked on numerous maps made before,
and about the time of Columbus. It is represented
south of another island which, it is thought, represents
the supposed position of the Scandinavian settlements
of Vineland, for, although we designate the American
EARLY HISTORY.
67
continent the New World, it was apparently known to
these ancient rovers of the sea.
O'Flaherty, writing in 1684, states that: 'From the
Isles of Aran and the west continent, often appears visi-
ble that enchanted island called O'Brasil, and in Irish
Beg-ara, or the Lesser Aran, set down in cards of navi-
gation : whether it be reall and firm land, kept hidden
by speciall ordinance of God, as the terrestiall paradise,
or else some illusion of airy clouds appearing on the
surface of the sea, or the craft of evill spirits — is more
than our judgements can sound out.'
Belief in the existence of the island of Hy-Brassil
may have arisen through optical illusions, which are not
so very infrequent as is generally supposed. A corre-
spondent writes: 'I myself, upwards of half a century
ago, saw a wonderful mirage, resembling that latdy
described as having been visible off our Tireragh coast;
and had I been looking on the bay for the first time,
nothing could have persuaded me but that I was gazing
at a veritable city — a large handsome one, too — trees,
houses, spires, castellated buildings,' &c
The accord of Classic and Irish tradition is remark-
able ; in both cases, somewhere far away in the western
ocean, there was a spiritual country which passed under
various names ; and that this was one of the Elysiums
of the primitive Irish, as well as of classic writers, is
very clear. It appears to have corresponded to the
' Land of the Saints ' of early Irish Christianity, where
the souls of the Blessed awaited the Day of Judgment,
even as the 'Land of the Living' was, to the Pagan
Irish, their happy ' Spirit Home.' The general traditions
of pagan peoples place the point of departure from
this world, and entrance to the next, always to the
west, and the journey lay westward.
F 2
<38 PAGAN IRELAND :
The poet Longfellow makes even his Indian hero,
Hiawatha, take his departure westward into the fiery
sunset —
' To the Island of the Blessed,
To the Kingdom of Ponemah,
To the land of the Hereafter.'
Onamacritus, in a romantic Greek poem on Jason's
Colchian Expedition, takes his heroes over almost every
part of the then known world, and in the course of their
adventures in the Atlantic, they pass an island named
Ierne. The passage, however, in Aristotle Cb.c. 384-
322), in which he noticed the island of Ierne, bears, it
is alleged, 'the unquestionable stamp of a much more
advanced stage of geographical knowledge than that
of his age.' Perhaps the earliest notice on which
dependence can be placed, is that by Eratosthenes
(B.C. 276-196). Most of his works have been lost :
some, however, of his references to Ireland have been
preserved by Strabo, who maintains that he was so well
acquainted with the western parts of Europe that he had
determined the distance of Ireland from Gaul. Strabo
(born B.C. 70) in describing the extent of the habitable
world, considered that it commenced to the north of
the mouth of the Borysthenes. This parallel, at the
other extremity, passed to the north of Ierne. Little
was known of its inhabitants ; they were reputed to be
mere savages, addicted to cannibalism, and having no
marriage ties. Solinus — who is mentioned by Servius,
Macrobius, and Priscianus, as well as by Jerome,
Ambrose, and Augustin — enters into more details than
any previous geographer. He wrote before the birth
of our Lord : —
' Hibernia approaches to Britain in size ; it is inhuman in the
rough manners of its inhabitants ; it is so luxuriant in its grass
EARLY HISTOR Y. 69
that, unless its cattle are now and again removed from their pas-
turage, satiety may cause danger to them. There is there no snake,
and few birds — an inhospitable and warlike nation, the conquerors
among whom, having first drunk the blood of their enemies, after-
wards besmear their faces therewith : they regard right and wrong
alike. Whenever a woman brings forth a male child, she puts his
first food on the sword of her husband, and she lightly introduces
the first ' auspicium ' of nourishment into his little mouth with the
point of the sword ; and with gentle vows she expresses a wish that
he may never meet death otherwise than in war and amid wars.
Those who attend to military costume ornament the hilts of their
swords with the teeth of sea-monsters, which are as white as ivory,
for the men glory in their weapons. No bee has been brought
thither, and if anyone scatters dust or pebbles brought from thence
among the hives in other countries, the swarms desert their combs.
The sea that lies between this island and Britain is stormy and
tempestuous during the whole year, nor is it navigable, except for
a few days in the summer season. They sail in wicker-vessels,
which they cover all round with ox-hides, and as long as the voyage
continues the navigators abstain from food. The breadth of the
island is uncertain ; that it extends twenty miles is the opinion of
those who have calculated nearest the truth.'
The story about the bees and the supposed breadth
of Ireland excepted, Solinus is comparatively free from
errors in this brief description, for it can readily be
imagined that, to the coracle-voyaging native, the Irish
Channel might well be regarded as ' stormy and tem-
pestuous during the whole year.' Pomponius Mela,
who flourished in the reign of the Emperor Claudius
(a.d. 41-54), appears to have extracted some of his
information from Solinus, but he corrects his errors
relative to the size of the island : — ' Beyond Britain
lies Juverna, an island of nearly equal size, but oblong,
with a coast at each side of equal extent, having a
climate unfavourable for ripening grain, but so luxu-
riant in grasses, not merely palatable but even sweet,
that the cattle in a very short time take sufficient
70 PAGAN IRELAND :
feeding for the day, and if allowed to feed too long,
they would burst. Its inhabitants are wanting in every
virtue, and totally destitute of piety.' Pliny, who wrote
about the same time as Pomponius Mela, states that
Ireland was about the same breadth as Britain but two
hundred miles shorter, and that it was distant thirty
miles from the territory of the Silures. Diodorus, who
lived in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, writes
that the most ferocious of the Northern Gauls were
stated to be 'cannibals like the Britons who inhabit
Erin.'
From an allusion in Pliny, it has been surmised that
the Romans possessed a map or topography of Ireland.
After their conquest of Britain, Ireland became better
known to them ; intercourse of a more or less re-
stricted character must have sprung up, for commerce,
in olden days, ' was the parent of geography.' Tacitus,
in his life of Agricola, specially states that Ireland
possessed a commerce superior to that of Britain, and
that its harbours and estuaries were more frequented
and better known to traders ; also that there was very
little difference between the soil and climate, the
religious worship and dispositions of the inhabitants of
Ireland and those of Britain.
Claudius' Ptolemy, who, in the second century, com-
piled his work on geography, which remained a standard
text-book until the fifteenth century, is the only early
writer who has described the ports and inland places in
Ireland with any exactitude. He essayed to systematize
the result of ancient research, and although at first
sight his map may appear grotesque, yet if the feeble
appliances which he had at his disposal be considered,
the ingenuity displayed in overcoming their deficiencies
should excite admiration. His information consists
EARLY HISTORY. 71
essentially of a table of latitudes and longitudes, and
he evidently intended it to serve as a sufficient guide
for the construction of a map, without referring to
any existing charts. Ireland, in Ptolemaic geography,
is placed too much to the north, while Scotland has
been made to tend towards the east instead of to
the north. The map is not far wrong as regards
the length and breadth of the island, but the former
runs north-east and south-west instead of north and
south, whilst the outlines of the coast depart in places
so far from the reality as to render the identification of
many of the headlands very problematic. Had Ireland,
however, been placed in its proper position, and
Scotland given the proper direction, the approximate
outline of Great Britain and Ireland would have been
fairly represented ; and this bears out the hypothesis
that Ptolemy's information was drawn from three
separate maps which afforded to him no guide as
to their mutual relations.
It is strange that the designation Ivernia, as Ptolemy
styled Ireland, differs more widely than that of Ierne,
by which the island was first known to the Greeks,
from the native name Erin.
The eastern coast must have been the one best
known to foreign merchants sailing for the port of
Dublin, which even at this period appears to have been
a place of importance. The first headland sighted
would be Howth, of which the ancient Irish name was
Ben-Edair. Opposite the town of Eblana, there is
marked on Ptolemy's map an uninhabited island styled
Edrus ; and connected as Howth, i. e. Ben-Edair, is
to the mainland by low-lying ground, it is no wonder
that the geographer's informants mistook Ben-Edair
for an island. Another adjoining island, Limnus, may
72 PA GAN IRELA AD :
be Lam bay, whilst Eblana is clearly Dublin (with the
d softened or omitted).
To the south of this citv there appears a river styled
the Aboca, which points to its being the river Avon-
more (Avon = Aboca) in Wicklow ; but not contented
with its identification, the stream has been styled the
Avoca.* The river Bovinda, to the north of Dublin, is
clearly the Boyne ; the Vinderius, from its position,
appears to be Strangford Lough ; whilst the Logia may
be identified with the river Lagan at Belfast.
The shape of the northern coast of Ireland is the
one most accurately represented, and its localities
the most easily recognisable. Robogdium appears to
be Fair Head ; the river Argita, the Bann ; the Vidua,
the Foyle ; Vennicuum, Malin Head ; and the Northern
Cape may be the Bloody Foreland.
On the west coast the identification of localities is
surrounded with greater difficulties. The river Raviusf
may be the Erne ; the Libnius the river of Sligo, and
* Ptolemy places a town, called Dounon, on or near the river
Oboca. The locality has not been identified, but the name is
evidently derived from the Celtic designation of a fortress, i. e.
doun, with the Greek inflexion on added to it.
t O'Donovan, in one of his letters, alludes to the names of Irish
rivers, and the following extract is given, not alone as bearing upon
the identification of ancient names, but as showing in what light
this celebrated Irish scholar regarded some of the old Irish writers : —
' There is an old poem, preserved in several MSS., which states
that there were ten rivers in Ireland at Parthalon's arrival. . . .
Now, though we know that this poem is undoubtedly a fabrication,
still it is very ancient ; while, therefore, we reject that absurd part
which would give us to understand that the river Liffey is more
ancient than the Shannon, we retain it as the testimony of an Irish
bard, that such were the names of ten considerable and well-known
rivers in Ireland at the time he flourished.'
Having quoted the Irish poem O'Donovan continues : —
1 Laoi, Buns, Ba?tna, Bearbha, Saimer, Sligeach, Modhom,
Muadli, Fionn, Liffe were the names of ten considerable and well-
EARL Y HISTOR Y. 73
Nagnata, either Sligo or Drumcliff; the Ausiba, the
river Moy ; the Senus corresponds in name with the
Shannon ; whilst the Southern Cape is doubtless one
of the headlands of Kerry.
On the southern coast the localities are quite as
clearly defined as on the northern. The Dabrona
answers in position to the Blackwater ; the Birgus,
both in position and name, to the Barrow ; whilst the
Sacred Cape appears to be Carnsore Point.
The names, as given by Ptolemy, of the towns
situated in the interior of the country, as well as his
enumeration of tribal territories, need not be noticed,
as they have not been identified, at least with any
unanimous assent. Places situated far inland, and never
probably visited by foreign traffickers, would be by
them pronounced in a more incorrect form than those
at which they had landed. 'Phis would fully account
for the fairly successful identification of localities along
the littoral. But with regard to this identification it
known rivers in Ireland at the time that the author of the poem-
beginning At)Arii, acaija, fjvuc a|\ pttiAg, 'Adam, father and
source of our race,' either fabricated this story, or drew it from
other historic monuments then existing, or founded it upon fooli>h
traditions, the like of which are to be found among every nation,
and upon which the commencement of the history of most nations
is founded.
' Let us trace where these rivers are situated, and by what names
they are now known.
' Laoi is a river in the county Cork — anglicized Lee, and well
known by that name to the natives at the present day. Banna and
Bearbha are also known by these names to those who speak the
Irish language at this dav ; they are anglicized Bann and Barrow.
Sa inter is now called the Erne, as O'Flaherly testifies. SHgeach,
JModhom, Mnadh are also known by those names at this day ; they
are anglicized the Sligo, Mourne, and Moy. Fionn is now properly
anglicized Fin ; it is a river in the county of Donegal, which pays
its tribute to the nver Foyle. Liffe is now called Liffey ; it was
the boundary between Magh Breagh (Moybra) and Hy Kinsellagh.
The river Buas alone remains doubtful.'
74 PA GAN IRELAND :
must be admitted that the conclusions of recent autho-
rities of eminence are by no means unanimous.* The
information collected and tabulated by Ptolemy was
probably known, before his time, to traders belonging
to, or frequenting, the western coasts of Caledonia and
of Britain ; yet it is strange that no mention is made of
Tara. It is alleged that all vestiges of buildings or
earthworks now or formerly existing on the Hill of
Tara may be classed under two distinct periods, both
being within the limits of the Christian era. The
most important period, and that to which it is alleged
all the remains now observable belong, is in the third
century. From this it has been concluded that, before
that date, Tara was not distinguished as a regal seat or
city, and hence its omission from the map of Ptolemy.
From vestiges of ancient remains at Tara it would
appear that the original structures were altogether com-
posed of earth and wood, and, from their uniform
character, they were probably erected at about the same
time and by the same people.
In the year a.d. 82 Agricola encamped on a portion
of the Scottish littoral which faced Ireland. He appears
to have entertained the idea of the conquest of Ireland,
on account of its supposed strategic importance ; for
the Romans, according to Tacitus, erroneously con-
sidered it to be equidistant from Britain, Gaul, and
Spain. It was therefore important as a connecting link
in the consolidation of these provinces ; but Agricola
was unable to bring his plans to maturity, owing to an
invasion of the northern tribes, which compelled him
to turn his arms in a different direction. A few writers
go so far as to assert that the Romans, profiting by the
* Archceologia, vol. xl., pp. 377—396.
EARL Y HISTOR Y. 75
after-tranquillity in Britain, crossed the Channel and
subdued Ireland in part. It appears as if the statement
of this alleged conquest were based upon a claim of
nominal sovereignty, perhaps through the submission
of some fugitive Irish chieftain such as the politic
Agricola kept in his camp, as well as on a passage in
one of Juvenal's satires, written about a.d. 97, wherein
the Poet describes the conquests of his countrymen : —
' We have indeed carried our arms beyond the shores
of Ireland, and the lately subdued Orkneys and the
Britons contented with a short night.' Juvenal speaks,
however, not of the conquest of Ireland, but of the
manner in which the Roman Eagles were pushed beyond
Ireland northward, into the island regions where, in
summer, the night time was of comparatively short
duration. There is at any rate no notice of such an
expedition in any classic writer, nor has proof of their
occupation of the country ever been brought to light.
The discovery of Roman coins in Ireland is exceptional,
although found in abundance in Britain, more especially
in the vicinity of the sites of Roman towns and military
stations. The only really important find was made
near Coleraine ; it consisted of 2000 silver coins and
200 ounces of silver fragments and ingots stamped with
the names of Roman mint-masters. The money
presented specimens of coinage from a.d. 363 to 410,
so that it must have been committed to the earth after
that date, probably about the time of the evacuation of
Britain by the Romans. From the character of this
treasure it would appear to have been a forgotten deposit
of some Irish freebooters. The poet Claudian thus extols
the success of Stilicho in repelling the conjoint Irish
and Caledonian attacks on the Roman settlements in
Britain : — ' By him," says the poet, speaking in the
76 PAGAN IRELAND :
person of Britannia, ' was I protected when the Scot
moved all Ierne against me, and the sea foamed with
hostile oars'; and again: 'nor did he, under a false
name, conquer the Picts, and having followed the
Scoti (Irish) with his roving sword, he cleft the
northern waves with daring oars.'
The other Roman antiques which have been found
from time to time are few in number and of an unim-
portant character, such as might have been the result
of traffic with the Romans. In the same way, the
discovery of small hoards of Saxon coins is of by no
means rare occurrence, being the result of traffic, or of
marauding expeditions to the English coast.
The fact of the discovery of a Roman coin is of little
importance in itself. A single coin might be accidentally
dropped and lost by some collector, but large deposits
cannot thus be accounted for; probably in times of tur-
bulence they may have been placed for safety where they
were afterwards discovered. About the year 1835 work-
men employed on the north side of Bray Head met with
several human skeletons, placed in graves side by side,
and one or more Roman copper coins lay on, or beside
the breast of each skeleton. Of these coins, some bore
the image and superscription of Adrian, and others
those of Trajan ; several of them were greatly corroded,
and altogether illegible.
As the Romans never, it is believed, formed a settle-
ment in Ireland, the question arises, how came the coins
found in this locality, and under such circumstances ?
The bodies were probably portion of the crew of a
Roman galley lost on the shores of Wicklow. Some of
the survivors performed the funeral rites of their ship-
mates, for amongst the Romans it was deemed an act
of great impiety to leave a corpse unburied. The
EARL Y HISTOR Y. 77
coins, it is presumed, were the fee designed for the
grim ferryman, as the shades of those who had not the
proper toll (as well as those whose bodies remained
unburied) were condemned to wander a hundred years
on the banks of the Styx.
It is a curious fact that small coins are even yet, in
some localities, cast into the new-made grave when the
coffin is lowered. In the year 1870, at the funeral of a
fisherman from the Isle of Skye, buried in the cemetery
of the old Collegiate Church at Howth, his countrymen
carried out this custom.
The following quaint proverb is a relic of paganism,
analogous to the Roman custom of placing a small
coin in the mouth of the corpse to pay Charon his
toll :—
Cha deachaidh aon /hear a reamh go h-Ifrionne gun si
phighiridh air faghail bhdis do, i. e. no man ever went to
hell without sixpence at the time of his death.
When we consider the various modes in which
Roman coins may have found their way into Ireland,
the wonder is not that so many, but that so few have
been discovered.
Although the Romans made no settlements, yet, in
early Christian times, many of them came to Ireland,
and they have left their im press in local na mes still in
existence; all these, however, are probably of ecclesias-
tical origin.
Orosius, who wrote about the year a.d. 410, states that
Ireland surpassed Britain, both in climate and fertility,
and he describes it as inhabited by the Scots. The
designation of Scoti does not appear in any form as a
tribal name on Ptolemy's map; and it is alleged that it
is not mentioned by any writer, as a mere tribal
name, until the close of the third century. If a
78 PAGAN IRELAND :
conclusion can be drawn from St. Patrick's authenti-
cated writings, the designation was confined to the
ruling class, and the bulk of the people were styled
Hiberionaces.
There can be little doubt that there existed two or
three Patricks whose lives have been worked into a
strange olla-podrida. What description of religion or
religious systems they overthrew it is difficult to ascer-
tain with any certainty ; however, two references may be
cited, one by Tacitus, and the other in St. Patrick's (or
one of the St. Patricks) own words.
Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, says that there was
very little difference between the religious worship and
dispositions of the inhabitants of Ireland and these of
Britain. Caesar states that the institution of the Druids in
Gaul ' is supposed to have come originally from Britain,
whence it passed into Gaul ; and even at this day,
such as are desirous of being perfect in it, travel
thither (?'. e. to Britain) for instruction.' Thus we
arrive at an approximate idea of the religious opinions
of the Irish some centuries or so before the intro-
duction of Christianity, and the heathen cult could
have changed but little in the interval. The Druids
(so Caesar states) taught the doctrine of the immortality
of the soul, and of the metempsychosis ; and they
offered various kinds of sacrifices to the Gods, whom
the Roman General clothes unfortunately in Classic
names. They worshipped Mercury as the chief God,
the inventor of all the arts, and the promoter of mer-
cantile affairs ; next came Apollo, who cured diseases ;
Mars presided over war, and to him was offered what
they took by arms. ' To this last, when they resolve
upon a battle, they commonly devote the spoil.'
Jupiter was the ruler of the Gods ; Minerva presided
EARLY HIS TOR Y. 79
over art ; and, according to Caesar, the Druids taught
the people pretty much the same notions about the
attributes of the Gods as were prevalent amongst other
nations at the time.
It is best to give verbatim Caesar's account of the
power of the Druids, and the manner in which they
imparted instruction ; this will make clear how great
was the power claimed and exercised by this pagan
priesthood : —
' The Druids preside in matters of religion, have the
care of public and private sacrifices, and interpret the
will of the gods. They have the direction and edu-
cation of the youth, by whom they are held in great
honour. In almost all controversies, whether public or
private, the decision is left to them ; and if any crime
is committed, any murder perpetrated, if any dispute
arises touching an inheritance, or the limits of adjoining
estates, in all such cases they are the supreme judges.
They decree rewards and punishments ; and if anyone
refuses to submit to their sentence, whether magistrate
or private man, they interdict him the sacrifices. This
is the greatest punishment that can be inflicted among
the Gauls, because such as are under this prohibition
are considered as impious and wicked ; all men shun
them, and decline their conversation and fellowship
lest they should suffer from the contagion of their
misfortunes. They can neither have recourse to the
law for justice, nor are capable of any public office.
The Druids are all under one chief, who possesses the
supreme authority in that body. Upon his death, if
anyone remarkably excels the rest, he succeeds ; but if
there are several candidates of equal merit, the affair
is determined by plurality of suffrages. Sometimes they
even have recourse to arms before the election can be
80 PAGAN IRELAND :
brought to an issue. . . . The Druids never go to war,
are exempted from taxes and military services, and enjoy
all manner of immunities. These mighty encourage-
ments induce multitudes, of their own accord, to follow
that profession ; and many are sent by their parents and
relations. They are taught to repeat a great many
verses by heart, and often spend twenty years upon
this institution ; for it is unlawful to commit their
statutes to writing ; though in other matters, whether
public or private, they make use of Greek characters.
They seem to follow this method for two reasons:
(i) to hide their mysteries from the knowledge of the
vulgar ; and (2) to exercise the memory of their
scholars, which would be apt to lie neglected had they
letters to trust to, as we find is often the case. . . .
They teach likewise many things relating to the stars
and their motions, the magnitude of the world and our
earth ; the nature of things, and the power and prero-
gatives of the immortal Gods. . . .
' In threatening distempers and the imminent dangers
of war, they make no scruple to sacrifice men, or
engage themselves by vow to such sacrifices, in which
they make use of the ministry of the Druids ; for
it is a prevalent opinion among them that nothing
but the life of a man can atone for the life of a
man, insomuch that they have established even public
sacrifices of this kind. Some prepare huge Colossuses
of osier-twigs, into which they put men alive, and
setting fire to them, those within expire amidst the
flames. They prefer for victims such as have been con-
victed of theft, robbery, or other crimes, believing them
the most acceptable to the Gods ; but when real
criminals are wanting, the innocent are often made to
suffer.'
EARLY HISTORY. 81
' The old Celtic word for a Druid is drui (dree),
which takes a d in the end of its oblique cases (gen.,
dritad) ; the Greeks and Latins borrowed this word from
the Celts, and through them it has found its way into
English in the form druid. Notwithstanding the long
lapse of time since the extinction of druidism, the word
drui is still a living word in the Irish language. Even
in some places where the language is lost the word is
remembered ; for I,' remarks Dr. Joyce, ' have repeat-
edly heard the English-speaking people of the south
apply the term shoundhree (sean-drui, old druid) to any
crabbed, cunning, old-fashioned looking fellow.'" 1
The term 'Druid' is perpetuated in the names of several
localities. Loughnashandree, the lake of the old Druids,
lies near the head of the harbour of Ardgroom ; the
ancient name of Red Hill near Skreen, county Sligo,
was Knocknadrooa, the hill of the Druids. A well not
far from the village of Freshford, county Kilkenny, is
styled Tobernadree, the well of the Druids. A lake
three miles west of Lough Derg in Donegal, Loughna-
drooa, signifies the lake of the Druids. In the parish
of Clogherny, in Tyrone, there is a townland called
Killadroy, the Druids' wood. A point of land in the
Island of Achill is named Gobnadruy, the Druids' point;
whilst Derrydruel, near Dunglow, in Donegal, means
the Druids' oak-wood.
There is comparatively little trace of the religion
of the Druids now discoverable, and the references
relative to it that occur in ancient and authentic Irish
manuscripts are meagre and totally insufficient to
support anything like a sound theory for full develop-
ment of the ancient religion. However, if careful
* Irish Names of Places, Second Series, p. 96.
G
82 PAGAN IRELAND :
examination be made of all the traditions bearing on
this subject, and they be compared with the strange
customs, still in many places prevalent, much light may
be thrown upon the, at present, incomprehensible
passages in Irish manuscripts, as also upon early Irish
history in all its branches. We must therefore, of
necessity, return to the references to Druidism in
classic writers, and the inquiry, after wandering in
different channels, returns for solution to the apparently
simple, yet really difficult, problem — was Irish Druidism
the same as that of Gaul and Britain, and are we
entitled to apply to it the description of Caesar and
others ? The peculiar character of the Druidic Church
precluded the existence of any very abnormal difference
in the Druidism of Gaul, Britain, and Erin ; nay,
further, if we assume, as Caesar states, that Druidism
not only had its origin, but even its chief seat in
Britain, we cannot but conclude that, at whatever period
we may fix on for its first introduction into Ireland, there
could have been but little difference between it and the
Druidism of Gaul. There is therefore little in Caesar
that might not be applied to Irish Druidism, as that
religion is faintly depicted in alleged early Irish
manuscripts. Caesar styles the priests by the general
name of Druids ; Strabo divides them into three classes,
Bards, Vates, and Druids, and he makes the Vates the
sacrificing priesthood and instructors of the schools ;
thus, according to this authority, the Druids were the
ministers or priests; the Vates were the sacrificers; and
the Bards* were the makers of song and of history.
* Under Christianity the bards appear to have been the repre-
sentatives of the old pagan Druids. Before and after the introduc-
tion of the new creed they were a very influential class ; they may
have been countenanced by the Druids — they certainly were by the
EARL Y HISTOR Y. 83
The Irish appear, if any reliance can be placed on their
manuscripts, to have had, like the Gauls, an Arch-Druid,
whose abode was in Meath, and there the entire body of
the priesthood assembled annually. Like the Gaulish
Druids, it was the duty of Irish Bards to commit a
number of verses to memory ; and Caesar's statement
that they committed none of their tenets to writing,
although the art was to them known and practised in
all other branches, demonstrates the probability that
the Irish Druids also may have been acquainted with
the use of letters.
A very curious, and hitherto but little noticed,
passage from the works of a Greek traveller, named
/Ethicus, deserves attention. One writer asserts that
./Ethicus was born at the commencement of the second
century; another, that he only saw the light at the end
of the third, or beginning of the fourth ; in fact, it
would seem at present impossible to define with any ex-
actness the period at which he lived ; the only certain
fact is that he does not appear to have had an exalted
opinion of Irish literature.
The passage is from a work entitled CosmograpJiia
j'Ethici Istrici, translated from Greek into Latin by a
presbyter named Hieronymus. The author seems to
aim at extreme brevity, using in one part very elliptical
phraseology.
' He hastened to Ireland, and made some stay there,
examining their volumes ; and he called them
ideomochos, or ideotuiias, that is unskilled workers, or
uneducated teachers. For, setting them down as
new priesthood — and when superadded to the cler»y, they, from
their joint numbers, became very oppressive. Often threatened
with expulsion from the kingdom, they, on one occasion, would
certainly have been expelled had it not been for the exertions of
St. Columbkill.
G 2
84 PAGAN IRELAND :
worthless, he says: — "To end one's travels with the
ends of the world, and come to Ireland, is a heavy-
labour. But no opportunity (of gaining knowledge by
painful travels) excites disgust too great (for encounter-
ing the pain), yet it profits not in point of utility. It
(Ireland) has unskilled occupants and inhabitants
destitute of instructors." ' *
Caesar states that the Gaulish Druids taught the
doctrine of the transmigration of souls, i.e. 'that the
soul never dies, but after death passes from one body to
another.' The Irish appear to have believed, not merely
in the transmigration of one human soul into the bodv
of another human being, but the transformation of one
body into another, a relic probably of the religion or
religions which were supplanted by Druidism ; thus the
soul of a man might pass into a deer, a boar, a wolf, a
fox, a bird, &c, a state which may be described as a
continuous metamorphostical existence. f
By superior intelligence, the result of long and, as
regards their age, profound study, the Druids acquired
an undisputed authority. They certainly studied the
book of nature, the properties of plants and herbs, and
utilised their knowledge to enhance their reputation
for possession of necromantic powers; in short, the
marvels of natural magic may have been prefigured
under the Druidical cult.
* Ulster Journal of Archceology, Second Part, p. 80.
t A curious example of the survival of this super>tition may be
instanced from the county Gralway. In former times, if a fisherman
of the Claddagh happened to see a fox, or even hear its name
mentioned, he would not, on that day, venture to sea. Near the
Claddagh there once lived a butcher, who used to take a humorous,
but mischievous, advantage of the simplicity' of his neighbours.
' They never, it appears, go to fish on Saturday, for fear of breaking
in on the sabbath, a day which they always scrupulously observe.
Friday is therefore one of their principal fishing 'days ; and a sue-
EARL Y HISTOR Y. 85
According to the best authorities many of the deities
of the Irish appear to have been sidhes ^pronounced shees),
that is to say deified mortals, for they dwelt in the sidhes
or places where the dead had been deposited. These
receptacles were scattered all over the land, and in and
around them assembled for worship the family or clan
of the deified person; hence it might be termed really
a species of ancestral worship, and probably took its
origin in that nameless fear of the dead which, in most
savage peoples, finds expression in innumerable ways.
The word sidhe signifies the habitations supposed
to belong to these beings in the hollows of the hills
and mountains. It is doubtful whether the word is
cognate with the Latin sedes, or from a Celtic root, side,
a blast of wind. Sidh was originally applied to a fairy
palace, and it was afterwards gradually transferred to
the hill, and ultimately to the fairies themselves. At
the present day, the word generally signifies a fairy.*
It appears to have taken a lengthened period before
the inhabitants of the raths and sepulchral mounds
assumed in popular imagination their present diminutive
size. In a mediaeval Life of St. Patrick it is narrated
that, at one time in his travels, he repaired to a foun-
tain about sunrise, where he stood surrounded by his
clergy. Two daughters of the king came at an early
cessful " take" on that day generally has the effect of reducing the
price of meat in the ensuing Saturday's market. The butcher,
whose calling was thus occasionally injured, contrived for a long
time to prevent it, by procuring a fox — or, as some say, a stufted
fox-skin — and causing it to be exhibited every Friday morning
through the village. This invariably caused a general noise and
movement among the fishermen, not unlike those of gulls in a
loom-gale, and it never failed to make them, for that day at least,
to abandon their fishing excursion.'
* Irish Names of Places (ist series), pp. 179-183, P. W. Joyce.
86 PAGAN IRELAND :
hour to the fountain to wash, as was their custom, and
encountering the assembly of the clergy at the foun-
tain in their white vestments, with their books, they
wondered much at their appearance. They thought
that they might be men from the hills, i. e. fairymen or
phantoms. They questioned Patrick therefore, saying,
' Whence have ye come ? Whither do ye go ? Are
ye men of the hills ? or are ye gods.' Thus, when
this story was composed, the sidh population was, in
popular imagination, of ordinary or human stature. It
is clear that this •svV/z-worship had no affinity to
Druidism ; in fact was quite opposed to it, was of
altogether a lower standard, and therefore it most
likely preceded it in Ireland ; and at the time of the
arrival of the first Christian missionaries,* the two
religions had probably not amalgamated. In some old
Celtic tales the Druid and the sidh appear in direct
antagonism. In the story of ' Connla of the Golden
Hair and the Fairy Maiden,' the king calls his Druid
to his assistance to prevent a sidh from bewitching and
carrying off his son to the ' Land of the Living.' The
sympathies of the listeners are all enlisted on the side
of the Fairy as against the Druid, whose incantations
are finally of no avail against her power. These sidh
deities, like the gods of other nations, not unfrequently
intermarried with the daughters of men, and their
* O'Curry, in his Manners and Cust07tis of the Ancient Irish,
points attention to the strange medley of Druidism and fairyism.
He quotes from a MS. that ' the demoniac power was great before
the introduction of the Christian faith, and so great was it that they
(i. e. the Aes Sidhi, or dwellers in the hills) used to tempt the
people in human bodies, and that they used to show them secrets
and places of happiness where they should be immortal; and it was
in that way they were believed ; and it is these phantoms that the
unlearned people called Sidhe, or fairies, and Aes Sidhe, or fairy
people.'
EARL Y HISTOR Y. 87
offspring were either demi-gods, or became the heroes
of Irish romance; they married, multiplied, warred,
murdered, and thieved like their worshippers on earth.
It is unjust, therefore, to recount as sober facts the
records of these purely mythical tales.
If, at the advent of Christian missionaries, there was
still an unhealed feud between the Druids, i.e. the
priests of the recently introduced spiritual religion,
which appears to have been that held by the chiefs and
upper classes, and the majority of the people who were
sidh or ancestor worshippers, pagans pure and simple,
this would quite account for the easy conversion of
Ireland to Christianity. Kings and Druids going over
with comparative ease to Christianity would bring in
their train some portion of their followers, and would
place the entire power in the hands of the Priests, but
the mass of the people would drag into and implant,
in the Christian Church organization, their ancestor
worship in the form of deceased holy men, their tree
and well worship, their funeral orgies, and the numerous
traces of paganism still distinctly to be observed
throughout the land.
The public worship of heathen deities ceased amongst
the mass of the population, but many privately practised
it with tenacity. Whilst the memory of the greater
divinities of the Irish Pantheon appears to have died
out, belief in the minor powers, the genii locorum, firmly
maintained its hold.
According to some observers in parts of Southern
Europe, Christianity has, in the same way, not com-
pletely obliterated the ancient religion, but co-exists
with it. It is not the major, but the minor deities
which still retain — to some extent — their hold on the
imagination of the peasantry ; and in like manner if
88 PAGAN IRELAND :
Christianity was supplanted in Ireland by some other
religion, it is probable, that though the name and
attributes of the Deity might in time be forgotten,
yet the tales and legends regarding the numerous army
of saints would, some of them, linger on.
Trade in slaves undoubtedly formed a portion of
early Irish commerce, and in the political institutions
of Ireland, it is alleged that slavery formed an im-
portant part. The mass of the lower class of the
community were born in a state of serfdom, and indi-
viduals — and even tribes, for crimes real or alleged —
were frequently, according to the authority of some
writers, reduced to the condition of slaves ; foreigners,
captured in war, were subjected to the same fate ; and
the captivity of St. Patrick, to which circumstance
Ireland is stated to be indebted for the Christian faith,
was occasioned by a marauding expedition of an Irish
chief seeking plunder, as well as to recruit the number
of his own slaves. Captives were made, not in the
hope of ransom, but as marketable property. At a
later period, Giraldus Cambrensis states that the Irish
were accustomed to purchase Englishmen and boys
from merchants and marauders.
Probably for some time antecedent to the generally
recorded date of the introduction of Christianity into
Ireland, small and scattered Christian communities
may have existed in the country. They could have
been founded by the ordinary channels of commerce
through the zeal of British missionaries— by captives
carried off by the Irish, who, at this period harried the
western coast of Britain — by Christians who had fled
from the Roman Dominions, to avoid the persecution
of their pagan rulers, or from the swords of the northern
hordes already harassing the eastern seaboard.
EARLY HIS TOR Y. 89
It is immaterial to fix the exact date of St. Patrick's
arrival in Ireland ; let it suffice that it was some time in
the fifth century, and that he be acknowledged as the
author of the composition styled ' St. Patrick's Hymn ' :
the St. Patrick who spent six years of his life in slavery
in Ireland, the captive of an Irish chieftain, who lived
near Slemish in the County Antrim. Escaping from
captivity, he resolved to preach Christianity to the
heathen Irish. It has been remarked that nearly all
his companions were either from Ulster or were de-
scended from Ultonian families ; this maybe accounted
for by the fact that his residence, as a slave, in the
northern portion of the kingdom, made him better
acquainted with that race than with those in other
parts.
Arriving in the neighbourhood of Tara, the then Irish
capital, or residence of the king, he made preparations
for celebrating the Christian festival, and proceeded to
kindle his pascal fire. No sooner did this light appear
than the Druids recognized a rival power, as this very
time happened to be a great Pagan festival, one of the
inaugurating ceremonies of which commenced by the
extinguishing of every fire throughout the country, and
whoever kindled one before the Druids had rekindled
theirs on the Hill of Tara, was liable to be put to death.
The Druids, therefore, seeing, like the Ephesian arti-
zans, a loss of their livelihood, came before the king,
and requested him to have the fire at once extinguished,
' lest it would get the mastery of their fire and bring
about the downfall of the kingdom.'*
* Despite the triumph of Christianity in the person of St. Patrick,
a relic of this ancient custom still exists among the Irish peasantry.
On the morning of the first of May it is even yet, in remote districts,
customary, with such as believe in these old-world practices, to
99 PA GAN IRELAND :
This is the first recorded instance of open conflict
between Christianity and Druidism in Ireland.
Ordered to appear before the king, the opportunity
was afforded to St. Patrick of expounding the new
religion to a distinguished audience. It was on this
memorable occasion, it is alleged, that he composed
the hymn which he sang as he approached the royal
presence, and thus gave the king to understand the
foundation on which his courage rested, but his expla-
nations and exhortations failed to convince his hearers.
On the supposed anniversary of the birth of the saint,
a modern paraphrase of this hymn is sung in St.
Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.
St. Patrick, after 'binding' himself to many Chris-
tian virtues, which may be taken as confession of his
belief in certain Christian doctrines, goes on ' binding'
hi'mself to the elements, claiming thus, that not alone
were all the powers of Christianity on his side, but also
the very elements that were worshipped by his oppo-
nents. *
abstain from lighting their fires until mid-day, i. e. when the sun is at
its meridian, or until their less cautious neighbours had first lighted
theirs, as then the disaster would fall on those so offending ; they
will not allow any embers to be taken outside the house to kindle
anything ; a stranger would not be permitted even to light his pipe.
Transgression of the rule is believed to be followed by heavy penal-
ties, inflicted by the offended fairies.
* It may be inferred from this portion of St. Patrick's Hymn that
the Pagan Irish worshipped and invoked the personified powers of
nature, and this is corroborated by passages from ancient MSS.
One king of Ireland received as pledges that the sovereignty should
for ever rest in his family, ' the sun and moon, the sea, the dew and
colours, and all the elements visible and invisible, and every element
which is in heaven and on earth ' {The Banquet of Dun na Gedh,
p. 3). Another monarch, having broken his oath, perished 'from
sun and from wind and from the rest of the pledges; for trans-
gressing them in that time used not to be dared.' Again, in one
of the poems of the heroic age it is related that when Queen Medb
EARLY HISTORY.
91
St. Patrick evidently believed that the incantations
and assumed magic of the Druids were not without some
real foundation ; that witches were still powerful for
evil ; and that ' Smiths,'" or cunning metal-workers, the
forgers of weapons, &c, were necromancers ; all these,
in alliance with the Evil Spirit of his belief, were
arrayed against him.
It is in this, his first interview with the Pagan ruler,
that the incident is related how, when expounding the
salient points of the Christian creed, he employed
the shamrock as a symbol of the Mysteries of the/
Trinity. It is not likely that St. Patrick would have
taken such an insignificant leaf to illustrate his theo-
logy unless some trifoliate plant was held in honour by
his listeners, and several references to the trefoil, as
being sacred, or used in sacred mysteries, occur in
Classic writers. The Greek word comprehends the
numerous family of plants which have triple or ternate
leaves. In a passage in Pliny there is a curious refer-
ence to the supposed efficacy of the trefoil in curing
and the Connaughtmen were pressing hard on Cuchullin, the sole
champion of the Ulstermen, he called on the waters, on heaven,
earth, and the rivers to protect him, and the elements answered his
appeal.
* These workers in metals were held in great estimation by the
Pagan Irish. They had their Gobhan Saor, i. e. Goban, the arti-
ficer, who may be said to answer to the Scandinavian ' Wavlund
Smith,' or the Greek Vulcan. In Christian times architecture
appears to have been added to his skill in metallurgy, and to this
day the primitive churches, round towers, and other buildings of
antiquity, are, by the peasantry, attributed to the 'Gobhan Saor,-
and their folk-lore is full of wondrous myths of this strange per-
sonage.
This superstitious reverence for the skilful artizan seems to be of
world-wide occurrence. ' The sword-maker, who forged the finer
blades for the Samurai and Daimio— the barons and knights (of old
Japan) — was no mere blacksmith. He ranked, indeed, first of all
craftsmen in the land, and was often appointed lord, or vice-lord,
92 PAGAN IRELAND:
the bites of noxious serpents. St. Patrick and the
trefoil are in popular legend indissolubly connected, so
that the tale of his banishing venemous snakes from
Ireland may have had its origin in some superstition
such as is described by Pliny.
A perusal of the so-called Lives of the early Irish
saints brings before the reader, in a striking manner,
the survival of Pagan institutions under Christian names
and forms.
As on the Continent, the Christian Church first
planted itself in centres of intelligence, in the towns
and cities of the Roman Empire, whilst long after these
had accepted the truth, heathen superstitions lingered
on in the remote districts ; so in Ireland also, the first
conquests of the Church were effected in the centres of
intelligence, the Court of the Ard-Righ, the fortresses
of provincial chiefs, or the seats of commercial traffic ;
outside this sphere of influence, Paganism, for many
^centuries, must have continued to exist. The Pagan
sacred fires were occasionally taken under the guardian-
ship of Christian communities. Giraldus Cambrensis
reports the common belief, in his day, that the sacred
fire of St. Brigid at Kildare, which the Druids had
of a province. He did not enter on his grave duties lightly. When
he had a blade to make for a great Japanese gentleman, the katanya
abstained for a whole week from all animal food and strong drink ;
he slept alone, and poured cold water every morning on his head.
"When the forge was ready (and no woman might so much as enter
its precincts), and when the steel bars weie duly selected, he re-
paired to the temple, and prayed there devoutly. Then he came
back to his anvil and furnace, and hung about them the consecrated
straw-rope and the clippings of paper which kept away evil spirits.
He put on the dress of a court noble. . . . Only after many cere-
monies, when the five elements — fire, water, wood, metal, and earth
— were well conciliated, would that pious artizan take his hammer
in hand.' — East ami West. By Sir Edwin Arnold.
EARLY HISTORY.
93
guarded there long before the introduction of Christia-
nity, had never been extinguished.
In the Church of Teach-na-Teinedh, or the Church of
the Fire, one of many remains of early Christian archi-
tecture, within the enceinte of a Pagan cashel situated
on the Island of Inismurray, off the Sligo coast, there was
formerly a remarkable flagstone styled Leac-na-Teinedh,
or the 'Flagstone of the Fire.' Until lately it covered
a supposed miraculous hearth, the foundations of which
still remain. According to tradition, the monks kept
a fire always burning on this flagstone for use by the
islanders.
It is probable that the Druids consecrated water as
well as fire on the eve of Bealtinne, i.e. the ist of May,
and possibly they also prohibited its use except when
drawn from their own sacred fountains. This assumption
arises from the special reverence in which certain springs
were held. In some instances women were prohibited
from ever drawing water from them, and, until a com-
paratively late period, it was customary not to draw the
first water from wells till after midnight on the eve of
Bealtinne. This water was called ' the purity of the
well,' and is indubitably a relic of Paganism. The
people of each village were in the habit of sitting up,
that they might be the first to draw a pitcher of water
from the nearest Holy-well ; and as it was considered
that the water should be drawn furtively, many stratagems
were devised to outwit the neighbours in procuring the
earliest draught, or ' purity of the well.' Whoever
succeeded in being the first to reach the spring, cast a
tuft of grass into the water, by which all subsequent
arrivals were apprised that the spell was broken. This
draught of water, carefully preserved during the year,
was regarded as a powerful charm against witchcraft.
94 PA GA A 7 IRELAND :
It was used at the eve of Bealtinne in the succeeding
year for another ceremony. Farmers, accompanied by
all their household, walked around the boundaries of
their land, after sunset, in a sort of procession, carrying
implements of husbandry, seed, &c, and this water.
The procession halted when facing each of the cardinal
points, commencing at the east, and various ceremonies
were observed. All the cattle were then driven into one
place and their tails examined, lest a witch might thereon
have tied some spell; if anything were found attached, it
was at once taken off and burned, and a sprig of rowan
substituted. The ceremony was completed by sprinkling
the assembled cattle with the water which had been
preserved since the preceding May day. In some loca-
lities, cattle, either as a preservative against, or as a
cure of disease, were driven through certain bays,
inlets, or streams ; for instance, near the village of
Culdaff, county Donegal, there ' is a deep part of the
river, into which it is usual to plunge diseased cattle,
and at the same time to pray to St. Bodhan, who is
supposed to intercede in their favour.*
The old Pagans had thus evidently two rites of puri-
fication, the one by fire, the other by water.
* Statistical Survey of the Parish of Culdaff, p. 16.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 95
CHAPTER IV.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD — WERE THE ABORIGINES
CANNIBALS ?
ccounts given by the Pagan writers, Strabo,
Solinus, and Diodorus, of the alleged can-
■ nibalism of the Irish, or Scoti, of their
day, are corroborated by St. Jerome,* who
lived from about a. d. 346 to 420. The passage
occurs in a controversial book which was written
by him. Some writers, shocked at the narrative,
try to evade its force by observing that Caesar and
other standard authorities make no similar statement ;
but if Jerome's assertion is false we might fairly expect
to find it contradicted at the time. Dr. O'Connor, in
his Prolegomena, goes so far as to assert that this Father
of the Church is, in the case in question, not worthy
of belief, as ' he was a man of very fervid temper.'
Classic writers are vituperated for reciting such tales,
whilst Keating, the 'father of apocryphal Irish history,'
who recounts a revolting story of a young girl being
reared upon human flesh, is allowed to escape criticism.
In the fourth century the principal food of the Irish
seems to have been 'stirabout,' and Jerome apparently
* Bede writes as follows : — 'In course of time, Britain, besides
the Britons and Picts, received a third nation, the Scoti, who,
issuing from Hibernia, under the leadership of Reuda, secured
for themselves, either by friendship or by the sword, settlements
among the Picts, which they still possess.'
96 PAGAN IRELAND :
had as great abhorrence of stirabout as of heresy, for
when writing against Celestine and his disciple,
Albinus, he describes the one as ' overfatted with
Scottish stirabout, and the other (Albinus), a huge and
corpulent dog — one better qualified to argue with
kicks than words — for he derives his origin from the
Scotic nation in the neighbourhood of Britain.' The
saint seems not to love the Scots (i.e. Irish) ; and in his
eyes the eating of stirabout is on a par with the eating
of human flesh, which he describes in emphatic
words : — ' What shall I say of other nations, when I
myself, when a youth in Gaul, saw the Scoti, a race of
Britons, eating human flesh ; and, although in the
forests they have herds of swine and herds of cattle,
they are accustomed nates feminarumque papillas abscin-
dere solitos, et eas so/as delicias arbitrari ? ' *
In connexion with this subject, O'Donovan remarks
that an ancient Scholiast on Horace's Odes states
that the ancient Britons used to eat their guests ; but
that Baxter asserts, in his edition of Horace, that the
poet meant not the Britons, but the Irish ! His words
may be translated thus: 'This is rather to be under-
stood of the Irish. St. Jerome writes that he himself
saw two Scoti in Gaul feeding on a human carcase.' The
* W. K.. Sullivan, in his introduction to O'Curry's Manners
and Customs of the Ancient Irish, xxxi., states that St. Jerome
mentions the Atticotti in connexion with the Scoti, and after
quoting the above passage, goes on to say that ' the picture which
he (Jerome) paints of both, was very unfavourable, ami based
rather on prejudice than accurate information.' 1 A few of Jerome's
descriptions ol the ' manners and customs ' of the Scoti are here
given : — ' Scotorum natio uxores proprias non habet, et quasi
Platonis politiam legerit et Catonis sectetur exemplum, nulla
apud eos conjux propria est sed ut quique libitum fuerit, pecu-
dum more lasciviunt.' — Advers. Jovinian. ' Scotorum et Attico-
torum ritu ac de Republica Platonis promiscuas uxores communes
liberos habeant.' — Epist. ad Acean.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.
97
designation Scoti here means Irishmen, and on this sub-
ject some curious mistakes have been made. Dempster,
when writing his Menologium Sanctorum Scolorum, took for
granted that Scotia meant Scotland, and he transferred
to Caledonia the greater part of that noble army of
confessors, of whom Erin is justly proud. For this
theft, Dempster was given the nickname of Hagiokkptes,
or the ' Saint-stealer.' ' Champion, who was in Ireland
in the year 1567,' remarks O'Donovan, 'and who was
not a rabid calumniator of the Irish people, like
Hanmer, and even Spenser, believes that the Pagan
Irish used to eat human flesh.'
Thomas Dinely, in a curious journal which he kept
during his tour through Ireland in the reign of Charles
II. , after describing the burial customs of the Irish,
concludes thus : — ' Several nations in Asia thought
themselves guilty of great impiety should they lett
their dead become a repast for worms. . . . The}'
outvyed the doctrines of Pythagoras, y e philosopher
maintaining only a Metempsychosis, or the transmi-
gration of soules into other bodies ; whereas these put
in practice the transmigration of dead bodies into living-
ones.'
Thus, regarded from one point of view, the ancient
Scoti or Irish were possessed of no virtues, and from
the other point of view were innocent of crime ; yet,
when the past is examined, without regard to legendary-
tales or poetic fiction, we find them, even in their
most brilliant periods, ' advanced only to an imperfect
civilization, a state which exhibits the most striking
instances both of the virtues and vices of humanity.'
If passages from classical authorities be compared
with statements made by modern travellers with regard
to the various customs at present prevalent amongst
H
98 PA GAN IRELAND :
savage tribes, they bear a great family likeness ; and in
trying to form a picture of human life in ages when
there were no written records, we ought carefully to
utilize the analogies presented by modern savage
custom for the elucidation of superstitions to be traced
in ignorant popular thought. Viewed thus, we find
many of these superstitions no longer inexplicable, for
we succeed very often in finding their probable parentage
in ancient thoughts and customs. 'Many of the passages'
— in classic writers — ' have been bitterly assailed, but
it will do no good at this juncture to turn to questions
of textual criticism, or to evidences of personal credence
attachable to each authority. These will be met by
other methods : first, by the fact that the early recorded
evidences of savage practices in Britain do not supply
any customs but what are to be paralleled among
savage practices elsewhere than in Britain or in
Europe ' ; and it is impossible to believe that human
ingenuity could be charged with such a phenomenon,
as the invention, by different authors, at different times,
of customs which have their analogies in actual life.
Herodotus, when describing the customs of the Massa-
getae, states that as soon as anyone amongst them ' be-
comes infirm through age, his assembled relations
put him to death, boiling, along with the body, the
flesh of sheep and other animals, upon which they
feast, esteeming universally this mode of death the
happiest. Of those who die from any disease they
never eat ; they bury them in the earth and esteem
their fate a matter to be lamented, because they have
not lived to be sacrificed.'
Ideas and practices of races in a very low state of
culture are likely to present a faithful picture of the
ideas and practices of the earliest races of mankind.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.
99
When investigating the sites of Swiss lake-dwellings,
the anthropologist turns for parallels to Borneo and to
Africa; and when investigating the alleged cannibalism
of the primitive inhabitants of Erin, we necessarily
turn to the most uncultured savage races at present in
existence. The accusation of cannibalism relates not
alone to the Irish, but to all the ancient people of the
British Isles, though, at the time of the Roman con-
quest of England, its inhabitants appear to have already
passed beyond the stage in which they eat their dead.
When the curtain is first raised on the drama of human
life in Ireland, the aborigines were entirely in the
hunting stage ; they lived on the produce of the chase,
and the spoils of the inland waters, and of the sea.
Later, the ox and the sheep became common, demon-
strating that the pastoral stage had been reached ; then
domesticated animals, such as the pig and goat, appear;
agriculture is the last and final stage in the ascending
scale of human amelioration. Of the primary inha-
bitants of Erin we know comparatively nothing; they
may have been a remote swarm of colonists of cognate
race with the Lapps, Finns, and Esquimaux. The
scanty remains of their civilization are found in rude
sepulchral cists, in caves, and in water-drifts. Canon
Greenwell, who has explored numerous barrows of the
Stone Age — particularly in the north of England — is of
opinion that many of the human remains which they
enclose exhibited indications of cannibalism having
keen practised ; whilst another specialist sees no diffi-
culty in acceding to the conclusions thus arrived at.
Human sacrifices and cannibalism, however, may have
co-existed with a comparatively high stale of civiliza-
tion, and numerous instances could be mentioned —
the Aztecs in America will suffice. The practice of
H 2
100 PAGAN IRELAND :
eating the dead, whether captives in war or deceased
relatives, is known to have been prevalent in ancient
times, and modern travellers give so many instances
that only two typical cases need be cited, the one in
Africa — brought lately into such notoriety by Stanley —
and the description of a funeral feast amongst the
aborigines in Queensland, Australia, in the year 1870.
In the latter case we are told that a native having died, a
funeral procession was formed, and before a large fire, the
body was most scientifically skinned, and then dissevered
limb from limb, and the flesh removed from the bones.
After a short absence from the scene, the spectator
found, upon his unexpected return, great lumps of meat
roasting on the fire, and he significantly adds that the
natives ' abstain from kangaroo for several weeks after
a death.' In ancient days it was a belief that the phy-
sical, mental, and moral qualities of man were intimately
connected with his food, and it is still a very prevalent
idea, amongst tribes in a rude state, that the flesh of
certain animals imparts, to some extent, the character-
istics of the animals eaten — the flesh of the fiercer beasts
of prey imparts courage ; that of the stag, speed ; that
of the dove, gentleness; that of the hare,* timidity, for
which reason, perhaps, the ancient Irish did not eat the
hare. This train of thought may have tempted the
* It may appear strange that a creature apparently so insignifi-
cant should have been looked on as sacred, but such appears the
case with the hare; at any rate in the British Isles, for we have the
authority of Caesar that, at the time of his invasion of Albion, the
hare was ' tabooed ! ' ' They think it unlawful,' Caesar states, ' to
feed upon hares, pullets, or geese ; yet they breed sheep up for
their diversion and pleasure.' Even in the present day there is, in
some localities, a ' prejudice against eating hares, on the part of
some of the people, lest they should turn out to be witches. A
cry would, however, be heard, I was informed, when the hare was
being cut up.' — Folk- Lore, vol. iv., p. 184.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. lot
aborigines of Erin to eat their deceased relatives, so
that the warlike or other virtues of the dead might be
perpetuated in the family or tribe. The custom still
surviving in Irish wakes of partaking of food, drink,
salt, tobacco,* or snuff in the presence of the dead
seems to be an amended form of the older practice of
consuming such things after they had been placed upon,
or near, the corpse or coffin ; and this in turn seems to
imply that the recipients would have transmitted to
them some of the qualities of the dead man ; so that
we have in the modern usage a fragmentary relic of the
savage feast, when the real body of the deceased was
consumed.f
W. K. Sullivan, in his introduction to O'Curry's
Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish (cccxxiii.),
remarks that ' many of the funeral rites necessarily
survived the substitution of the burial of the body for
* Not many years ago there were deposited with the corpse, in
a graveyard, in Devonshire, ' a candle, a penny, and a bottle of
wine.' The candle was to give the deceased light, the money was
to pay his fare over the river of death, and the wine was to sustain
him on his journey. It is alleged that, in the town of Cheltenham,
a pipe and tobacco-pouch are sometimes placed in a coffin with t lie-
dead body. — The Cheltonian, No. clxxxv., 2nd Series, p. 39.
t Denis H. Kelly, writing to O'Donovan in 1858, thus describes
this portion of the ceremony at an Irish wake: — 'The corpse of
the deceased is dressed in clean white grave-clothes ; is stretched
on its back on a table in the middle of the room, with five or seven
candles round it, according to the circumstances of the defunct, the
larger number being used by the wealthier. On the breast of the
corpse is placed a plate of tobacco, cut in shoit lengths, and a plate
of snuff. . . . There are seats ranged round the wall, and immediately
behind the corpse's head is the place of honour, where sit the chief
mourners and most respected guests, amongst whom, in wakes of
the higher classes, sits the kee?jer.'
At these wakes certain games, or sports, were in use, which
appear to have been essentially of Pagan origin, and of such a
character that, although at first tolerated, yet, in more civilized
days, they were suppressed.
1 02 PA GAN IRELAND :
cremation, and among them, no doubt, the lighting of
torches with which the pyre was kindled, and which in
after times were replaced by the candles put around the
dead body. Hence, the kindling of torches or the
lighting of candles, took the place of the lighting of
the funeral pyre.'
In many localities throughout Ireland, mould taken
from the reputed grave of a ' saint,' if mixed with
water or boiled in milk, and swallowed by the recipient,
is considered to be an infallible remedy for certain
maladies. A small portion of the 'saint's' skull* is
also regarded as a specific. Grose mentions that, in
his time, in the graveyard of the Abbey of Clonthus-
kert, county Roscommon, a skull was shown ' in which
milk was boiled and given to a man afflicted with
epilepsy.'
In some localities, bodies when committed to the
earth, do not decay in the ordinary way, and adipoceref
in large quantities has often been noticed when the
ground was opened for fresh interments. In one
graveyard the sexton had recently to gather up and
carefully secrete this substance, as otherwise it would
be carried off by people whose relations were afflicted
with consumption: when melted, the adipocere was
administered to the invalid as a certain cure for the
malady. Here the real body of the deceased is con-
sumed, as in the other instances noticed it is consumed
figuratively.
* Portions of the skull of the poet Carolan were thus utilized by
the peasantry. Small fragments broken off were ground fine, put
in water, and swallowed, as a cure for epilepsy. — Ulster Journal of
Archceology, vol. i., p. 304.
t Adipocere is a soft, unctuous, or waxy substance, of a light
brown colour, into which the fat and muscular fibre of bodies are
converted by burial in soil of a peculiar nature.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. io;j
According to Irish MS. authority many barbarities
are to be met with in the tales relating to ancient
warriors, who appear to have been addicted to an
habitual savagery: — 'An Irish warrior, when he killed
his enemy, broke his skull, extracted his brains,
mixed up the mass well, and working the compound
into a ball, he carefully dried it in the sun, and after-
wards produced it as a trophy of former valour and a
presage of future victory. "Take out its brains there-
from," was Conall's speech to his gillie, who declared
he could not carry Mesgegra's head, " and ply a sword
upon it, and bear the brain with me, and mix lime
therewith, and make a ball thereof." These trophies
are described as being the object of pride and conten-
tion among the chiefs, and Mesgegra's brain being
captured by Get from Conall, was hurled at Conchobar,
and caused his death. Then we have the practice
recorded, of cutting off the point of the tongue of every
man they slew, and bringing it in their pouch. Car-
rying the heads of the slain at their girdle, first noted
by Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, is clearly implied in
the saga which Mr. Whitley Stokes has translated from
a twelfth-century copy, called the " Siege of Howth."
In the story of ' Echtra Nerai,' the hero is reputed to
have beheld a heap of heads cut off by the warriors of
the ' dun,' or fort, and this statement calls to mind the
piles of heads described by travellers as often to be
seen at the entrance to the residence of an African
chief.
In the story of the death of Crimthann and three
other personages, as recorded in an old Irish manuscript,
there occurs a passage which, according to O'Curry,
* Ethnology of Folk-lore, G. L. Gomme, pp. H 6 ""- The au-
thorities for the statements are therein all quoted.
104 PAGAN IRELAND :
seems to prove ' not only the tradition in historic times
of the practice of cremation of the dead in Ireland, but
also that of putting persons to death at funerals. This
important passage is as follows : — " Fiachra then
brought fifty hostages with him from Minister, and
he brought a great cain {i. e. booty levied as legal fine),
and he went forth then on his way to Temar. When,
however, he reached Forud in Ui Mac Uais in Meath,
Fiachra died of his wounds there. His Leacht was
made, and his Fert was raised, and his Cluiche Caintech
was ignited, and his Ogam name was written, and the
fifty hostages which he brought from the south were
buried alive around the Fert of Fiachra, that it might
be a reproach to the Momonians for ever, and that it
might be a trophy over them." The reproach which
this act was intended to cast on the men of Minister
consisted, no doubt, in treating the Minister hostages,
who were all of the highest birth, as if the3' were the
dependents and slaves of Fiachra. It may be, also,
that putting them to death in the way here described,
and burying them around him, as they would have sat
in fetters along the wall of his banqueting hall, conse-
crated them, as it were, to perpetual hostageship even
among the dead.'*
We read of the Cucamas that, ' as soon as a relation
died, these people assembled, and ate him, roasted or
boiled according as he was thin or fat.'f Among
cannibals, the offering of human flesh to the dead is
inevitable. Human sacrifices at graves had originally
the purpose of supplying human flesh for the support of
the spirit of the deceased.
* Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, vol. i., pp. 320-I.
t Ihe Principles of Sociology, Herbert Spencer, p. 102.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 105
H. Heine states the opinion prevailed in ancient
times that, when 'any building was to be erected,
something living must be killed, in the blood of
which the foundation had to be laid, by which pro.
the building would be secured from falling ; and in
ballads and traditions the remembrance is still preserved
how children and animals were slaughtered for the
purpose of strengthening large buildings with their
blood.' Some fishermen, to the west of Galway, in
order to obtain a fair wind, ' buried a cat to its neck in
the sand on the sea-shore, turning its face to the point
from which the adverse wind blew, and then left the
poor animal to perish.'*
In Greece, at the festival of the Omophagia, in
honour of 'Bacchus carnivorous,' it is stated that, in
early days, human victims were immolated; in later
times, the sacrifice was commemorated by the priests
being compelled to eat raw meat.
A passage from a poem in the Dinnsenchus, on the
Fair of Tailte, appears to refer to the alleged prohibi-
tion by St. Patrick of human sacrifice : —
' The three forbidden bloods —
Patrick preached therein (i. e. the fair),
Yoke oxen, and slaying milch cows,
Also by him (against the) burning of the first-bom. '
Mackinnon remarks, in Culture in Early Scotland, 'we
may, without being guilty of calumniating the dead,
pronounce our ancestors of the Stone Age, if not even
those of later date, to have been savages.'
The theory has often been advanced that because
human osseous remains decay under certain circum-
* Chorographical Description of West or H-Iar Connaught,
pp. 99-101.
1 OC PA GAN IRELAND :
stances with comparative rapidity, that therefore the
traces of man found in the megalithic monuments in
Ireland can be of no great antiquity. Under certain
conditions, however, the large bones of man and of
other mammalia are comparatively indestructible.
Animal matter is stated to be abundant in the bones
of Egyptian mummies known to be upwards of 3000
years old. Buckland made soup from bones of the
extinct British cave hyena, and jelly has been extracted
from those of the Ohio mammoth. Bones committed
to the ground will be preserved, or perish in accor-
dance with natural laws ; it may, however, be fairly
assumed that the exclusion of water is a special requi-
site for preservation.
Skeletons are sometimes found buried in a sitting
posture ; it is alleged that this was the position assumed
by primitive man for repose, and some go so far as to
I state that he ' had muscles developed specially for this
' purpose.'
In a cist at Tullydruid, county Tyrone, a skeleton
was discovered in a sitting position. The head was
turned towards the east, and at the knees was a sepul-
chral urn. Another skeleton was in such a good state
of preservation that it was with the greatest difficulty
some zealous members of the Royal Irish Constabulary
were dissuaded from sending for the coroner to hold
an inquest on the remains of the deceased who had
' shuffled off this mortal coil ' some two thousand years
ago !
A skeleton is alleged to have been discovered buried
in an upright position in a tumulus in the county Meath.
The tumulus was in the form of a frustrum of a cone,
about twenty yards in diameter at the base, and about
twelve feet in height. This singular mode of interment
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 107
is noticed in old mss. One old warrior was buried
within the ramparts of his fortress, armed for battle.
King Laoghaire was interred in a similar manner at
Tara. Eoghan Bell, King of Connaught, slain in 537,
was buried on the banks of the river Sligo, erect,
weapon in hand, and his face to the foe.
In committing to the ground the remains of their
dead, the customs of the aborigines appear to have
varied. In the first stage the interments were carnal,
and there appears to have been a floor of yellow or other
hard clay formed, on which the remains were placed.
Then cremation appears to have obtained, and, again,
carnal interments predominated ; of course there is
confusion and a commingling, as one custom lingers on
and overlaps the other;* but such it is believed was
* The late R. C. Walker, who opened a great number of sepul-
chres in the county Sligo, gave an interesting account of the exami-
nation made by him of a tumulus. He states that : — ' One lust or
tomb which contained the remains of a great number of skeletons,
some evidently burned, and others exhibiting no trace of lire, occu-
pied the centre of a large earn. Some idea may be formed of the
magnitude of this great last when it is known that one of the stones
which formed the side of it was sixteen feet in length and about six
feet in breadth. In this tomb were found six different human inter-
ments, which occupied the eastern and western ends, the centre
part being unoccupied. The bones were not contained in urns, but
were collected together into heaps that rested upon the freestone
flag which invariably formed the bottom or floor of the inner tomb.
The large bones, such as the arms, legs, and thighs, covered the
half-calcined remains of the smaller ones, and the skull surmounted
the little pyramid thus formed. Round the margin of this heap
was collected a quantity of the bones of birds and some of the lower
mammalia, together with a number of small shells, principally the
land Helix ; and each of these six interments was kept distinct,
and surrounded by small freestone flags. No weapon or ornament
of any kind was discovered in this tomb. Here, then, in this very
remarkable tumulus of the class denominated "giants' graves," we
have remains of nearly every form of interment employed by the
aborigines of this countrv.' — Beauties of the Boyne and Blackwater,
W. R. Wilde, p. 239.
108 PAGAN IRELAND :
the succession of the funeral customs. A good example
of a mixed interment occurred in one of the cists of the
Carrovvmore series of rude stone monuments — an un-
calcined interment had been made over incinerated
remains. At the lowest level of the side-stones of the
cist a floor or flagging of calpy limestone-slabs was
found. It was on this — which overlay the undisturbed
'till' — that the body, or bodies, of the primary interment
had been originally cremated, portions of the floor
showing marks of fire ; and semi-burnt wood was
found intact, with the layer of calcined bones above.
It was plainly evident from the floors and burnt
bones extending in 'pockets' under the side-stones of
the cist, that the latter had been constructed over the
funeral pyre, that the calcined remains were the primary
interment, and that they had not been placed within an
already completed chamber — differing in this respect
from the interments at a tumulus at Dysert, where the
cists were first finished, and the fire lighted on the
covering slabs. Although the soil and debris in the
Carrowmore cist were carefully excavated and sifted,
no flint implements, ornaments, or traces of fictilia
were observable; yet, despite this, the exploration seems
to throw great light on the manner in which these pri-
mitive ' cremationists ' burnt — at any rate in some in-
stances — their dead. The word ' cremation ' is apt to
convey to the mind an idea of swift and complete
destruction of a body by fire. By some modern methods
it is alleged that an ordinary-sized corpse can be re-
duced to a few pounds of ashes in half an hour; but the
primitive method of placing the body on a pile of wood
was necessarily often lengthy and imperfect in its results.
Bones, thus roughly cremated, present curious crack-
like marks, or nicks, the effect — a mechanical one — of
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.
10!)
unequal contraction of the bone in cooling. They cannot
be marks of scraping, for they are, almost without ex-
ception, transverse, whilst scrapes, if intended to strip
the bone, would be longitudinal; they also, in many
instances, extend through the entire thickness of the
bones, show on the interior of the median canal, and
are also found on pieces of the flat bones of the skull.
To give prominence to such an apparently needless
detail is necessary; for a superficial observer might,
on observing the cracks in calcined bones, arrive at
the conclusion that they were marks of cannibalistic
origin.
Amongst the animal osseous remains found by W.J.
Kho.wles amidst the sites of primitive huts, believed
to belong to the Stone Age, at Whitepark Bay, county
Antrim, were many human bones ; but whether bones
thus scattered about, in conjunction with those of
animals, indicated that the people were cannibals, is a
question not yet decided. In a tumulus near the ' Gib-
bet Rath' en the Curragh of Kildare, opened in the
year 1859, there was found, in a small cist, a cinerary urn,
composed of black, half-burned pottery ; it was origi-
nally about two feet in diameter, and in it were deposited
portions of a human skeleton, comprising fragments of
the skull and some teeth. In the course of subsequent
explorations another urn was discovered in a neigh-
bouring mound, and, about three feet beneath the
summit of another tumulus, a cist was found nearly eight
feet long, in which lay four or five skeletons ; in other
interments portions only of the bodies seem to have
been originally committed to the earth ; thus it will be
perceived that in this area, which appears to have been
carefully examined, every description of interment was
practised by the old occupants of the land.
HO PA GAN IRELAND :
An urn discovered in a barrow at Topping, near
Larne, county Antrim, contained imperfectly -burnt
human bones — ' apparently much broken and split by
force before being charred.' The jaw, of very small
size, was found nearly perfect ; this, together with
the dimensions of the other bones, led to the con-
clusion that the individual was of very small stature,
and, from the configuration of the bones, it was prob-
ably a man.
In the cave of Ballynamintra, fragments of human
bones were mixed with stone implements and animal
osseous remains.
A good example of the transition from carnal inter-
ment to cremation is afforded in the examination by
the late Rev. James Graves, in the year 1 85 1 , of the earn
of Cloghmanty, in the county Kilkenny. The average
diameter of the earn was seventy feet ; it had been
originally of considerable height, but the central and
other cists had been denuded by the stones of the earn
having been removed for various purposes. The central
chamber was large, and appears to have contained two
skeletons almost perfect. In the course of time new
customs obtained; the dead were burned, some of the
bones were collected and placed in fictile vessels; the
old burial-place was still used by the people practising
cremation, and the calcined remains were placed in
smaller chambers in the already existing earn.
The ancient Irish had a custom of burying white
stones or lumps of quartz-crystal* with the dead ; these
are by the peasantry sometimes called ' Godstones.' A
cemetery of stone-lined graves was discovered near the
* Quartz crystals are regarded by the Apache Indians as
' medicine.'
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. \\\
ancient burying ground of Saul,* county Down; and it
was remarked that, in each grave, there were several
white pebbles. One cist examined at Barnasraghv,
county Sligo, was literally filled with pieces of angular-
shaped white quartz, and similar fragments accom-
panied almost every interment in the Carrowmore series
of megalithic monuments. These quartz-stones, or white
water-worn pebbles serve to identify the human remains
as belonging to a very ancient period of sepulture. The
custom, although common, has been little noticed by
explorers. At the bottom of one of the cists in the
celebrated pagan cemetery of Ballon Hill, county Car-
low, a funeral urn was found inverted, and, beneath it,
placed in a triangular position, were three small, smooth
pebbles, surrounded by a few pieces of burned bones,
one was white, one black, and the third was of a greenish
tinge. A white stone was found in a primitive interment
not far from Larne, county Antrim.
This custom of placing rounded or oval stones with
the dead survived into Christian times. When the
grave of St. Brecan, in Aran, was opened, there was
found beneath a large uninscribed flagstone a number
of rounded stones averaging about nine inches in
diameter, evidently picked up and brought to the
saint's last resting-place from the adjacent strand.
One of these, now in the Science and Art Museum,
bears an inscription in Irish character.
White quartz-stones have also been found in the
* The legend relative to the origin of this name is as follows : —
A chief named Dichu, who ruled over a district near Downpatrick,
having entertained St. Patrick and his companions, became his
first convert to Christianity, and granted his barn to be used as a
church, ' which place,' writes Ussher, ' from the name of that
church, is called in Scotic to this day, " Sabhall Patrick," i.e.
"Patrick's barn," represented by the modern name, "Saul."
112 PAGAN IRE LA ND :
Hebrides, in primitive interments, and in chambers in
the interior of cams ; they have been observed in
various old British tombs, and also within the sacred
circle on the Isle of Man, a circle which, from time
immemorial, has been held in reverence. In most of
the old tombs excavated in the neighbourhood of
Dundee these pebbles were also found. An examina-
tion of a " Pict's House," at Kettleburn, in Caithness,
Scotland, demonstrated that smooth stones of various
shapes and sizes, such as might be picked up on the
seashore, were found in several of the chambers, among
the ashes. The custom of burying white water-worn
stones, or pieces of fractured quartz or crystals,* may
have been practised contemporaneously in Scotland
and Ireland. The smooth, white, clean, and polished
stones were probably to the ancient Pagan mind emble-
matic of some religious idea.
Shakspeare seems to have been well acquainted with
the ancient rite, for in the play of Hamlet he makes
the priest to say, when attending the body of Ophelia
to the grave —
' Her death was doubtful ;
She should in ground unsanctified have lodged,
Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers,
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her.'
This means that in a case of supposed self-destruc-
tion the corpse being deemed unworthy of the rites of
the Catholic Church, pagan observances should suffice.
Some excellent examples of this ancient peculiarity of
sepulture were observable in the townland of Carrow-
* Rock-crystal is sometimes found in lieu of white quartz or
pebbles ; and on the Continent it was customary, in early times, to
deposit crystal balls in urns or sepulchres.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 113
n agaric, parish of Tawnagh, county Sligo. An esker,
or hill, composed seemingly of good gravel and sand,
had been utilized as a gravel-pit. The upper surface
of the soil, apparently not more than eighteen inches
in depth, was thickly studded with human and animal
bones, the excavations made for sand and gravel giving
a perfect section of this interesting caltragh. About
one foot under the surface-sod, two human skulls were
observed ; over one lay a hammer-stone formed of
sandstone, and over the other lay a flint flake and
several pieces of charcoal.
Near Inverary, it is the custom among the fisherfolk,
and has been within the memory of the oldest, to place
little white stones or pebbles on the graves of their
friends. No reason is now given for the practice.
Amongst the Manx it is considered to be unlucky to
have a white stone in a fishing-boat, even in the ballast.
No explanation is given, but there can be no doubt as
to the fact of the superstition, which may be illustrated
from the case of a gentleman who went out with some
fishermen several days in succession. They chanced
each time to be unsuccessful, and therefore bestowed
on their Jonah the nickname of Clagh Vane, or ' White
Stone.'
In a description of Abyssinia by J. Theodore Bent,
he states that a place called ' Bogas has one striking
and highly interesting peculiarity, namely, its black
and white tombs, which are scattered all over the
country, and the approach to Keren is a perfect Appian
Way of this curious form of sepulture. When a man
dies they build a round wall of black stones over his
grave ; here they sacrifice goats, put food for the dead,
and perform their wails over the departed. If the
occupant of the tomb has died a natural death, the}', in
I
H4 PAGAN IRELAND :
the course of the year, pile up heaps of white quartz in
the form of a native hut ; if he has died of the vendetta,
or any other unnatural death, they put only black stones
over him. One nest of graves we saw consisted of
seventy-two tombs, round the big white grave of the
head of the family ; three only of these tombs were
black, but in other groups the proportion was much
larger.'
In presumably early, as well as late, carnal interments,
several instances occur in which stone axes and weapons
have been discovered imbedded in the crania, whilst a
bronze spear-head was, in the year 1 8 14, found near
Kilkenny, driven into a human skull, part of the weapon
being broken off, apparently by the force of the blow.
This, of course, onlyproves that the defunct met his death
by violence ; but again, in many instances the long bones
of the leg and other parts of human skeletons are found
with clearly-marked longitudinal fractures, which, when
observed in osseous remains in the refuse-heaps of cran-
nogs or lake-dwellings, have occasioned archaeologists
to pronounce, without hesitation, the verdict that these
animal bones had been fractured for the purpose of
facilitating the extraction of the marrow. In general, the
space in which human remains are found is too limited
to have contained even one adult body, whilst traces of
several are often recognizable. The only way to account
for this is, that the body or bodies were dissevered and
packed within their ' narrow home ' ; for, if we are to
judge from their sepulchral monuments, these old-world
folk viewed their dwellings as mere temporary shelters,
and regarded their tombs as their true and permanent
abode. Again, it is a fact that, in many cases, no
traces of the jawbones or of the teeth were to be seen,
although teeth are known to be the most enduring
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 115
portion of the human frame, but the crania were com-
paratively perfect. In one instance, whilst the crania
were present, all the remainder of the skeletons were
missing, presenting only a few obscure osseous remains,
which might have been human or might have been
animal. On the subject of the position of the bones,
when found in situ, in an obviously hitherto undisturbed
megalithic chamber, a surgeon who was present and
examined them stated that ' they were placed there,
subsequent to the removal of the flesh and other in-
vesting media.'
About the year 1845, a sepulchral mound was opened
in the neighbourhood of Portaferry. In the centre was
a chamber about six feet long, formed by eight very
large upright stones, a large flag-stone forming the
floor, on which lay, in one heap of a foot in thickness,
a mixture of black mould and bones. These were all
human, and consisted of portions of ribs, vertebras, and
ends of the long bones, together with pieces of the
skull and joints of the fingers of a full-grown person,
also several bones of a very young child. None of these
had been subjected to the action of fire, but there were
several fragments of incinerated or calcined bone, also
human. Either these latter were portion of the same
bodies burned, or they belonged to an individual sacri-
ficed to the manes of the person whose grave this was ;
and the latter is the more probable, from the circum-
stances under which similar remains have been disco-
vered in other localities. There were no urns, weapons,
or ornaments discovered in connexion with it. :::
In 1859, Captain A. M. Moore, a.d.c. to Lord Seaton,
commanding the troops in Ireland, opened a dozen
* The Boyne and Black-water, W. Wilde, pp. 234-5.
I 2
116 PA GAN IRELA ND :
tumuli which lay in a small area on the Curragh of
Kildare, and he ' found in every instance large quanti-
ties of bones, in most cases giving one the idea of legs,
arms, and skulls, having been thrown in promiscuously.'
In 1876, Dillon Kelly, m.r.c.s. England, gave a long
and detailed account of the opening of a tumulus at
Dysert, Co. Meath, resulting in the discovery of two
chambers, containing each an unburned human skele-
ton. On the covering-stone of one of the chambers
there were uncalcined, or slightly calcined, human
remains, with others fully calcined superimposed. One
of these deposits consisted of the skeleton of a youth
scarcely more than twelve years old. The chamber was
completely surrounded with a mixture of clay, ashes, and
sandstone-blocks, partly disintegrated by the action of
intense heat, so that it would appear as if the chamber
was first constructed, the body then deposited in it, the
covering flag imposed, the funeral pyre erected over it,
the victims immolated, their bodies then placed upon
it, the torches applied, and the fearful rites of Pagan
sepulture, according to the usages of a semi-barbarous
people, consummated. The victims consumed, the
debris of their bodies was collected and deposited on
the cover of the chamber; the ashes of the pyre then
heaped about the cistvaens, the boulders over it, and
lastly, the outer covering of clay over all. The order
of the rites supposed to have been observed at the
deposition of the skeletons contained in the chambers,
and the immolation of the victims over the cistvaen,
receives additional weight from the baked appearance
of the top of the skulls of the tenants of the tomb. This
is the only portion of the remains enclosed in the
chambers which shows marks of having been subjected
to heat, and as these portions of the crania must, from
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 117
the sitting posture of the skeletons, have come into
almost immediate contact with the covering flagstone
on the top of their 'narrow home' over which the
funeral pyre was burning, the conclusion as to the pro-
cess pursued in this case becomes almost a certainty.
At first it appeared as if the incinerated remains con-
tained the bones of both animals and birds, and that
the rite of human immolation was accompanied by the
sacrifice of birds and beasts; but strict examination
and the discovery of the vertebrae of the youth at once
solved the difficulty. The bones supposed to belong
to animals and birds were identified as the long bones,
and the metatarsal, or instep bones of a person of tender
age, but contorted into the most extraordinary shapes
from the effects of the intense heat to which they had
been subjected.*
In addition to human remains, the ancient pagan
cemetery of Rathmoyle, county Kilkenny, contained
the bones of various animals. 'These relics of the
lower animals,' remarked the late Rev. James Graves,
' would seem to indicate that the obsequies of the dead
were accompanied by the funeral feast, an idea which
receives confirmation from the fact that the north face
of the excavation exhibits a perfect section of a pit
sunk into the gravel. . . . This pit is probably one of
those anciently used to cook animal food, according to
the well-known method in vogue amongst the ancient
Irish, as related by Geoffrey Keating.'
From many well authenticated excavations of pre-
viously undisturbed interments, in which no trace of
cremation was apparent, it is evidently impossible that
the chambers which contained some bones of different
Journal R.H. A. A. /., vol. iv., 4th series, pp. 177-182.
118 PAGAN IRELAND :
human skeletons, could possibly have received even one
corpse entire. The bones must either have been the
'wretched remains' of victims immolated during the
celebration of sepulchral rites, or relics of warriors
slain in battle, buried, and subsequently disinterred
for final repose in the sepulchres of their ancestors.
An example of a fragmentary human interment was
discovered by W. F. Wakeman in one of the mega-
lithic chambers of a earn, on the slopes of Topped
Mountain, in the Co. Fermanagh, which had, until
recently, been covered by a thick growth of peat. The
position of this earn affords some data from which the
first, or a very early colonization of the island, may be
deduced. After a description of the manner in which,
in geological times, the valley under Topped Mountain
had been scooped out during the Glacial Period, the
writer states that the Arctic climate was probably suc-
ceeded by a more genial one, causing a luxuriant vegeta-
tion, evidence of which is presented by the peat bogs
that fill the depressions in localities that, at one time,
were land lakes. On this new surface sprang up a forest
of oak and pine, some of the trunks being of enormous
size, such as could not grow in the locality at the present
time; even hardy trees, which in modern days have
been planted in the situation, have remained sickly and
stunted. On the ancient surface, where grew the giant
timber, varying from sixteen to twenty feet beneath
the present surface of the bog, numerous traces of
rude pottery and burnt brick-clay were found ; there-
fore the ancient Pagans, who built the cam on the
slopes of Topped Mountain, lived under the shadow
of this forest, and erected the megalithic monuments
during the time it existed. The part of the mountain
on which they stand must have been perfectly dry on
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. no
the surface, at the period of their erection, for these
remains, resting on the soil, are covered with mountain
peat, to a depth of about eight feet.
The peat in the depressions of the mountain, and
that which is formed higher up, near the summit, accu-
mulated under very different climatic conditions. In
the depressions it is a black, compact mass, produced
by a rank growth of decayed vegetable matter — the
effects of a warm climate ; on the elevated ridges the
peat is of later growth, produced by the highlands
having been transformed from dry into swampy ex-
panses. This was brought about by the changes of the
climate, which, when warm and dry, would produce no
vegetation on the parched highlands, but, when it
altered, and became cold and wet, it produced a peculiar
and unmistakeable vegetation styled mountain peat. This
demonstrates that the Pagans enjoyed a better climate,
more sunshine, and less rain, than their Christian suc-
cessors now-a-days.
There appear to have existed in Ireland from a very
remote period great tracts of turf bog, which have
afforded the means of preserving, to a great extent
unimpaired, the relics of apparently many different
ages. In these depositions, not merely metallic objects,
but those composed of wood, may continue to exist
with but little change for an indefinite period. Most
of these bogs (until within the last few centuries) have^
remained undisturbed by the hands of man, with the
exception of some surface-cutting; for so long as the
extensive forests existed, it was easier to obtain fuel
from them than to have recourse to cutting wet peat,
which required a subsequent tedious process of drying.
The destruction of the forests was sometimes brought
about by natural causes, such as climatic changes, and
1 -20 PA GAN IRELAND :
sometimes by conflagrations, perhaps resembling those
we see from time to time recorded in American news-
papers ; whilst others appear to have been felled by a
slow but systematic method practised by primitive man.
A careful observer found in the Queen's County dis-
tinct marks of fire on nearly all the butts of old trees
that lay on the edges or margins of bogs examined by
him — showing that fire had been the agency employed.
There is generally, on one side, a piece burned out,
about a foot or two above the roots of the tree ; and it
would occupy a considerable time to take down a large
tract of timber in that manner. This mode of felling-
trees must have been practised before iron or even
bronze axes were in use, as no one who could wield a
metal adze would employ so slow and ineffectual a means
as fire. In the opinion of some antiquaries that process
must be relegated to the Neolithic Period; but who can
decide when that period ended in Ireland ? The geolo-
gist and turf-cutter both instruct us that Ireland was,
in olden days, almost a continuous forest ; and in
several parts traces of these woods have been discovered
along the seashore under high-water mark, demon-
strating that, in places, the sea has in recent times
encroached on the land. Geologists, however, go much
further than this, and point to the fact that the pheno-
menon of submarine forests is very general, not only in
Ireland, but along the seacoasts of the British Isles,
especially wheie shelving shores and sheltered inlets
favour the preservation and retention in position of
the ' corkers,' or stumps of trunks, with the roots still
attached, of the primeval forests. Various calculations
have been made by scientists as to the rate at which the
peat which covered these forests in inland parts was
formed, but such attempts are practically of little use,
THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 121
for the growth varies even as the conditions under
which it is formed vary. The peat which covered the
rude pottery on the slopes of Topped Mountain to the
depth of twenty feet must have formed after the manu-
facture of the fictilia, and before the mountain peat which
covers the earns on the summit of the mountain had
commenced to grow. One well-worked-out calculation
would give to the megalithic structures on Topped
Mountain the respectable antiquity of about 3500 years,
which, after all, in the world's history, is but a minute
fraction of time, or, taking the average growth of moun-
tain peat over the earns on the summit of the mountain
to be ten feet, and the growth of mountain peat to be
but half that of lowland peat, the same age may ap-
proximately be inferred.
Thus, we see that, whilst native writers state that
ancient Erin was a highly civilized, cultured, and
homogeneous nation, classic writers state it was peo-
pled by tribes of cannibals. When such a divergence
of opinion arises, is it not the most straightforward
course to appeal to the traces left by the primitive
inhabitants to guide us to a decision ? If a man, in
those distant ages, ate his neighour, his enemy, or his
friend, he did so without having before him the fear
that, at a remote period, some antiquary would be
investigating the disjecta membra of the feast ; whilst, if
it be thought that a slur is cast on the Irish by the
suggestion of a prevalent cannibalism, it should satisfy
the national pride to know that the dwellers in Cale-
donia and Albion, and indeed it may be said almost all
primitive tribes, were originally in a similar state of
savagery.
In Ethnology in Folk-Lore, G. L. Gomme states that
cannibal rites were continued in these islands until
122 PA GAN I RE LA ND :
historic times ; that savagery was not stamped out all
at once and in every place ; and that, 'judged by the
records of history, there must have remained patches
of savagery beneath the fair surface which the historian
presents to us.'
The origin of Grecian civilization was quite as rude as
that of the Irish ; for, if we are to credit early tradition,
the first inhabitants of Greece dwelt only in caves,
whilst, during the periods of internecine feuds, the
vanquished were devoured by the victors.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS.
123
CHAPTER V.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS.
| he presence of the survivals of an older
faith than Christianity in our midst is not
readily grasped, and yet the historians of
ancient Erin should begin with an account
of the races who have occupied it, as well as a descrip-
tion of the faiths which they professed.
Old pagan observances are being rapidly obliterated
by social progress and the grim utilitarianism of modern
times. The plains through which, as ancient tradi-
tion states, Finn Mac Cumhaill pursued the flying
chase are now traversed by the locomotive. Many
singular customs of the Irish peasantry are but the faint
reflected light of the old past ; for, although the Chris-
tian missionaries did their utmost to stamp out paganism,
there remained in the hearts of the people a deeply-
rooted fondness for the form of worship in which they
had been brought up. It was the religion of their fore-
fathers, and despite the popular idea of the rapid con-
version of the island by St. Patrick, yet in almost every
district there must have remained some few who clung
with pertinacity to the old tenets, and handed them
down, from generation to generation, in a more or less
mutilated form. To the present day very distinct traces
of paganism may be found in the acts of that class
styled charm-mongers, herb-, or fairy-doctors. Even
1 24 PA GAN IRELAND :
when all traces of Druidism were supposed to have
vanished, many of the practices attributed to witches
were but reproductions of those formerly ascribed to
Druids.
In these superstitions and observances of the
peasantry are enshrined strange fragmentary relics of
the earlier creeds, sometimes even traces of cannibal-
istic practices, but their remote antiquity and now
but half decipherable implications are, in general,
passed unnoticed.
For a lengthened period there was an undefined
border-line between Christian and Pagan ; there were
wavering chiefs who would fain strike a bargain with
heaven, and they would accept Christianity if God
would grant them victory. So late as the year a.d. 561,
at the battle of Cooldrumman, near Drumcliff, county
Sligo, St. Columbkille, when praying aloud for the
success of his supporters, addressed Christ as ' My
Druid,' probably considering that, by thus imploring
help from above, he w : ould be understood by his fol-
lowers. The line between Christianity and Paganism
was gradually obliterated by the advancing tide of the
new faith, which finally overspread the land ; but the
superstitions and legends of paganism remained, and in
remote and mountainous districts they yet linger, but
with ever diminishing strength.
There were also several reactions against Christianity;
for example, in some fragments of Irish Annals translated
by O'Donovan, it is stated that many of the Irish, in
the ninth century, forsook the Christian faith, and joined
the pagan invaders in their plundering expeditions.
The gods of ancient Erin have vanished, leaving
but faint traces of their former worship. The god, or
demigod, Manannan Mac Lir, appears to have been a
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 125
tutelary deity of the sea, an Irish Neptune, ruler of the
waters, lakes, as well as giant ocean. He has almost
disappeared from popular tradition, and is now best
known from having left nine daughters, who bequeathed
their names to nine lakes. There was also Neit or
Ned, the god of war, and Diancecht, the god of
medicine. The gods were but deified mortals, cele-
brities of their day, taken indiscriminately from the
three colonies of the Formorians, the Tuatha de Danann,
and the Milesians.
It has never been sufficiently borne in mind that the
deities of all peoples, with, perhaps, the exception of
the Jews, are generally recognized as ' earth-born.' The
Olympian hierarchy were but human beings slightly
idealised, and endured all the ills of ' suffering, sad hu-
manity.' Their birth-places, pedigrees, histories, and
deaths are given by those who adored them as deities.
The grave of Zeus was shown in Crete ; Apollo was
buried at Delphi ; and the graves of Hermes and
Aphrodite were all anciently pointed out.
Although the gods of Erin have vanished, yet the
memory of the goddesses has been retained. In the
folk-lore of the peasantry there are still two prominent
supernatural mythical beings, one passively benign, the
other actively malignant, who hold sway in popular tra-
dition, and who are reputed to reside in some of the
rude stone monuments throughout Ireland, and which
are named after them. The designation of these sur-
vivals is Calliagh, i.e. witch or hag; hence the megalithic
structures in which they are reputed to dwell are called
' hags' beds.' The Irish-speaking peasant still desig-
nates the grand megalithic monuments scattered broad-
cast over the land leaba (pronounced ' labby') i. e. the
resting-place or bed, understood as grave. The most
126 PA GAN IRELAND ;
imposing of these structures are usually called leaba-
Dhiarmada-agus-Ghrainne, the bed of Dermod and
Grania, this designation being derived from the well-
known legend of Dermod O'Dyna's elopement with
Grania ; but that story evidently took its rise from the
word leaba, which was understood in its literal sense of
' a bed.'
Prominent in Irish folk-lore are two celebrated ' hags,'
Aine or Aynia, and Bheartha (Vera), variously styled Vera,
Verah, Berah, Berri, Dirra, and Dhirra. Aynia holds
sway in popular tradition, principally in the north of
Ireland, whereas the legends regarding Vera are widely
prevalent.
Most popular superstitions and legends are found to
be of a nature easily explainable. It is a strange, yet
well-demonstrated fact, that the deities of one period
often become the demons of another; and, in the lapse
of years, those that were formerly revered and wor-
shipped become, under a new cult, ill-omened and
vindictive. Of this, no better example can be advanced
than the transformation of the ancient goddesses,
Aynia and Vera, into witches of ordinary type ; yet,
considering the almost total absence of pagan religious
tradition, it is remarkable how stories of these mythical
beings have been so widely diffused, and have descended
to the present day from remote antiquity. Aynia is
represented as passively benign, and, only when pro-
voked, demonstrates her power in an unkind manner.
At Knockmany, in the county Tyrone, a remarkable
megalithic monument crowning the summit of a hill is,
by the peasantry, styled ' Aynia's Cove.' The hill is
considered to be a fairy haunt ; and woe betide the
unlucky wight who should dare to remove the smallest
of the stones which now remain of the ' Cove ' in
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 127
which Aynia, who is reputed to have been elected
queen of the ' wee people,' is said to have delighted.
The name Badb (pronounced Bav), signifying ra°-e,
fury, or violence, ultimately came to be applied to a
witch, fairy, or goddess, represented by the scare-,
scald-, or royston-crow. Ancient Irish tracts, ro-
mances, and battle-pieces teem with details respect-
ing this goddess, and her sisters Neman, Macha, and
Morrigan or Morrigau, furies, witches, and sorceresses,
able to confound whole armies.
Badb would seem to have been the generic title
of the beings ruling over battle and carnage — Badb's
three so-called sisters representing different aspects of
the character of the supreme goddess. Neman afflicted
her victims with madness ; Morrigan incited them to
deeds of valour, strife, and battle; Macha* revelled
amidst the bodies of the slain : and all three are
described as being wives of Neit, the ' God of Battle '
of the pagan Irish. Morrigan has been identified with
Arrand or Ana,f evidently the Aynia of popular folk-
lore. Thus, even in the present day, the memory of
* ' There is at least one passage in early us. histories which
attributes to the Irish Goddess of Battles the dedication of human
heads. A gloss in the Lebor Buidhe Lecain, says Professor
Whitley Stokes, explains Macha thus : — "The scald-crow; or she
is the third Morrigau (great queen) ; Macha's fruit crop, *. e.
the heads of men that have been slaughtered." Taking this in
connexion with the early practices of the Irish, as recorded by
classical authorities, and the practices so frequently ascribed to
Irish heroes in legends and traditions and in early us. accounts, the
meaning and significance seems clear enough.' — Ethnology in
Folk-Lore, p. 148.
t The Goddess of War of the Ancient Irish. W. M. Hennessy,
Proceedings R.I. A., vol. x., p. 425. At the head of the Baby-
lonian mythology stands a deity named Anu. He reigned over the
upper and lower regions of the universe ; when these were divided,
the upper portion, i.e. the heavens, were ruled by him, whilst the
lower regions, i.e. the earth, were governed by his wife Anatu.
128 PA GAN IRELAND :
the goddess of the ancient faith is still preserved in
popular traditions ; and it is strange that these stories
should be almost confined to the north of Ireland,
where, in early romances, Ana or Aynia watched over
the interests of the Ultonians.
Popular tradition bears testimony to former wide-
spread belief in the magical powers of Badb,* the war-
goddess. In most parts of Ireland the royston-crow,
or the ' chattering grey fennog,' as it is called by Irish-
speaking people, is regarded with feelings of mingled
dislike and curiosity by the peasantry, who still recite
tales of depredations and slaughter in which this bird
is represented as exercising a sinister influence. A well-
marked distinction is observable in the written as well
as current traditions of the country, between the attri-
butes of the scald-crow, or cornix, and those of the
raven. The former is regarded not only as a bird of
omen, but also as an agent in the fulfilment of what is
decreed. The country people will not rob the nest of
the cornix, and there is little doubt that the freedom
from molestation is traceable to superstitious fear in-
spired by the badb in ancient times. 'The croaking of
the badb was considered to be peculiarily unlucky,
more so than the croaking of a raven. In fact, not
many years ago, sturdy men, who heard the scare-crow
shriek in the morning, would abandon important pro-
jects fixed for the same day. Nor is this superstition
confined to Ireland alone; the popular tales of Scotland
and Wales, which are simply the echoes of similar
* Many places styled Bovan or Bavan, remarks P. W. Joyce,
are supposed to have been originally written Badhbh-dhun, the
fortress of Badhbh (bauv). Boa Island, in Lough Erne, is styled by
the Four Masters Badhbha, whilst the peasantry call it Inis-
Badhbhan, the island of Badhbh. — Irish Names of Places, p. 308.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 129
stories once current, and still not quite extinct in this
country, contain frequent allusions to this mystic bird.'
The comparative mythologist will find a curious corre-
spondence between some of the attributes of the Celtic
Badb, and those of the Valkyria of Norse romance.
In Irish tales of war and battle, Badb, in the form of
this bird, is always represented as foreshadowing, by
its cries, the extent of the carnage about to take place.
Thus, in an ancient battle story, the impending death of
a hero is foretold thus : —
' The red-mouthed Badb will cry around the house,
For bodies it will be solicitous.'
Again —
' Pale Badbs shall shriek,'
and whilst describing the carnage of a battle, it is
narrated that ' the red-mouthed, sharp-beaked Badb,'
croaked over the heads of the heroes.
The more celebrated 'hag' of Irish folk-lore Calliagh
Vera is, in popular belief, of huge stature and for-
bidding mien. According to a tradition current in the
county Sligo, she was so tall that she could easily wade*
all the rivers and lakes of Ireland, but one day when
trying to cross Loch-da- ghedh, it proved beyond her
depth, and she was drowned; her house on the mountain,
near the lake, still remains, and is styled 'Calliagh-a-
Vera's House'; this is the denuded chamber of a earn.
* Some of the early Christian female saints seem also to have
been fond of wading. Such was the case with St. Araght of
Coolavin, in the county Sligo. She was engaged in forming a
causeway as a short cut across part of Lough Gara, when a fisher-
man, observing that the saint possessed a good pair of ankles,
approached to obtain a nearer view, whereupon the offended fair
one flung down the stones out of her apron, and abandoned her
work. This heap, and the unfinished causeway are still pointed out.
K
130 • PAGAN IRELAND :
At the northern end of the parish of Monasterboice,
at the distance of about three miles east of Collon, in
the county Louth, there is a large megalithic chamber
in remarkably good preservation ; it is called ' Calliagh
Dirra's House.' This ' house ' measures internally
twelve feet eight inches in length, by about three feet
six inches in width ; it is rectangular in form, and lies
due east and west, the entire structure being covered
with four large flag-stones ; it presents a typical example
of a chamber or cist, in contradistinction to the true
cromleac*
A short distance inland from Credan Head, and
about two miles north of Dunmore East, county
"Waterford, is a rocky hill called Carrick-a-Dhirra ; on
its summit is an ancient Pagan sepulchre consisting of
five cists, arranged in an east and west direction, the
longer axis of each cist being north and south ; the
monument was originally surrounded by a circle of
stones. The monument is styled ' Carrick-a-Dhirra,' or
the 'Giant's Grave'; and it bears a striking resemblance
to that described by V. Du Noyer.f situated in the
parish of Monasterboice, county Louth, and called
'Calliagh Dirra's House,' that mythical being, so well
known in Irish folk-lore, who gave her name to the
Lough Crew Hills, i. e. Slieve Calliagh,]: the site of the
most wonderful megalithic sepulchral remains in Ireland,
as also most probably to ' Hag's Head,' in the county
Clare. In some parts of Ireland she is now looked
upon as a banshee, and makes her appearance before
the death of members of some well-known families. It
* Journal R.H. A. A. I., vol. v., N.S., pp. 497-501.
t Ibid., 2nd series, vol. i., p. 498.
X Ibid., 3rd series, vol. i., pp. 160-2.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. \%\
is narrated that on one occasion she turned the celebrated
hero of antiquity, Finn Mac Cumhaill, into a decrepid
old man, but his soldiers dug through the mountains of
Slieve Gullian, in Armagh, until they drove her out of a
cave, in which she then had her residence, and forced
her to restore Finn to his former strength and symmetry.
Under the shadow of the Slieve Gullian range there is
an enchanted lake styled by the peasantry ' Lough
Calliagh Berri.' Probably the foregoing story is an
allegory. Finn may have omitted the performance of
some superstitious rite appertaining to the worship of
the goddess, or he may have quarrelled with the Druids
and defied them, and after some time, having got the
worst of the conflict, made his peace with the offended
goddess and her priests. Other legends make Calliagh
Vera of Tuatha-de-Danann descent, and give her another
name, Evlin (Giblfn). P. W. Joyce remarks that
4 Aeibhell (Eevil), or more correctly Aebhinn (Eevin),
whose name signifies "beautiful," was another powerful
banshee, and presided over north Munster.
It is narrated in an Irish MS. that the Dalcassian
hero, Dooling O'Hartigan, on his way to the battle
of Clontarf, was met by Eevil (or Aeibhell), the
guardian spirit of the Dalcassian warriors, who endea-
voured to dissuade him from going to the fight,
predicting that he would indubitably be slain. She
proffered him pleasures and long life would he but
remain away. The warrior replied that nothing could
induce him to abandon his friend in the day of battle.
Eevil then cast around him a magical cloak, which ren-
dered him invisible, and warned him that he would
certainly be slain if he threw it off. In the heat of the
conflict he forgot this warning, and he was, according
to the prediction of the goddess, instantly slain.
K 2
132 PA GAN IRELAND :
In the same battle the Irish king, Brian Boru, then
of great age, was urged by his attendants to retire,
but replied : ' Retreat becomes us not, and I know that
I shall not leave this place alive, for Eevil of Craglea
appeared to me last night, and told me that I should
be killed this day.'
Thus in this semi-historical tale, two heroes, who
were presumably Christians, are depicted as placing
implicit faith in the powers of one of the old heathen
deities.
Originally every family possessed its own particular
banshee, i.e. the spirit of one of its ancestors who
always appeared to announce the approaching decease
of any member, by its weird wailing.
' Anon she pours a harrowing strain,
And then — she sits all mute again ! —
Now peals the wild funereal cry
And now — it sinks into a sigh ! '
The banshee, however, finally became aristocratic,
and only attached itself to celebrated families. Now
belief in its existence is fast fading away, and in a few
more years it will be only remembered in legends of
the marvellous.
' Cliodhna (Cleena) is the potent banshee that rules
as queen over the fairies of south Munster ; and you
will hear innumerable stories among the peasantry of
the exercise of her powerful spells In the
Dinnsenchus there is an ancient poetical love story of
which Cleena is the heroine, wherein it is related that
she was a foreigner, and that she was drowned in the
harbour of Glandore, near Skibbereen, in Cork. In
this harbour the sea, at certain times, utters a very
peculiar deep, hollow, and melancholy roar among the
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 133
caverns of the cliffs, and which was formerly believed
to foretell the death of a king of the south of Ireland ;
and this surge has been from time immemorial called
Tomi-CIee?ia, Cleena's Wave. Cleena had her palace
in the heart of a great rock, situated about five miles
south, south-west from Mallow; it is still well known
by the name of Carrig-Cleena, and it has given name
to two townlands.'*
A legend of the hero Cuchullin recites that, being
pursued by a calliagh, or witch, he ran southwards
towards the ocean, until, finding himself literally ' be-
tween the devil and the deep sea,' he sprang from a
headland on to a rock in the ocean, closelv followed
by the witch ; then with a superhuman exertion he
sprang back to the mainland ; but the hag having
attempted the same feat, jumped short, fell into the
flood, and was drowned. The body of the witch carried
northward by the current, drifted ashore at the southern
point of the cliffs of Moher, hence called Cancalee, or
the Hag's Head. On one of the most south-western
points of Ireland a singular conformation of rock is
worn by the incessant beating of the billows into a
grotesque resemblance of the human profile. The
waves, however, are not suffered to claim undisputed
this rude sculpture as their own; a different origin
being attributed to it by the legends of the country.
These tales relate to a malignant hag, or witch, who,
for her misdeeds, was transformed into stone, doomed
* Irish Names of Places, pp. 104-5. On the subject of the an-
cient goddesses of the Pagan Irish the late J. O'Beirne Crowe stat< s
that the gentile Irish had foreign deities ; for example, he equated
the above-mentioned Clibdhna, or Clidna, with the Gaulish
Clutonda. See Religious Beliefs of the Pagan Irish : Journal
R.H.A.A.I., 3rd series, p. 319.
134 PAGAN IRELAND :
to remain there, lashed by the raging billows of the
ocean.*
On the hill of Carrick, overlooking the river Boyne,
there is a rock denominated the ' Witch's Stone,'
which stands upon its northern brow. The legend
attached to it recounts that a witch hurled this boulder
from the hill of Croghan at some early father of the
Church, but missed his reverence, and the boulder fell
where it is now to be seen.
Legends are still recounted amongst the peasantry
of immense earns, tumuli, megalithic monuments of
various descriptions, cashels, and even of the compara-
tively modern round-towers being erected in the course
of one night by a calliagh, or hag. A megalithic struc-
ture near Dundalk — figured in Wright's Louthiana, and
in the Archceologia — is styled by the country-people
Fags-na-ain-eigh, i.e. the one night's work ; the immense
earn at Heapstown, county Sligo, and many similar
remains are styled Fas-na-hannihy — the growth of
one night ; the story is in fact universal throughout
Ireland.
Meendacalliagh, in the Parish of Lower Fahan,
County Donegal, signifies ' the mountain flat of the
two hags': there is a locality near Monasterboice
styled 'the Witches Hollow'; and a point of rock, near
Youghal, jutting into the river Blackwater, is styled
Sron-caillighe, the ' hag's nose,' or promontory.
A supernatural being styled Grian is reputed to have
been buried in various localities ; for several megalithic
* The legend may be seen in Bentley's Miscellany, vol. i., pp.
519—524. Amongst the Greeks disappointed lovers ascended the
promontory of Leucate, and from thence precipitated themselves
into the sea. Some of them, however, escaped from the effects of
the fall.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 135
monuments, in different parts of the Kingdom, are still
popularly known as her last resting-place.
The legend which transforms Grian from a beautiful
and charming young woman into an ugly vindictive
old witch, relates that five young warriors, sons of a
chief named Conall, attacked the 'fairy mansion' of
Grian's father and destroyed the place. To avenge this
act, the sorceress transformed them into badgers.
When Conall heard of the fate of his sons, he set out
to fight the enchantress. Grian addressed him in a
conciliatory speech, but when he unguardedly came
close to her, she vanquished him by means of a
withering spell.
The name of the Castle of Carrigogunnell, on the
banks of the Shannon, is understood by the peasantry
to mean ' the rock of the candle ' ; and to account for the
name, a legend is narrated by them of a witch named
Grana, who long ago lived on it, and nightly lighted an
enchanted candle ; whoever beheld its rays died before
the morning's sun arose.
In the townland of Carrigmoorna, County Waterford,
there is a conical hill, crowned by a large rock, in
which dwells the enchantress Murna. When the wind
blows strongly in certain directions it produces in some
crevices of the rock a loud roar, and the country
people state that this sound is the humming of Murna's
spinning wheel.*
To one who believed himself under the influence of
these malignant beings, misfortunes were not the result
of accident; sickness was intensified by pangs of mental
anguish. His cattle did not die of natural disease, but
* Irish Names of Places, p. 5; second series, pp. 133, 236:
P. W. Joyce.
13G • PAGAN IRELAND :
were victims of blighting spells ; his corn was not laid
by the action of winds and rain, but by the tramplings
of furious fiends, belief in whose existence was at one
time almost universal ; and expounders of primitive
belief, by pretending to control the acts of these
terrible beings, gained complete ascendency over the
minds of the credulous multitude. It is quite possible
that these goddesses or witches were not originally
supposed by their worshippers to be malevolent, but
when Christianity invaded and captured their territories,
their disposition towards their former worshippers was
imagined to have changed, and they plagued the people
— or at least were thought to have done so — to wreak
on them vengeance for their change of faith.
It appears evident that the malignant beings styled
Hags and Witches are but degenerated representatives
of the goddesses of the ancient Irish, whilst the fairies
are representatives of an aboriginal and conquered
people. Some of these fairies are, however, of a jovial
disposition ; an artificial mound in the County Sligo,
frequented by these beings, is styled Sidhean-a-ghaire,
'the fairy mound of laughter,' and, according to
P. W. Joyce, there are several places in Tipperary and
Limerick, called by the scriptural name Mount Sion ;
but mount is only a translation of choc, and Sion
an ingenious adaptation of sidhean (sheeazvn), a fairy
mount ; the full Irish name being Cnoc-a-tsidheain
(Knockateean), fairy-mount hill.*
O'Curry, in his Lectures on the Manuscript Materials
of Ancient Irish History, divides the fairies into two
distinct classes, i.e. the bond fide fairies or demons, and
the race of the Tuatha De Danann, who, after being
* Irish Names of Places, p. 42.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 137
conquered by the Milesians, transformed themselves
into fairies.
In the North of Ireland, fairies appear to have been
of larger stature and more uncouth than elsewhere.
'In the County Antrim, the fairy called Grogan, is a
hairy fellow, low in stature, with broad shoulders, and
" desperately strong." '
On a stormy day, the eddies of dust raised by the
wind along the roads were regarded by the peasantry
as occasioned by a fairy cavalcade travelling from one
rath to another, and the same marks of respect were
observed towards the invisible horsemen as if the dust
had been occasioned by a company of the most exalted
persons of the land. Some would throw tufts of grass,
pieces of sticks, or even small pebbles into the centre
of the dust eddy, not as an insult, but as an offering
to appease the 'good-people.' The same superstition
prevails in the East.
The fairies were objects of a strange fear, and the
amount of mischief ascribed to them in the imagination
of the peasantry was wonderful, considering the very
diminutive stature assigned to them ; like Puck they
were said to —
' Skim milk, sometimes labour in the quern
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn.'
They were supposed to issue by moonlight from their
underground dwellings, and disport themselves on the
green sward of the raths : —
' But woe betide the wand'ring wight,
That treads its circle in the night.'
The fairies, however, are not always given to amuse-
ment and gaiety. Very often the tiny inhabitants of
133 PA GAN IRELAND :
two neighbouring forts quarrel, and sanguinary con-
flicts ensue. ' These encounters,' remarks P. W. Joyce,
'always take place by night; the human inhabitants
are terrified by shrill screams and other indescribable
noises ; and in the morning the fields are strewn with
drops of blood, little bones, and other relics of the
fight.'
In short, 'the good people' are everywhere: —
' By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn-trees,
For pleasure here and there.
Is any man so daring
As dig them up in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorn
In his bed at night ! '
In the earlier stages of human civilization, no dis-
tinction is made in the savage mind between super-
natural beings who have never been ' cabin'd, cribb'd,
confined ' within a mould of clay, and the spirits of the
dead ; the line of demarcation which now separates
fairies, and similar emanations of the human mind, from
the souls of men has been the gradual outcome of
Christian teaching, for the philosophy of savages min-
gles them together; indeed it seems entirely foreign to
the mind of primitive man to conceive the idea of a
beneficent spirit. The characters they ascribe to the
spirits are unconscious reflections of their own natures ;
their spirits use the same artifices, and have to be over-
come by the same means, as would be employed in
earthly contests.
The keystone of this description of religion is fear :
fear of the unseen, of the unknown. This feeling was
probably the moving principle underlying the worship
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS.
139
of the ancient Irish. From his appearance into this
world until his exit from it, one of these old heathens
was probably as completely enslaved by his supersti-
tions as is an American Indian by his 'medicine-man,'
who, in sickness or in health, in peace or in war, looks
for guidance and counsel to an arrant impostor, ■ who
combines in himself the functions of priest, prophet,
and physician.'
The only supernatural beings or spirits the primitive
savage believed in or feared, were the dead who had
belonged to his own tribe, although about these he had
no definite belief, but only an all-prevailing dread.
The spirits of the dead of another tribe, however,
■would be considered inimical. There was no great
distinction between good and bad spirits ; they possibly
varied in proportion to the characters borne by them
when in the flesh. It is therefore a great advance when
spirits are divided into two classes, the good and the
malign ; a still greater advance is made when they
further develop into beings of an altogether superhuman
character, who for convenience may be described as
gods and demons.
Fear of the living preserves the social framework,
fear of the unseen preserves the religious framework of
society. The fear betrayed by a child, when alone in
the dark, and the fear with which an uneducated person
passes by a churchyard by night, demonstrates the
still continued sentiment which seems to have been
the primal element of most primitive religions. The
savage worships what, to his mind, conveys an idea of
fear or dread ; but the custom of worshipping what
contributes to his wants and necessities is also ire-
quently met with amongst uncivilized races. ' In
India,' writes Dubois, ' a woman adores the basket
140 PAGAN IRELA ND :
which serves to bring or hold necessaries, and offers
sacrifices to it, as well as to the rice-mill and other
implements that assist her in her household labours.
A carpenter does the like homage to his hatchet, his
adze, and other tools, and likewise offers sacrifice to
them. A Brahmin does so to the style with which he
is going to write ; a soldier to the arms he is to
use in the field ; a mason to his trowel ; and a labourer
to his plough.'
There is considerable similarity between the folk-lore
current in the East and that still existing amongst a
large portion of the population — more especially in
remote localities. The Celtic mind is essentially eastern
in character, and legends still current illustrate this.
Some present a beautiful fancy ; for instance, we
have the ancient Irish romance of ' The Children
of Lir ' metamorphosed into swans, and anyone ac-
quainted with Lough Erne cannot have failed to note
the swans which, at almost every season of the year, are
seen upon its bays and inlets. They come and go
scathless ; for, in the minds of the Celtic peasantry they
represent the souls of holy women that had fallen vic-
tims to the fire and sword of the Northmen who swept
over Lough Erne again and again. This is a very good
example of a Pagan legend being completely Chris-
tianized.
In a statistical account of the parish of Ballymoyer,
County Armagh, written in 1810, the Rev. Joseph Fer-
guson states that a girl, chasing a butterfly, was chid by
her companions, who said to her, ' that may be the soul
of your grandfather.' Upon inquiry it was found that a
butterfly, hovering near a corpse, was regarded as a sign
of its everlasting happiness. This is a curious instance
of the lingering on of a Pagan superstition.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. hi
After death, the soul is supposed at first to remain in
the form of a butterfly in the neighbourhood of the
body, and then to follow it to the grave. The Bulgarians
hold that it assumes the form of a bird or a butterfly,
and remains on the nearest tree until the funeral is
over. The Servians believe the soul of a witch often
leaves her body whilst she is asleep, and flies abroad in
the shape of a butterfly. The same idea prevails in
some of the islands of the Pacific. The idea that the
soul assumes this shape is therefore bv no means
confined to Ireland.
There were numerous authenticated examples of the
widespread custom adopted by Christians on the Con-
tinent, especially at Rome, of devoting to Christian
uses monuments, such as temples or tombs, that had
been anciently Pagan ; and this system was in primitive
times extensively followed in Ireland. Thus, pillar-
stones were consecrated to the New Faith by engraving
on them the sign of the Greek Cross. If we are to
believe the later-written Lives of St. Patrick he found
the people worshipping pillars, some of which he
caused to be overthrown, but the majority appear to
have been re-consecrated to the new worship.
Survivals of stone-worship are extremely interesting.
There are many examples from ancient Greece ;
similar instances occur in almost all early religions,
and they are still preserved in folk-lore. The Kaffirs,
a tribe of the Hindu-Kush, say of the stones they
worship: — 'This stands for God, but we know not
his shape,' therefore they leave the rock untouched
by chisel.
An old Icelandic author states that, into a certain
island in one of the Irish lakes, no female of any animal,
including the human species, was allowed to enter.
142 PAGAN IRELAND :
This rule seems to have been enforced not only in Ire-
land, but in various parts of Europe. Curson, in his
Jlfonasteries of the Levant, states that: 'No female animal
of any sort is admitted on any part of the peninsula of
Mount Athos ; and since the days of Constantine the
soil of the Holy Mountain has never been contaminated
by the tread of a woman's foot.'
Moore has immortalized this idea in the legend of
Glendalough, where Saint Kevin hurls Kathleen into
the waters for daring to intrude on his meditations,
yet —
• Soon the saint (yet ah ! too late)
Felt her love and mourn'd her fate.'
St. Senanus also inexorably hunted away the fair
sex : —
' But legends hint that had the maid
Till morning light delay'd,
And given the saint one rosy smile,
She ne'er had left his lonely isle.'
The exclusion of women from so-called sacred locali-
ties is a practice far older than Christianity. They were
excluded from the Temple of Hercules at Cadiz, in
Spain ; the Romans also excluded women from their
temples of Hercules, the reason for which is given by
Plutarch and by Macrobius. Irish examples could be
multiplied to any extent. The monks of Inniscathy
Abbey — from its foundation to its demolition — are
said never to have permitted a woman to enter the
island.
In an island, near Achill, there is a Holy Well at
which ' no female would be allowed to draw off the
water until it would be first handed to her by a male, be
it even an infant whose hand she should place within
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 143
her own in laying hold of the vessel when drawing.' It
may be afterwards used for the usual purposes of every-
day life.
According to an ancient legend the river Shannon
originated from the profanation of a sacred Pagan well
by a woman.*
In many localities men and women were not allowed
to be buried in the same cemetery, and it is an almost
universal belief that if a woman be buried in the men's
ground the corpse will be removed during the night,
by unseen hands, to the women's cemetery, and vice
versa.
Holy wells in Ireland may be divided into two classes,
those which derive their reputed virtues from Pagan
superstition, where —
' The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds,
By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes
Their stolen children, so to make them free
From dying flesh and dull mortality.'
And those springs that were converted from Pagan to
so-called Christian uses. In the alleged ecclesiastical
canons of Edgar, it is ordered ' that every priest forbid
well-worshippings, &c'; and heathenism is elsewhere
defined as the worship of idols, ' the sun or moon,
fire or rivers, water-wells, stones, and forest trees.'
Although many holy wells, in a greater or less degree,
have now lost their sacred character, they are still
numerous; probably there cannot be less than three
thousand throughout Ireland. In Christian times, holy
wells were resorted to for purposes of prayer, or to
* O'Curry's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, vol. ii.,
p. 144.
1 44 PA GAN IRELAND :
perform certain penances, either voluntary or imposed.
This is evidently a survival of the old heathen adora-
tion of ' water-wells.'
Illustrations of this process may be found in modern
times. Mr. Eugene Stock, as reported in The Guardian,
30th May, 1894, speaking of the 'unholy accommoda-
tion of Christian truth and observances to heathenish
superstitions and customs,' tells us that ' in China and
Japan the paraphernalia of Buddhism have proved most
convenient. Temples, shrines, altars, bells, holy-water
vessels, censers, rosaries, vestments, all were ready for
transfer from one religion to the other. Images of
Buddha, with a slight application of the chisel, served
for images of Christ, and the roadside shrines of
Kwauyn, the goddess of mercy, were easily adapted.'
The same speaker quotes Miss Gordon Cumming's work
on Ceylon: — 'She has seen the very identical devil-
dancers engaged from the temples of Siva to accom-
pany the processions alike of heathen gods and of
images of Christ and the Virgin ; she has seen the
images of Buddha opposite the image of the Virgin in
the same chapel, and apparently receiving equal adora-
tion ; she has seen Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians
paying their vows together at the Shrine of S. Anna,
by whom certain miracles were believed to have been
wrought.' With the process here visible before us we
can see how heathen customs and ideas would become
cultivated in popular Christian usage.
It may be argued that the ' holy well,' which still is
supposed to effect cures of diseases, is the material
outcome of a connecting link in the chain of primitive
thought extending from Pagan times. Doubtless in
those early days, enthusiastic missionaries sought to
wean the natives from paganism by admitting such of
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 1 15
their existing customs as to the Christian mind
appeared harmless ; so that if we subtract what appears
to be the result of distinctly mediaeval Christianity from
the ordinary so-called superstitions of the peasantry, the
residuum is pure paganism. Wells were the haunts of
spirits that proved to be propitious if remembered, but
were vindictive if neglected, and hence no devotee
approached the sacred precincts empty-handed, the
principle being no gift no cure : therefore the modern
devotee when tying up a fragment from the clothing,
or dropping a cake, a small coin, or a crooked pin into
the well, is unconsciously worshipping the old pre-
siding spirit of the place.
A curious remnant of Paganism is the manner in
which a peasant always approaches these holy localities.
This must be from the north side, and he must move
from east to west, in imitation of the diurnal motion of
the sun ; a corpse should be carried to its last resting-
place, a bride approach her husband, an infant be
carried to the baptismal font, and the glass circulate
around the festive board in the same manner: hence
the proverb ; Cuir an gloine thart fa dfieas, i. e. send
round the glass to the south, such being the right
or lucky way, and the opposite being the wrong
or unlucky way. The hands of clocks and watches
turn from east to west like the sun ; we deal round
playing cards in the same fashion. Thus, is ancient
thought found crystallized in modern custom.
Martin describes the custom as existing in the He-
brides. In Col-mac's Glossary the spirit of poetry, in
the form of 'a young man, kingly, radiant,' is stated
to have met Senchan Torpeist, ' and then he goes sun-
wise (desiul) round Senchan and his people.' Formerly
when starting on fishing expeditions the crews of the
L
1 46 PA GAN IRELAND :
boats were very careful that their craft should leave the
shore in a direction sunways.
In ' Waverly ' Sir Walter Scott describes how the old
Highlander, called in to attend the wounded Edward^
walks around the patient three times, from east to west,
according to the course of the sun, and this ceremony
was considered a matter of the utmost importance
towards effecting a cure.
This ceremonial turn, styled Desiul by the Irish and
Scotch, is well known, and has its warrant in the usages
of classic antiquity. From left to right has ever been
the processional order; to go to the left is tantamount
to a malediction, and is called ' withershins.' Implicit
belief in the efficacy of the Desiul was, at one time,
rife throughout the kingdom. Allusion to this cere-
mony is thus made by Dr. Joyce in his Irish Names
i of Places : 'Tempo in Fermanagh, which is called in
Irish an t-.Tom.podh deisiol (an timpo deshil) iompod/i
meaning turning, and deisiol, dextrorsum, from left to
right. The place received its name, no doubt, from
the ancient custom of turning sunways, i.e. from left
to right, in worship.' If the peasant wishes to curse
his enemy he proceeds ' withershins,' i.e. in the reverse
order from Desiul, and the reversal of all ceremonies at
a military funeral may possibly be a remnant of this
custom of ' withershins ' or the unlucky way.
Toland, in 1815, thus describes it: — 'The vulgar
in the islands never come to the ancient and fire-
hallowing earns, but they walk round them from east
to west, according to the course of the sun. This
sanctified tour or round by the south is called Desiul
{dextrorsum), as was the unhallowed contrary one
by tuapholl (jinistrorsum) ' ; this latter was geis, i. e.
unorthodox, or, as O'Donovan defines the expression,
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 147
a thing or act forbidden, because of the ill-luck which
would result from its doing.
Perhaps the oldest Irish written description of the
Desiid occurs in the ' Book of Bailymote,' where it is re-
corded that a celebrated poet, King of Leinster, had a
magical well in his garden, to which no one, save the
monarch and his three cup-bearers, could approach
without being instantly deprived of sight. The queen,
determined to test the mystical powers of its waters,
not only approached the well, but passed three times
round it to the left, as was customary in ancient incan-
tations. Upon the completion of the third round,
the spring burst forth in a raging torrent, and three
enormous waves dashed over the hapless queen, who
was thus carried right out to the ocean.
Of all the ceremonies appertaining to Druidical wor-
ship, none is so easily traced back to its origin as that
of the Desiid. One more example will suffice. Before
the battle of Cooldrumman, fought near Drumcliff,
county Sligo, in the year 561, St. Columbkille, in his
prayer before the contest, denounces his adversaries
for employing Pagan rites to assure victory, and ana-
thematises —
' . . the host which has taken judgment from us,
A host that marches round a cairn,'
i. e. performs the Desiid. By the strange irony of fate
the saint's manuscript of portion of the Holy Scriptures
— the origin of the conflict, hence styled the Cathach, or
' book of the battle '—became the battle-standard of the
Cincl Conaill, and an old Irish MS. recounts that before
a fight ' it was proper the Cathach should be carried
round the army,' and further, that if carried three times
to the right around the army of the Cincl Conaill at
L 2
148 PAGAN IRELAND :
going to battle, it was certain they would return vic-
torious.'*
The late Sir Samuel Ferguson wrote a most instructive
article ' On the Ceremonial Turn called Desiul? It,
however, mostly deals with extracts from classic writers,
demonstrating that the Desiicl was an act of worship
also amongst the Greeks and Romans, for ' classical
and gentile antiquity abounds with evidences of some
kind of rotation forming part of the ceremonial of
religious worship.'
Hyginus relates that: 'Arge, a huntress, while pursuing
a stag, said : — " Although thou followest the course of
the sun, yet will I follow thee" ; at which the Sun, being
displeased, changed her into a doe.' Arge's offence
appears to have been that she referred, in a profane
manner, to the Desiul, or act of solar adoration.
Plutarch relates that Marcellus, when leading the
Roman legions against the Gauls, and in the act of
advancing to the assault, ' his horse terrified with the
shouts of the Gauls, turned short and forcibly carried
him back. Marcellus fearing that this, interpreted by
superstition, should cause some wonder in his troops,
quickly pulled the rein, and, turning his horse again
towards the enemy, paid his adorations to the sun, as if
that movement had been made, not by accident, but
design, for the Romans always turn round when they
worship the gods.' Plutarch elsewhere remarks that
' the turning round in adoration is said to represent the
circular motion of the world.'
When it became customary to pay divine honours
to the Cassars, they were approached with veiled head,
* Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History,
Eugene O'Curry, p. 330.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 1 19
the suppliant turning round, and then prostrating
himself. The most apposite quotation that can be
advanced is one from Lucretius, which may be thus
translated : —
' Call it not Piety that oft you're found
Veiled, at the standing-stone to make your round.'
In a comedy by Plautus, one of his characters says:
'Which way to turn myself I know not'; the other
jestingly replies : 'If you worship the gods, right-hand-
wise, I apprehend,' whilst Valerius Flaccus, in describing
a marriage ceremony relates that : —
' Pollux advanced the nuptial torches' ray,
And ritual water, while in holy round,
Right-hand-ways they together tread the ground.'
There still exists a survival of a remarkable ceremonial
employed by the ancient Irish for anathematizing their
enemies. The poet Spenser had intended to treat
' more at large' of the semi-pagan social customs of the
Irish, ' of their old manner of marrying, of burying, of
dancing, of singing, of feasting, of cursing,' &c. ; and it
is to be regretted that he never carried this idea into
execution. O'Donovan thus defines the effect of a
well-delivered curse: — 'The belief among the ancient
Irish was, and still is, that a curse once pronounced
must fall in some direction. If it has been deserved by
him on whom it is pronounced, it will fall upon him
sooner or later, but if it has not, then it will return
upon the person who pronounced it. They compare it
to a wedge with which a woodman cleaveth timber.
If it has room to go, it will go, and cleave the wood ;
but if it has not, it will fly out and strike the woodman
himself, who is driving it, between the eyes.'
150 PA GAN IRE LA ND :
There is an ancient homely proverb that ' curses,
like chickens, come home to roost,' and the dread of
retribution of this nature inspires such an amount of
awe as to prevent rash anathemas.
A peculiar Pagan manner of cursing, though now
rapidly dying out, prevailed at one time amongst the
Irish-speaking population of Fermanagh. The cere-
mony, styled the ' Fire of Stones,' is primitive, simple,
and original. The individual who is desirous of cursing
his enemy, collects as many small boulders as will cover
the hearth-stone of his cottage ; these he piles up as he
would arrange turf for making a fire. Then dropping
on his knees he prays that, until the heap before him
burns, every description of misfortune may befall his
enemy and his enemy's family to untold generations.
A number of oval or circular stones may be observed
around the margins of holy wells, together with numer-
ous white pebbles scattered over the bottom, whilst on
some altars overlooking the well are numerous, globular,
oval, and curiously wrought stones.
Stones of this class are believed to possess miraculous
properties for healing sickness, and they were used for
swearing on, and also as maledictory stones. The late
Sir Samuel Ferguson thus alludes to the lattei object to
which these articles were applied: —
1 They loosed their curse against the King,
They cursed him in his flesh and bones,
And ever in the mystic ring
They turned the maledictive stones.'
Near the shores of Lough Macnean, not far from the
village of Blacklion, in Fermanagh, is 'St. Bridget's
Stone,' a globular-shaped boulder, and its table-like sur-
face displays nine cavities. Each of these depressions
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS.
1.51
contains a stone, smooth and oval, which nearly fills the
depression. Ceremonies of some description were for-
merly carried on around it, when it was commonly known
as 'the Cursing Stone.' Upon the various altars in the
island of Inismurray (fig. 17), off the coast of Sligo, may
be noticed collections of these globular stones, a few of
them ornamented with what may be styled early Greek
crosses; whilst in the townland of Ballysummaghan, and
Fig 1 . 17. — Altar with Cursing Stones, Island of Inismurray.
in that of Barroe, in the same county, there were origi-
nally stones used for the purpose of cursing. The
ceremony appears to have closely resembled that ob-
served on Inismurray, but in addition the postulant was
required to go through the ritual, bare-footed and bare-
headed. One mode of averting the curse was for the
person against whom ' the stones were turned ' to have
a grave dug, to cause himself to be laid in it, and to
have three shovelfuls of earth cast over him, the grave-
diggers at the same time reciting certain rhymes.*
* For an example of this grave-digging ceremony, see Early
Races of Scotland ', vol. i., pp. 79-82; also Pitcairn's Criminal
Trials, vol. i., pp. 192-204.
152 PA GAN IRELAND :
In the island of Iniskea adjoining- that of Achill
there used to be, and probably there still is, a cursing-
stone at the mouth of a holy well. Anybody who wanted
the immediate gratification of vengeance must go to the
stone, ' turn it round three times and pray that his
enemies might not prosper, or get length of life ; and
their means would melt away like snow before the sun,
their days would be shortened till in the end they would
get a miserable death'; in fact it is a stone that ' would
put an end to bad people in a short time.'
Close to the old Castle of Rinvile, near Salrock
Harbour, is a holy well held in great veneration,
called Cobap na peace n-ingecm, where the people
perform their devotions. Here they formerly had a
a stone called leac na peace n-mgean, which was
used as a ' cursing-stone.'*
A missionary who settled on the eastern side of the
Island of Tanna, New Hebrides, could not build on
the site he would have selected, as it was sacred
ground, on which were deposited stones in which the
natives supposed the spirits of their departed relatives
to reside. On Vati Island are still to be observed
a collection of stones and rudely-cut shells, which,
when the missionaries first arrived, were the only
form of gods the natives possessed, and into which
the spirits of their departed friends or relatives were
supposed to enter. Most of the stones were ordi-
nary smooth water-worn boulders, three to four inches
long, and from two to three inches in diameter.
Similar stones were reverenced by the Karens, the
Boroditch Islanders, and the Fijians. Several tribes
* Chorographical Description of West or H-lar Connanght,
p. I20.
7 -RA CES OF THE EL DER FA ITHS. 153
of the Pacific, chip these stones to permit, as they
think, the spirits they contain, to have free exit and
entrance, whilst others, in addition, smear them with
oil.*
Several Irish specimens have circular indentations
sunk in them.
May not the same ceremonies that prevailed in the
East, and still prevail in the islands of the Pacific,
have obtained in Ireland ?
These stones are turned from left to right when
praying, but from right to left when cursing.
At a site called ' The Relig,' near Bruckless, close to
St. Conall's Well, on the northern side of Donegal Bay,
there is a most interesting relic of paganism — a healing
medicinal or magical stone of St. Conall. It is dark-
brown in colour, about five inches long, three inches
thick, and in shape and size somewhat like an ordinary
'dumb-bell.' The stone probably owes its pecular form
to the action of water, to which also may be attributed
three small hollows on one portion of the shaft. When
not in use, it is kept in a hollow of a broken cross on
the summit of the earn at ' the Relig,' and is regarded
with the greatest reverence. The sick person has the
stone conveyed to his house where it is retained until
the cure is effected ; then it is returned to its resting-
place. There is no custodian, but when borrowed, notice
is given to the people living near, and to return it to its
original place is a matter of duty. It has for centuries
had the reputation of curing diseases ; it is even alleged
that the stone was once sent to America to cure a Dative
of this portion of Donegal who had emigrated and
desired to utilize its healing powers ; possibly the patient
* The Principles of Sociology, Herbert Spencer, vol. i., 3rd ed.
154
PAGAN IRELAND :
had not faith in the medical skill of the physicians in
the land of his adoption. The stone was honourably
returned.
On the altar at Toomour, in the Co. Sligo (fig. 18),
is a natural fragment of rock, or fossil, resembling a
dumb-bell in shape, and very like the healing stone of
St. Conall ; on the wall behind the altar are seventeen
globular stones, designated 'dicket stones' by the pea-
santry. The well of Toberaraght (fig. 19), in the half
barony of Coolavin, Co. Sligo, is surrounded by a low
Fig. 18.— Altar at Toomour, with ' Dicket ' Stones.
wall, on the top of which are placed thirteen round
water-worn pebbles. This well is reputed to cure dis-
eases.
Lying on the ground in the graveyard of the old
church of Killery, county Sligo, is a thin flagstone
(fig. 20), and at its south-eastern corner there is a small
rectangular stone projecting about six inches above the
surface of the soil ; at all times may be seen around it
a piece of string called the 'straining string,' which is
supposed to be an infallible cure for strains, pains and
aches. The believer repairs, either by self or deputy, to
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS.
lo'>
the flagstone, on which lie seven egg-shaped stones, and
removes from the ' straining-stone' the old string; re-
Fig. 19. — Altar at Toberaraght, with Globular Stones.
placing it by a new one, whilst repeating certain prayers
before each stone — swung round from left to right as
Fig. 20. — Straining Stone, Killery.
on a pivot- is turned in succession, being held between
the thumb and second finger of the suppliant's hand.
156 PAGAN IRELAND :
A similar custom prevails in some of the islands off the
western coast.
By degrees, the point is reached where the lithic
object is entirely removed from its hallowing sur-
roundings, though it possesses certain definite powers,
as for instance ' doctor-stones,' still used in many
parts of Ireland. One very celebrated specimen was
located in the neighbourhood of Oughterard, Co.
Galway ; it was in great request there, and also in the
neighbouring portion of the Co. Mayo. It was con-
sidered unlucky to keep it in a house, and those who
used it hid it until it was again required. Another
'doctor-stone' belonged to a family who resided in
the County Wicklow ; the eldest male member of
the family was said to be able to effect cures by its
means.
The Garnavilla amulet is a crystal ball set in a bronze
frame with a loop for suspension. It is frequently
borrowed by the country people of the neighbourhood,
as an antidote to disease in cattle. It is suspended
from the loop, round the neck of the beast, and drops
into the food as the animal stoops to eat. The
Imokelly amulet and the Ballyvourney murrain-stone
may be also instanced.
Mary Queen of Scots appears to have been a firm
believer in the efficacy of healing stones, for on the eve
of her execution, when writing to her brother-in-law
Henry the Third of France, she bequeaths to him
' two rare stones, valuable for the health,' asking him
to accept them ' in token of true love towards him.'
We see then that great veneration, subject to certain
conditions and ceremonials, appears to have been paid
by the ancient Irish to certain inanimate objects and
materials ; in nothing is this so remarkable as in the
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 157
lithic objects which were used for the purposes of
prayer, for cursing, and for the cure of ailments.
Truth is often stranger than fiction, and this latter
popular Irish charm, or cure, has been transplanted
from its native land, and has taken root and flourished
on the American continent. An Irish emigrant to
Texas had a ' Madstone,' reputed to be a perfect remedy
for hydrophobia, and which effected several cures.
It would be interesting to know how the ' Gladstones '
were employed in Ireland as a ' cure,' and if any
are now so used. A charm for farcy which had been
employed for generations by a family in the Co.
Limerick, is now used, by a member of that same
family, on the horses in a great ranching country within
the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, in the north-
west territory of Canada.
Throughout Ireland there are many traces of the
former custom of praying to, or asking certain gifts or
favours from, a lithic object, or from a well. On the
summit of one of the pinnacles of Tormore, on Tory
Island, a large stone is shown by the natives who call
it ' the wishing; stone.' They allege that whoever
stands on this stone, and turns round three times,
will obtain whatever he wishes for.* ' Wishing- Wells'
are to be met with in most counties ; the wisher, on
bended knee, and with hands clasped behind the back,
takes a draught, and then silently wishes, but it is essen-
tial that the supplicant should not make known his
wishes till they are granted.
The immediate entourage of a celebrated and much
frequented holy well is at all times festooned with
many coloured rags, red, blue, green, white, black— in
* Ulster Journal of Archaology, vol. i., p. IIS
158 PAGAN IRELAND :
fact, kaleidoscopic in character — tied up, to denote in a
more modern sense, a finale to the ' rounds ' and prayers,
but which, if the action of attaching them to the trees
or bushes be analysed, has a deeper and more mystic
meaning. If there are no trees or bushes, brambles
will do as well, and failing even these, a weed or strong
stalk of grass is deemed sufficient. The rags are to be
met with everywhere in the vicinity of these springs,
in the old churchyard, beneath the shade of trees, on
the open mountain slope, in the secluded glen, or on
the busy village green.
The rag or ribbon, taken from the clothing, is viewed
somewhat in the light of a scapegoat, and is con-
sidered to be the depository of the spiritual or bodily
ailments of the suppliant ; this is exemplified by an
anecdote related of a vindictive peasant, who took the
rags from the bushes around a holy well and scattered
them on the highway, along which a neighbour, against
whom be bore ill will, was in the habit of passing,
with the hope that he might pick them up, and thereby
become possessed of all the maladies with which they
were stored.* Rags are not merely offerings, or votive,
they are riddances ; thus if you have a headache, you take
a shred and place it on the tree, and with it you place
the headache there ; the putting up of these rags is a
putting away of the evils impending or incurred by sin
or otherwise — an act which should be accompanied by
the ritual word : ' By the intercession of the Lord, I leave
* It is alleged that the inhabitants of the Orkneys for a similar
purpose wash a sick person, and then throw the water on to the
highway, in the belief that the sickness will be transferred from the
patient to the first person who passes over the spot. In some parts
of Scotland parings from the nails of the sick, or a small portion of
their hair are placed in a packet and left on the road; the passer-by
who picks it up will, forthwith have the malady transferred to him'.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 159
my portion of illness in this place.'* Travellers in
the East mention trees and bushes festooned with rags
fastened as offerings to the branches ; a similar custom
prevailed in Scotland.
A few descriptions of these wellsf in different parts
of the kingdom, are given as examples of this wide-
spread survival of Pagan observances.
The well of Toberkeelagh, situated on the western
shore of Lough Mask, is overshadowed by a tall tree
and bushes, on which pieces of rag are suspended.
These mementos are not always rags ; portions of hair
are frequently left, and the silvered locks of age may
often be seen fluttering in the wind with the fair tresses
of some youthful votary. When sickness afflicts any
of the peasantry in the neighbourhood of Toberkeelagh,
or even any of their cattle, it is usual to pray, or per-
form ' stations,' for their recovery at the holy well.
It is held in such great respect by the people that none
of them will pass by without ' making some reverence. 'J
In the year 1855, a visitor to the well of St. Bartho-
lomew, at Pilstown, Co. Waterford, thus describes
its appearance : — The venerable thorns which over-
shadow it, bore a motley appearance, being covered
* Ai|\ nnpi-oe ah cijepiiA 1110 cuto cmneAf no pAJjAim Am An
aic yo.
t These wells often contained trout or salmon. Trout were con-
sidered holy, and were not eaten, but salmon, under certain circum-
stances, were eagerly sought after. Holy trout of peculiar form
and colour were confined to holy wells, whilst the hazel tree and
the salmon seem to have been indissolubly connected with certain
large springs. The salmon eagerly watched the nuts on the hazel,
and when they dropped into the water devoured them greedily.
Their bellies became spotted with a ruddy spot for every nut they
had eaten ; on this account the spotted salmon became an object of
eager acquisition, for whoever eat one became immediately, without
the trouble of studying, a learned scholar or an eloquent poet.
X Journal R.H.A.A.I., vol. i., 4th series, p. 349.
160 PAGAN IRELAND :
with red, blue, and green ribbons and rags, as if torn
from the dresses of pilgrims, and tied up as a finale to
their ' rounds ' and prayers. An old crone engaged in
going her ' rounds,' said that ' they were tied up by each,
to leave all the sickness of the year behind them.'
In a ' statistical account' of the parish of Dungiven,
written in 1813, it is stated that at the well of Tubber-
patrick, after performing the usual rounds, devotees
' wash their hands and feet with the water, and tear off
a small rag from their clothes, which they tie on a bush
overhanging the well ; from whence they all proceed to
a large stone in the River Roe, immediately below the
old church, and having performed an oblation they
walk round the stone bowing to it, and repeating
prayers as at the well. Their next movement is to the
old church, within which a similar ceremony goes on,
and they finish this rite by a procession and prayers
round the upright stone.
St. Conall's Well, near Bruckless, in the county
Donegal, is situated, less than a mile from the sea, in a
lonely part of the rather wide glen through which the
Corker river flows. ' The well,' writes W. H. Patterson,
' is surrounded by a low wall of uncemented stones. It
is now small and shallow, but the spring is copious, and
the overflow forms a small rill, which flows down the
sloping ground to the bottom of the glen. No thorn
tree overshadows the little basin, but the brambles
which grow over and around it have their branches
decorated with rags and shreds of various colours, frag-
ments of clothing, &c, some fresh as if placed there
but yesterday, others bleached and faded by the sun
and rain.'*
* Journal R.H.A. A.I. , vol. i., 4th series, p. 467.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS.
1G1
At the proper season can still be seen devotees
making their tour round the well of Tubbernalt, on the
shore of Lough Gill, not far from the town of Sligo.
The spring is encircled by a wall of rude masonry,
access to it being given by a few uneven steps, and
Fig. 21.— Well and Altars, Tubbernalt.
below this spring there is another. Against the over-
hanging alt or cliff is built an altar, and on Garland
Sunday it is gaily decorated with flowers. On either
side may then be seen two small framed glasses. Can
this be a remnant of the Pagan rite probably alluded
M
162 PAGAN IRELAND:
to by the Apostle when he says ' now we see through
a glass darkly'? Fragments of cakes, pins, and nails
may be seen in the well at certain periods, and the
locality is at all times festooned with many coloured
rags, red, blue, green, white, black, tied up to denote
a finale to the rounds and prayers.
A rite, probably the most pagan in character still
exercised in connection with a holy well, is that con-
nected withTobernacoragh, or the ' Well of Assistance '
on the island of Inismurray (fig. 22).
When tempestuous weather prevails, communication
between the island and the mainland is sometimes ren-
dered impracticable even for weeks. On such occasions,
the waters of the spring are drained into the ocean,
upon which — the charm rendered doubly certain by the
repetition of certain prayers — a holy calm succeeds the
strife of the elements.
Wells could produce a favourable breeze as well as
allay a storm. When a strange boat was wind-bound
on the Island of Gigha, the master of the craft used to
give money to one of the natives to procure a favourable
wind, and the practice, as here carried on, closely
resembles the ceremony on the Island of Inismurray.
'A few feet above the well was a heap of stones,
forming a cover to the spring. These were carefully
removed, and the well was cleared out with a wooden
dish or clam-shell. The water was then thrown several
times towards the point from which the needed wind
should blow. Certain words of incantation were used
each time the water was thrown. After the ceremony
the stones were replaced, as the district would other-
wise have been swept by a hurricane.'*
* Folk-lore of Scottish Lochs and Springs, p. 223.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS.
163
The ceremonies attached to these wells are but the
remnant of Druidical cult, for the Druids appear to
have claimed the power to make or withhold rain,
to dry up rivers, or to cause springs to burst forth.
There is a good example of this in an Historical Tale
in the Book of Leinster. It is the story of an expedition
made by Cormac Mac Art against the King of Munster.
The scene is laid in the commencement of the third
century. The King of Ireland consults his Druids as
Fig. 22. — Well of Assistance, Island of Inismurray.
to the best and most expeditious means of bringing the
men of Munster to terms. The Druids informed the
monarch that the surest mode of reducing his enemies
was to deprive them and their cattle of water, and forth-
with, by their spells and incantations, they dried up all
the springs, rivers, and lakes of the district.
In this extremity, the King of Munster called to his
assistance a yet more powerful Druid than any in the
service of the Irish monarch. Upon receiving the
promise of a large reward, this arch-Druid consented
to go to the King of Munster' s relief. Upon his
arrival the Druid shot an arrow into the air, foretelling
M 2
164 PAGAN IRELAND :
that water in abundance would spring up wherever the
missile descended ; and a rushing torrent burst forth
where the barbed head entered the earth. If anyone
doubt this story he has but to visit the parish of
Imleach Grianan in the county of Limerick, where
the well designated 'the Well of the Great Spring*
still remains.*
The area over which well-worship extends is of sur-
prising magnitude, and it is impossible to believe that
so singular a custom could have arisen independently
in all these countries. General Pitt-Rivers states
that :—
'Burton says it extends throughout Northern Africa
from west to east; Mungo Park mentions it in W. Africa;
Sir Samuel Baker speaks of it on the confines of Abys-
sinia, and says that the people who practised it were
unable to assign a reason for doing so ; Burton also
found the same custom in Arabia during his pilgrimage
to Mecca ; in Persia Sir William Ouseley saw a tree close
to a large monolith covered with these rags, and he
described it as a practise appertaining to a religion
long since proscribed in that country ' ; in Ceylon,
Colonel Leslie says that the trees in the neighbourhood
of wells may be seen covered with similar scraps of
cotton ; and Hue, in his travels, mentions it among
the Tartars.
Like many other pagan nations, the old Irish invested
even the lowest forms of animal life with the power of
influencing the actions of men. This ' totem ' worship
is an advance on the veneration of stones, &c. ; it en-
dows animals or birds with thought and language —
* The Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Eugene
O'Curry, pp. 271-2.
TRACES. OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 165
regarding them as human beings under a different ex-
terior ; thus, in course of time, they become endowed
with supernatural powers ; they become the ancestors
of the tribe, and finally their protecting gods. Traces
of this cult are still apparent amongst the aborigines
of America and Australia ; whilst animal worship in
ancient Egypt was probably a survival of this strange
custom.
There was in Ireland an ancient belief that certain
races or families were endowed with the power of
assuming the form of wolves whenever they so pleased.
In the 'Annals of the Four Masters,' it is gravely re-
corded that, in the year 690, a wolf was heard speaking
with a human voice. When thus transformed they
committed depredations amongst flocks and herds,
after the manner of wolves ; if their human bodies,
which their spirits quitted on these expeditions, were
moved, the spirit would not be able to again enter
them ; if wounded whilst abroad, the same wounds
would be apparent on their human as on their wolfish
bodies ; and, if killed, the raw flesh they had been
tearing in the fields would be found between the teeth
of the dead human bodies.
Witches assume the form of hares, and whilst thus
transformed are subject to the same conditions as
individuals changed into wolves.
A multitude of places throughout Ireland are named
after cattle ; legends upon the, subject of ' cow-lore ' are
current amongst the peasantry ; and stories relating to
bulls, cows, and calves, are interwoven with Irish fairy-
mythology, and interest chiefly from their topogra-
phical references. Several of the early Irish saints were
credited with the possession of magical cows. Cattle-
raids and forays afford fruitful themes for early romances,
166 PAGAN IRELAND :
the most celebrated production being the ' Tain bo
Cuailgne,' or the Cattle-raid of Louth, the so-called
Nibelungen Lied of Irish history. It has been remarked
that even the celebrated abduction of Dervorgil par-
takes, when examined by the light of modern investi-
gation, more of the nature of a cattle-foray than a
romance, or love-passage between an Irish princess,
aged 44, and a king then in his 62nd year. According
to tradition, the Druids held the bovine species in
veneration. One of the traditional roads of ancient
Erin runs not far from the village of Ballyvodock, near
Cork ; it is called ' the Road of the White Cow,' a mys-
tical animal that appears to have risen from the sea,
walked one clay through Ballyvodock on to Foaty Island,
and drank at Lough-na-bo. The road runs over the
hills to Glanmire, near Cork, and, according to tradi-
tion, off to the County Limerick. By popular folk-lore
the origin of this, and other magical roads, is described
as follows: — One May-eve, long ages ago, about an
hour after midday, three enchanted cows suddenly
emerged from the sea at Imokelly. The first was
white ; the second red ; and the third black. They kept
in company for about a mile ; then the white cow went
north-west towards the county Limerick ; the red cow
went to the westward and passed around the coast of
Ireland ; the black cow going north-east towards the
county Waterford. These roads are still pointed out in
many places, and are known as 'The White,' ' The Red,'
and the 'Black Cow's' Road. One celebrated cow,
called Glasgavlen, is remembered in tradition all over
Ireland ; and there is throughout the kingdom hardly
a county which does not possess a lake or well in which
lives an enchanted cow which at certain times appears
above the waters.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 167
The following legend seems to point to the former
sacred character of the cow : — ' Many years ago a native
of Inismurray, with envy and hatred in his heart, stole
out one night, and feloniously slew, by stabbing, the
cow which was the chief support of a neighbouring
family. The blood of the milk-giver, thus cruelly slaugh-
tered, flowed, it is said, in every direction, and upon
congealing, instantly quickened and became trans-
formed into mice ; these animals ultimately proved a
nuisance on the island.'*
The black pig, or boar, is a legendary animal, whose
deeds and death form a fruitful subject for the shanna-
chies or tellers of stories of almost every county in Ire-
land. In oral legends we find the heroes of antiquity
slaying magical boars in various parts of the kingdom.
There are strong indications in tradition and folk-lore
that in ancient times the boar was held in great dread,
or, perhaps, in great estimation. One writer even goes
so far as to say that the prominence given to the animal
in topographical nomenclature and legendary tales
' suggests the idea that the boar may have been iden-
tified with that svstem of animal worship which we have
some reason for believing once existed in this country.'
Kemble states that, among the Germans and Anglo-
Saxons, swine were sacred animals. A track, styled
' the Road of the Black Pig,' commences near Athlone,
passes through the Co. Roscommon, and can be traced
as far as the Curlew mountains in the Co. Sligo.
It is alleged that the Druids foretold future events,
amongst other means, by observing the movements of
birds. The cuckoo is associated with ideas of divina-
tion ; for the first time in spring that the listener hears
* Inismurray and its Antiquities, W. F. Wakeman.
1 68 PA GAN IRELAND :
it, in whatever quarter he is then looking, in that
quarter he will live during the next year ; and if he has
money in his pocket he will never be without it during
the year. Many other instances of the importance
attached to the appearance and movements of birds
might be given ; that of the wren shall here suffice.
The wren was an object of superstitious veneration
amongst the Pagan Irish. In Cormac's Glossary the
word drean, i.e. wren, is explained as draoi-eu, a druid
bird, a bird that makes a prediction. From hence is
probably derived the saying ' a little bird has told me.'
In a life of St. Molaing, it is recounted that, as the saint
was reading a book, the magus avium, so called ' because
to certain individuals it furnishes auguries, came flying
to him.' A bird which was an object of respect to the
Druids became, almost of necessity, an object of aver-
sion to the Christian priesthood ; and the triumphant
religion signalised its ascendancy by endeavouring to
extirpate any object which appeared to resist it : for in
striving to effect the destruction of ' the king of all
birds,' the priests wished to deal a death-blow to the
superstitious science of augury.*
In an ancient poem, attributed to St. Columbkille,
and translated by 0'Donovan,f it is evident that the
saint alludes to this kind of divination : —
' It is not with the sreod our destiny is,
Nor with the bird on the top of the twig,
Nor with the trunk of a knotty tree.
I adore not the voice of birds,
Nor the sreod, nor a destiny on the earthly world,
Nor a son, nor chance, nor woman,
My Druid is Christ, the Son of God.'
* Ulster Journal of Archceology, vol. iv., pp. 17 1-2.
t The Miscellany of the Irish Archaeological Society, pp. 12-13.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS.
169
Knowledge of the medicinal properties of the flowers,
herbs, and roots of the country was possessed by the
Druids to a greater extent than is generally supposed,
and even weapons poisoned with vegetable decoc-
tions were, it is alleged, employed. The common
foxglove is said to have been one of the most potent
herbs used by the Druids to increase the efficacy
of their charms. To the 'medicine men' of America
we owe the discovery of the properties of many drugs.
An American ' medicine man ' has some knowledge of
the human and animal anatomy, and an Irish Druid was
probably equally skilful. Simple ailments are relieved
— as was the case formerly in Ireland — by the heat
of the ' sweat-house,' but in diseases of a graver type the
' medicine man ' falls back upon his power as an exor-
cist. With drum, rattle, and chant he seeks to expel
from the sick man the malignant spirit which has seized
upon him. The seat of pain is ascertained, and the
after-treatment exactly resembles that of the present
Irish ' herb doctor.' The ' medicine man ' sucks the
spots affected by the pain with such severity as to raise
blisters, and these may often, by the counter-irritation
thus excited, effect a cure ; but if this fails he next pre-
tends to spit out of his mouth frogs, thorns, stones, or
anything the credulity of the sick man may accept as
the origin of the disease.
Many legends yet recount the miraculous cures
effected by the great Irish physicians, or ' medicine
men,' of pagan times. The most widely known of all
these celebrities was Diancecht of the Tuatha de Danann
race — afterwards regarded as the god of physic. At the
second battle of Moytura he prepared a medicinal bath
and endued it with such sanative powers that the
wounded warriors who were plunged into it emerged
1 70 PA GAN IRELAND :
healed and restored to strength. Many ages before the
Christian era, a king of Leinster was hardly beset by
a neighbouring and hostile tribe, which used poisoned
weapons. His Druid advised him to have a bath pre-
pared before the next battle, consisting of the milk of
one hundred and fifty white and hornless cows. As
fast as the king's men were wounded they were plunged
into the fluid, from which they arose perfectly healed.
It is thus apparent that the idea of the existence of an
elixir of life is of very ancient date in Ireland.
Amongst the Old-Norse, life was figured as a tree.
Many large solitary growing trees were held in venera-
tion by the people ; under some of them their chiefs
were inaugurated, or periodical games celebrated, and
they were regarded with intense veneration.*
' Billa,' which signifies a large tree, was the term
used when describing them ; they are now called ' Bell'
and ' Bellow Trees ' ; and absurd stories, founded on
these designations, may be heard recounted of their
origin. Tree worship was probably the same in Erin as
practised elsewhere; and Mr. Grant Allan sums up
thus : — ' I do not mean for a moment to assert, or even
suggest, that every individual sacred tree, grows, or ever
grew, on the grave of a dead person ; but I do mean to
say that, so far as I can see, the notion of the sanctity
of trees, or plants, could only have arisen, in the first
place, from the reverence paid to trees or plants which
actually sprang from the remains of the dead, and so
were regarded — like everything else that came out of
the tomb — as embodiments or avatars of the dead man's
* ' There exists abundant evidence of the fact that in ante-Christian
days, natives of Erin, in common with those of the British Islands
generally, were wont to worship certain trees, rocks, pillar-stones,
and springs.' — Inismurray and its Antiquities, W. F.Wakeman.
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 17 1
spirit.' 'In the parish of Ockley some graves have
rose-trees planted at the head and foot, i.e. they planted
a tree or a flower on the grave of their friend, and they
thought the soul of the party deceased went into the tree
or plant.' *
O'Donovan goes so far as to state that « every place
in Ireland bearing the name of creeve had originally a
sacred tree of widely extending branches, planted for
the purpose of inauguration, or to commemorate the
death of some famous personage.' Sacred fires were,
no doubt, often kindled under these trees, as there
are many localities named Billatinny, or the * old '
or ' sacred tree of the fire.'
The rowan, or mountain-ash, is still popularly sup-
posed, in country places, to have a peculiar virtue
against the attacks of fairies, witches, or malign in-
fluences. Bishop Heber, in his Journey hi India, states
that he 'passed a fine tree of the mimosa, resembling
greatly, at a distance, the mountain-ash. A sprig of this
tree, worn in the turban, or suspended over the bed, is
supposed to be a perfect security against all spells and
the Evil Eye. The superstition which, in the British
Isles, attaches to the rowan tree is here applied to a tree
of nearly similar form.'
The thorn also was probably regarded as sacred ; for
when they occur solitary, near the banks of streams, or
on ' forts,' they are considered to be the haunts and
peculiar abode of the fairies, and as such are not to
be disturbed without risk, sooner or later, of personal
danger to the person so offending. From the custody
of the fairies they are often transferred to that of the
saints. ' Skeagh Patric,' or ' Patrick's Bush,' is an aged
* Aubrey's Remains of Gentilisime, p. 155.
172 PAGAN IRELA ND :
thorn growing out of a cleft in a rock from under which
a stream of water flows ; it is situated near Tinahely
in Wicklow. Devotees, principally women, attend here
on the 4th May: the penitential rounds are duly made
about the well, and shreds are torn off their garments
and hung on the thorn.
Bands of mummers used to make their appearance at
all seasons, but May-day was their favourite and proper
festival. This strange custom, a relic evidently of some
pagan processional rite, is described by T. Crofton
Croker in his Fairy Legends. A troup of May-day
mummers consisted ' of a number, varying according to
circumstances, of the girls and young men of the village
and neighbourhood, usually selected for their good
looks, or their proficiency ; the females in the dance,
the youths in hurling and other athletic exercises.
They march in procession, two abreast, and in three
divisions ; the young men in the van and the rear,
dressed in white or other gay- coloured jackets or vests,
and decorated with ribbons on their hats and sleeves ;
the young women are dressed also in light-coloured
garments, and two of them bear each a holly-bush, in
which are hung several new hurling balls, the May-day
present of the girls to the youths of the village. The
bush is decorated with a profusion of long ribbons, or
paper cut in imitation, which adds greatly to the gay
and joyous, yet strictly rural, appearance of the whole.
The procession is always preceded by music ; some-
times of the bagpipe, but more commonly of a military
fife, with the addition of a drum or tambourine. A
clown is, of course, in attendance : he wears a frightful
mask, and bears a long pole, with shreds of cloth nailed
to the end of it, like a mop, which ever and anon he
dips in a pool of water or puddle, and besprinkles such
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 173
of the crowd as press upon his companions, much to
the delight of the younger spectators.' In this pro-
cession we find a tree, or holly-bush, decorated with
ribbons, a clown with a pole, representing probably
Leaghann worship, together with the introduction of a
water-rite.
Thus, it will be seen that tree, stone, and well-worship
are intimately connected.
It may be interesting to point out that Keating, in
his History of Ireland, explains the change in name of
three of the chiefs of the Tuatha De Danann by stating
that they were called, instead of their proper names,
Maccuill, Maceacht, and MacGreine, because the idols
they severally worshipped were distinguished by these
names. Maccuill adored, for his deity, a log of wood
(cui/l) ; Maceacht worshipped a ploughshare {ceacht) ;
and MacGreine chose, for his god, Grian, the sun.
However, all the Irish gods were not inanimate objects
of nature ; and although Dr. Todd, in his Life of St.
Patrick, is of opinion that the Irish had no knowledge
of the gods or the feminine deities of the classic world,
under any Celtic designations, yet there can be little
doubt but that many of them, under ancient Gaulish or
Iberno-Celtic names, may often be recognized in ancient
Irish legends.
A description must not be omitted of a remarkable
rustic procession which, not very long ago, used to per-
ambulate yearly the district between Ballycotton and
Trabolgan on the eve of Samhain, i. e. the 31st of
October.
The processional rite is undoubtedly of Pagan origin,
and announces facts in a manner which at present is
barely intelligible. The principal characters posed as
messengers of a being styled the ' Muck Olla,' in whose
174 PAGAN IRELAND :
name the) 7 levied contributions on farmers. They were
accompanied by a number of youths, blowing cows'
horns ; at the head of the procession was a man, en-
veloped in a white robe, or sheet, and bearing a rude
representation of a horse's head. This personage was
called the Lair Bhan, ' the white mare,' and acted as
president, or master of the ceremonies. At each house
where the procession halted, a long string of verses was
recited ; in the second distich two expressions occurred,
savouring strongly of Paganism, and which would not
have been permitted to be elsewhere publicly uttered ;
the other verses purported to be recited by a messenger
of the ' Muck Olla,' and set forth that, owing to the
goodness of that being, the farmer, whom they addressed,
had been prosperous, that the prosperity would con-
tinue as long only as he was liberal in donations in
honour of the 'Muck Olla'; the verses concluded by
giving a very unfavourable description of the state into
which the farmer's affairs would fall should this being
visit him with the vengeance certain to follow any
illiberal or churlish treatment of his followers. Whether
owing to the charm of the poetry, or the cogency of the
appeal, contributions were, in general, on a very liberal
scale : every description of agricultural product was
bestowed — milk, butter, eggs, corn, potatoes, wool, &c.
A rural retailer awaited the return of the procession,
and purchased the offerings at market value. The share
of each person in the procession was then distributed
according to previous arrangement.
These scenes were enacted at night. The question
arises, Could the original 'Muck Olla' have been a
deity exhibited, as in Egypt of old, as a living animal ?
Can the rural merchant be a representative of some
druid who maintained his ground long after the estab-
TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS. 175
lishment of Christianity ?* To enter, however, at full
on an analysis of this strange processional rite would
lead to a too long digression.
Irish Proverbs contain many allusions to Pagan beliefs,
superstitions, and customs : a few examples may prove
of interest; They are here given in English ; for the
original Gaelic the reader is referred to The Ulster Journal
of Archeology, vol. ix., pp. 227-9. The raven is believed
to predict future events, hence the saying, 'The know-
ledge of the raven's head.' An enumeration of bad
omens is conveyed in the following : — ' I heard the
cuckoo when I had no food in my belly ; the first snail
(that I saw) was creeping on a bare stone ; I saw a
black ram with its hinder parts towards me, so it was
easy for me to know that I would not prosper that year.'
The ladies of ancient Erin are not complimented in the
proverbs —
' Do not believe the scald-crow nor the raven,
Nor any false deity of the women ;
Whether the sun rises early or late
It is according to God's will this day will be.'
* She has put a bioran snain in his head (his hair).'
(The bioran snain was a magical pin supposed to
possess the power of throwing a person into a deep
sleep.) Reference to the superstition of the evil eye
is conveyed in the warning, ' Take care, lest you cast
the evil eye on him.' If a woman, at a funeral,
rubbed the earth of a graveyard off her foot, it was
believed that her next child would be deformed or
* reel-footed,' hence the saying, ' He has a churchyard
crook in his foot.' But the clearest allusion to paganism
* Transactions Kilkenny Archceological Society, vol. ii., pp.
3 o8 > 3°9-
176 PAGAN IRELAND :
occurs in the proverb, ' The front of everything to the
south,' alluding to the ceremony of the desiul. Formerly,
even ploughmen used to turn their horses' heads to the
south when yoking or unyoking them.
Examination of the survival of traces of older Faiths
than Christianity in Ireland, in the form of national and
traditional folk-lore, may conclude with the summary
of this interesting subject given by the great Irish
scholar O'Donovan : —
' I respect it (national traditional lore) as a great
influence that has been, and no longer is, or can be. It
fed the poetical flame within the people's mind, and
was the parent of true poetry in the more cultivated ;
it nourished the latent instinctive aspirations of the
Irish race, gave them aliment, and directed their move-
ments, and rescued their ancestors from the dominion
of brutish ignorance ; stirred them up with insatiable
thirst for true knowledge, which, when established on
a right basis, will raise this ancient and imaginative
people to a truly noble standard among the civilized
nations of modern Europe : but its office has been ful-
filled, it is no longer necessary to the exigencies of
modern society, with which the Irish race must either
amalgamate or perish. The only interest it can have is
a historical and poetical one, and most men will acknow-
ledge that nothing can be more interesting to us in this
point of view than the progress of our ancestors from
rude primaeval simplicity to true civilization and positive
science.'
ARCHITECTURE.
177
CHAPTER VI.
ARCHITECTURE
LAKE DWELL tNGS
— BOATS.
CHARIOTS
Architecture the first efforts made by the
primitive inhabitants of Ireland bear no affinity
to, nor imitation of, the characteristic features
of the early attempts of any of the Mediter-
ranean nations of classic antiquity, but rather
resemble those which are now regarded as
belonging to the prehistoric ages. The
...asonry of these buildings is irregular, formed of
V rude massive polygonal blocks, not accurately joined,
or laid in horizontal courses, and without any kind of
cement. Remains of the prehistoric period are nume-
rous, and examples of all varieties of monumental,
military, and domestic structures left by the primitive
inhabitants, are met with in almost every county.
There are no Pagan or pre-Christian mortared-stone
structures in Ireland. In the earliest buildings in
which cement is used, i. e. in early Christian eccle-
siastical architecture, the lime appears to have been
made from sea-shells, and even in very modern {i.e.
Elizabethan) times these would appear to have been
utilized, for Docwra mentions, amongst other matters
connected with his establishment at Derry, ' cockle-
shells to make lyme, were discovered infinite plentie
of, in a little island in the mouth of the harbour.'
N
178 PA GAN IRELAND :
Thus in Irish architecture, two great divisions pre-
sent themselves — the earlier, or Pagan, such as the
cashel, the beehive-shaped hut, the underground sou-
terrain, the cromleac, the cist, the earn : in these the
materials are held together by their own gravity, and
mere physical force has, to a greater extent, been
used to effect the purpose. To this class the term
' cyclopean ' has been rather inappropriately applied.
With it there are, it is at present believed, no archaic,
ideographic, or merely ornamental designs on the pre-
pared face of stones, and there is no vestige of any
kind of architectural adornment by means of dressed
or hammered work. Except a few cists, and cist-like
sepulchres, nearly all the early structures are circular,
and there is a great deal of point in the expression used
by Giraldus Cambrensis, when describing the eccle-
siastical round towers which he saw, that they were
erected more patrice.
The second, or Christian division of architecture,
is distinguished from its predecessor by the use of
cement in the construction of the fabric ; the influence
of mind becomes more apparent in the works of a class
of operatives whom the popular folk-lore of the pea-
santry still represents as magicians ; whilst the primitive
and circular form of the structure is, in general, super-
seded by the quadrangular.
The grand barbaric fortresses, styled cashels, raised
in ages when might was right, were built on sites
selected for the wide range of country which they
dominated, and they were deemed most eligible, when
nearly inaccessible. Provided it was accompanied by
defensive characteristics — a high precipice, an over-
hanging crag, the brink of a sea-washed cliff, the brow
of a bleak mountain, an isolated rock, or a promontory,
ARCHITECTURE. 179
was chosen — sites so suitable that on many of them
were afterwards raised the turreted keep of the Anglo-
Norman baron.* Some cashels, however, are to be
found in hollows, and surrounded by overhanging
heights.
Stone forts, stone huts, artificial caves, cromleacs,
and tumuli are found clustered on the south-western
hills and cliffs of England, just as we find them abound-
ing on the western mountain sides and cliffs of Ireland.
It is alleged, by some antiquaries, that here is proof that
those who built, and fought in defence of them, were
a race fighting against, and retreating before, an exter-
minating enemy ; that they were finally driven across
the Irish sea, found shelter in Ireland for a time, but
were at last, it might be said, hurled into the Atlantic.
On the other hand, it may be advanced that this primi-
tive race employed simply the materials nearest to hand ;
on the east coast — clay being readiest — earthen forts
and wooden palisading prevailed ; this style of archi-
tecture — if the term be admissible— gradually changing,
overlapping, and commingling, till, in the stony districts
of the west, some grand edifices were reared. These
primitive architects were ' grim utilitarians,' and adapted
themselves, with natural instinct, to their surround-
ings.
The exterior curve of the wall of cashels is generally
composed of blocks of stone of larger size, better se-
lected, and more skilfully laid than those composing
the interior curve. The wall is not always circular, but
sometimes is oval in outline ; on other occasions it
seems to have followed partially the contour of the
*For a good example see account, with illustration, of Rahinnane
Castle, Co. Kerry, Transactions Kilkenny Archceological Society,
vol. iii., pp. 394-397-
N 2
180
PAGAN IRELAND
ground on which it was built. Both sides have a slight
slope inwards, so that the base of the wall measures
considerably more than the summit ; the interior face
is provided with numerous flights of steps, disposed in
Fig. 23. — Interior face of Cashel wall at Inismurray, showing flights of steps,
and low, or ' creep ' entrance.
zigzag pattern (fig. 23); and when the wall is very
high, or the building of great magnitude, the stairs
form a double series of zigzags, or lozenge pattern
(fig. 24).
^^m^^m$&&^^^i
m&mk
Fig. 24 — View of Staigue Fort, County Kerry, showing double series of steps,
from a model in the Museum, R. I. A.
Although there are many larger cashels in Ireland,
there are few which afford so perfect an example of the
construction of flights of stairs, by which access to the
summit of the walls was obtained, as that presented by
Staigue Fort in the county Kerry. The wall, in form
A R CHI7ECTURE. 1 8 1
nearly circular, is 114 feet in diameter; it is 13 feet
thick at the bottom and about 5 feet at the top, which
in some places is nearly 18 feet in height.
Attention must be drawn to a striking characteristic
of this fort, as noted by an antiquarian, who wrote, in
the year 1821, a succinct account of the building. In
one part, where the wall was then perfect, it was sur-
mounted, on the inside of the enclosure, by a projecting
eave-stone. The stones used in the outside of the wall
are not in general so large as those on the inside, and
the projecting eave on the inside was obviously intended
for ornament. The moat, or fosse, on the outside, en-
circling the entire building, is described as being 26 feet
wide, and 6 feet 3 inches deep.
The primitive type of cashel appears to have possessed
several entrances, the arrangements of which deserve
more attention than appears yet to have been given to
them, as they are almost identical in design with the
defensive dispositions observable in souterrains, occur-
ring in the enceinte of the earliest fortified positions,
and in places which appear never to have possessed a
defending wall or rampart of any kind. A description
of one entrance will answer for many; there may, in
each, be a slight difference in measurements, but the
general principles are identical. W. F. Wakeman thus
describes one of the primitive entrances to the cashel
on Inismurray Island, off the Sligo coast : —
'Advancing from without, you enter the cashel wall
by a flat-headed aperture with inclined jambs. The
height of this doorway is 2 feet 8 inches ; its breadth
at lintel, 2 feet ; its breadth below is somewhat greater.
Passing through a kind of ope or passage about 3 feet
in depth, and closed overhead by horizontal-laid flag-
stones, you enter a dome-covered chamber, the roof of
182
PAGAN IRELAND :
which is 7 feet above the present level of the floor(fig. 25).
About midway in this crypt, which has a diameter of
6 feet, an obstruction, consisting of a nearly perpen-
dicular face of earth, at present 2% feet in height, is
met with. No doubt, if the place were cleared out, the
height would be much more considerable, the original
floor being probably on a level with the present base of
the external entrance, or even lower. The rest of the
crypt is a counterpart of that just passed, but, as the sec-
tions show, with
a floor of higher
elevation. This
plan of construc-
tion is very in-
genious, and by
its adoption, de-
fenders of the
passage would,
doubtless, corn-
man d ample
vantage
ground
against hostile in-
truders from with-
out, who could
only approach
singly. The first
comer being dis-
abled or slain, the
passage would become blocked, in which case no further
advance on the part of the assailants could immediately
follow.' *
The area of some cashels — for example, that ol
Fig- 25.
Section of low, or ' creep,' entrance,
Inismurray Cashel.
* Journal, Royal Historical and Archceological Association of
Ireland, vol. vii., p. 196.
ARCHITECTURE.
l.s:i
Inismurray, county Sligo (fig. 27)— is separated by
stone barriers into divisions of unequal size, and there
can be little doubt that they form an integral portion of
the fortress as it was originally planned. 'Their use,'
observes W. F. Wakeman, 'may have been twofold.
Supposing the place carried by an enemy, the defenders
would, in these walls, possess admirable bulwarks, from
the shelter of which it would be a difficult task to drive
them ; while they themselves might still be in a posi-
tion to prolong the struggle, and probably in the end
drive away the invader.'*
Through the interior of the walls of cashels there
are sometimes short
passages leading to
diminutive cham-
bers, of a round or
oval form ; in gene-
ral, the passages
have to be traversed
either in a stooping
position or on the
hands and knees.
Vitrified cashels,
or stone forts, have
excited great CUn- Low, or 'creep,' entrance, Inismurray Cashel, as
OSity. It Seems tO seen ^ ro:T1 tne interior of the enceinte. Alter
, a drawing by W. F. Wakeman.
be agreed amongst
antiquarians that the people who built these works were
ignorant of the use of lime or other cement, and it is not
improbable that accidental conflagration may have first
given the hint for so peculiar a mode of solidification of
a structure. Whether a process like the burning of kelp,
* Journal, Royal Historical ami ArchcBological Association of
Ireland, vol. vii., p. 200.
Sfedi
1 84 PA GAN IRELAND :
or the addition of any particular substance to the part
exposed to heat, produced the fusion of the mass is not
known ; but dry-built stone walls were, by a process
of vitrification, rendered a mass of impregnable rock.
Though present in Scotland, there seem to be few
examples of this curious phenomenon in Ireland. In
the parish of Drumbo, county Down, there is a vitrified
fort : the stone of which it is composed ' is one easily
vitrified by a moderate application of fire,' and it was
used, probably from this circumstance, ' in the remark-
able vitrified fort of Tullyard.'* On the 27th January,
1 85 1, the Rev. W. P. Moore read a description of the
vitrified fort at Shantannon, county Cavan, before a
meeting of the Royal Irish Academy, and at the same
time he presented specimens of the stone of which the
fort is composed.
The Rev. Caesar Otway had previously described this
fort. His attention was drawn to it from seeing in a
garden a grotto formed of vitrified materials. He
visited the site from which they had been taken, and
found that the stones forming the foundation of the fort
had been subjected to the operation of intense heat,
masses of stone being vitrified, and thus cemented to-
gether. The enclosure, 34. yards in diameter, presented
the indubitable characteristics of a vitrified structure.
The remains of the walls of the fort were formerly
much more considerable ; much of its materials had
been carted away to make the foundations of a neigh-
bouring road ; whilst quantities of the vitrified mass had
been carried off by the neighbouring gentry to form
ornamental rock-work and artificial grottoes. Indeed,
to this circumstance we owe the little knowledge of the
* Ulster Jon rnal of Archeology, vol. iii., pp. 113, 114.
ARCHITECTURE.
185
<9B
fort we now possess. To the casual observer it would
appear to be an almost obliterated rath ; but upon
raising the green sod, which almost entirely covered
the foundation, the vitrified masses of rock became
apparent.*
Vitrified forts have also been found in France. They
usually rest on older rock which contains but little
lime. The material
ot which the walls
are built consists
of granite, gneiss,
quartzite, clay-slate,
or basalt, according
to the locality. The
forts of Puy - de -
Gandy have been
constructed of gra-
nite. Specimens
taken from the walls
show them to have
been completely
fused on the outside,
but the interior still
retains the appear-
ance of granite ; in
some instances, how-
ever, the fusion has extended considerably into the
masses of rock employed in construction of the enceinte.
Careful examination demonstrates that this fusion was
not always effected in the same way, but that the
* Tra?isactio?is, R. I. A., vol. xiii., pp. 123-127 : ' Observations
on some Remains in the County of Cavan, supposed to be those of a
Vitrified Fort, in a Letter to the Rev. F. Sadlier, D.D., Sec. R.I. A.
By the Rev. Caesar Otway.' Read April 28th, 1817.
loo 2.CO
Fct.T.
Fig. 27.
Ground-plan of the Cashel of Inismurray.
A, B, Low, or ' creep,' entrances (figs. 25, 26).
C, D, Modern entrances, restored by the Hoard
E,
of Works.
School-house (fig. 33)
186 PAGAN IRELAND :
method varied according to the materials operated
upon.
Around the walls of many prehistoric forts on the
west coast of Ireland are very remarkable lines of
stones, placed, as it were, in companies or battalions,
and so planted, it was imagined, for the purpose of
breaking the compact rush of an enemy on the fort;
such, however, can hardly be their original use, as they
are occasionally but a few inches above the surface of
the soil ; they may, however, have been utilized in
keeping entanglements of trees together, and prevent-
ing their removal, unless the besiegers subjected them-
selves to showers of projectiles from the walls. The
lines are not straight, but follow more or less the curve
of the cashel walls, before which they stand in irregular
groups. It has also been suggested that they are of a
monumental or mortuary character ; but, after examina-
tion of all that has been already written on the subject,
it may be safely stated that the enigma is still unsolved.
The Grianan of Aileach, commonly called Greenan-
Ely,* is situated in the county Donegal, about a mile
from the boundary of Derry, and on the summit of a hill
800 feet high, to which has been given the name of
Grianan ; this hill rises from the eastern shore of
Lough Swilly (fig. 28). There are traces of a broad
and ancient road, between two ledges of natural rocks,
that led to the summit, and passed through three
concentric ramparts before arriving at the cashel, or
keep, of the fortress. These external ramparts, all in
* Greenan-Ely, i. e. the palace of Aileach, for Ely represents the
pronunciation of Ailigh, the genitive of Aileach. Aileach, another
term for a cashel, is derived from ail, a stone ; and Aileach signifies
a stone-house, or a stone-fort. — Irish Names of Places, p. 292:
P. W. Joyce.
To face p.
Fig. 28.
Ground-plan of Greenan-Kly, taken rom the Ordnance Survey of the Cuunty
Londonderry.
ARCHITECTURE. 187
a state of great dilapidation, appear to have been formed
of earth mixed with stones. They are of an irregular
circular outline, consequent upon their adaptation to
the form of the hill which they enclose, and they rise
above each other in successive steps or terraces. This
circular apex of the hill contains within the outermost
enclosure 5^ acres; within the second about 4; within
the third about 1 ; and within the cashel about \ acre.
Between the third or innermost rampart and the cashel
the road diminishes considerably in breadth, and di-
verges slightly to the right. It was originally flanked
by a wall on each side, of which the foundation stones
alone remain.
In order to judge of the features of this interesting
fortress, it is desirable to repeat here the description
given of it in the year 1837,* whilst ^ was yet untouched
by modern renovation. At that time the cashel itself,
though in a more perfect state than the external ram-
parts, was still a mere ruin, and at a distance had all
the appearance of a dilapidated sepulchral earn. On a
closer inspection, however, it presented the character-
istics of a circular wall enclosing an area 77 feet 6 inches
in diameter, about 6 feet in height, and averaging 13
feet in thickness. The wall was not quite perpendicular,
but had a curved slope inwards, like most other forts.
Of its original height it was not easy to form a very
accurate conjecture ; but from the quantity of fallen
stones which composed a talus on either side, it was
estimated that it might have been originally from three
to four times its then altitude. On the interior face of
the wall, at 5 feet from the base, the thickness is dimi-
nished about 2 feet 6 inches by a terrace, the ascent to
* Ordnance Survey of the Co. of Londonderry, pp. 217-232.
188 PAGAN IRELAND :
which was by flights of steps, increasing in breadth as
they ascend, and situated at each side of, but at un-
equal distances from, the entrance gate. It is most
probable that there were similar ascents to the terrace
in other parts of the wall, as is usual in forts of this
description.
On each side of the entrance gateway there are gal-
leries within the thickness of the wall, and extending in
length to one-half of its entire circuit. They do not
communicate with the gateway, but have entrances at
the extremities furthest from it. In the southern gal-
lery, and near its eastern termination, there is a small
square recess, with a seat about 18 inches high.
The galleries are 5 feet in height, with sloping
sides, 2 feet 2 inches wide at bottom, 1 foot 1 1 inches
at top, and roofed with large stones, laid horizontally.
A single gateway leads to the interior of the cashel. It
is 4 feet 3 inches wide at base, but only 4 feet of the
jambs, which incline inwards, remained in position.
The original height to lintel was calculated at 6 feet.
On each side of the entrance passage there is a niche
or double reveal, evidently for the purpose of receiving
the leaves of a folding-door, as their united measure-
ments are equal to the breadth of the passage.
The stones are, in general, of smaller size on the
interior than on the exterior face of the building,
the workmanship being similar to that of other Irish
cashels.
The stones are of polygonal form, neatly adjusted,
and uncemented.*
* Id the centre of the art- a of the cashel were the remains of a
small oblong building, constructed with mortar, of comparatively
modern origin : it was at one time used as a chapel. There is no
other vestige of habitation.
s
be
c
'-.
C
73
— -
- -
/ —
5 =
| :
- -r
- :
~ 1
• -
•Sad
I*
= .
— >.
- X
- a
> M
I
-
ARCHITECTURE.
18 I
The Gr.ianan of Aileach was one of the most re-
markable and important works of the kind, being the
residence of some of the Northern Irish Kings up to the
commencement of the twelfth century. Much has been
written about it, and yet it cannot be compared to the
cashel of Inismurray, either as regards size or antiquity,
judging by the architectural features of both, which are
still extant. The Grianan of Aileach possesses only
one entrance, and that is comparatively wide and lofty.
There are apparently no low entrances, such as are
represented, on the northern or Pagan portion of the
enceinte o{ \\iz cashel of Inismurray (figs. 25, 26). The
depth of the wall on the north side of this cashel is
13 feet; and the stones are larger, better selected, and
placed than on its southern front, where it is not more
than from 7 to 8 feet in thickness. The differences
in architecture are easily accounted for. After the
capture, sack, and probable partial demolition of Inis-
murray cashel by the Danes, it was rebuilt by Christian
architects with (so to speak) Christian doorways and
inferior workmanship. The Grianan of Aileach is of
smaller size, and of comparatively modern Pagan archi-
tecture ; but it surpasses Inismurray in its imposing
position and the extent of its exterior circumvallations.
Cahernamactierech (fig. 29) is one of the principal
remains of a collection of prehistoric buildings at
Fahan, county Kerry. It is about 100 feet in diameter,
and consists of a massive and almost circular stone wall
varying in thickness from 11 to 18 feet. The entrance
passage leads into a courtyard, about 20 feet square ;
opposite is a narrow passage, formed and protected at
each side by what appears to have been small guard-
houses ; remains of several other buildings of the
beehive type are scattered over the area of the fort.
190
PAGAN IRELAND
Cashelore, in the parish of Killery, county Sligo,
may be taken as an example of a typical class of fortress,
i.e. that of a small local chief (fig. 30). It most probably
belongs to a comparatively late period : there are no
traces of staircases, interior passages, or souterrains
(though of course these may exist), but there are vestiges
of an outwork which protected the entrance. The wall,
built of large stones, is not very wide, and is oval in
shape, the outside circumference being 156 feet; interior
diameter from east to west 69 feet, from north to south
52 feet.
Fig. 31. — General view of the rampart at Dunamoe, looking seaward. To
the right are the stone ' palisadings.'
Dunamoe, not far from Belmullet, is a fine example of
the remains of a cashel, defended by a wall extending
across the neck of the peninsula on which it is situated.
The wall is somewhat over 200 feet in length, 8 feet in
thickness, and in some places still nearly 18 feet in
height. Outside there are remains of a fosse about 14
feet broad, and only one foot deep. Outside this, be-
fore the left face of the wall, there are alignments of
stones. The sides of the doorway, about midway in the
length of the wall, still remain ; and on the inside of the
wall are three beehive-shaped huts, probably intended
for the guard on the gate. On the extreme point of the
ri&%
c
-
^ s
c
I
•J.
-.
-
c
■-
ARCHITECTURE.
191
headland there are traces of a circular cashel about ioo
feet in diameter (see figs. 31, 32).
Many cashels and other pre-Christian structures are
now vested in, and are under the control of, the Govern-
ment ; such structures they are bound to conserve, and,
if they so think fit, re-
store. The cashel of
Inismurray, however,
is a typical example of
the manner in which
restoration should not
be made. When the
workmen commenced
their labours the wall
of the enceinte was, in
many places, nearly
level with the ground,
but in others it re-
mained from 14 to 16
feet in height. The
gaps were built up,
but the more elevated
parts of the remain-
ing portion of the wall
were thrown down, in
order to make the
level of the summit
perfectly regular. On
clearing away the superincumbent debris, there became
observable, at various intervals in the base of the wall,
recesses which have been restored as niches or stations,
and in which, when completed, were placed cross-
inscribed flagstones found in various parts of tin- en-
closure. These recesses are evidently vestiges <>! the
Fig:- 32-
Plan of the fortifications of Dunainoi-,
showing cashel, and rampart
the neck of the headland.
192 PAGAN IRELAND :
base of flights of steps, placed at regular intervals in
most cashels, for the purpose of enabling the defenders
to reach the summit of the wall. The southern entrance
to the cashel had been totally destroyed ; but, during
operations, the lintel was discovered, and the entrance
rebuilt, but in such a manner that the ghost of the
Firbolg architect may be supposed to wring his hands
nightly beside it in despair, lest the nineteenth-century
gazers should imagine him to have been the originator
of such work !
' There needs no ghost . . . come from the grave
To tell us this.'
When the stones become weathered and lichened, it
will remain 'a mockery, a delusion, and (probably) a
snare' to future inquiring antiquaries. The Board of
Works, after restoring the cashel, erected no gate to pre-
vent cattle and pigs from straying into the enclosure and
roving through the graveyard, so the islanders blocked
up the entrance with several inscribed flagstones. Those
who are placed in authority ought to employ properly
qualified superintendents able to distinguish between
Pagan and early ecclesiastical work ; for the cashel was
primarily occupied by ' tenants differing widely in
thought and habits of life from their successors, the
community of Children of the Faith.'
Inside cashel walls are often to be found remarkable
and curious structures called clochans, or stone bee-
hive-shaped huts. Those constructed in Pagan times
differ in two characteristics from those that were erected
in later or Christian days. The former are round or
oval in shape, and always built without cement; the
latter gradually deviated from the primitive type, and
assumed a rectangular form, at least at the base, whilst
ARCHITECTURE.
the use of cement was gradually introduced. A g >o 1
admixture of Pagan and Christian clochans is exhibited
by the collection to be found in the interior of the pre-
Christian cashel on the island of Inismurray.
The most remarkable of these buildings (fig. 33) is of
circular form ; the surface presented by the interior
masonry is in fairly perfect condition, but the exterior
is greatly dilapidated. The interior is 13 feet in diameter,
and about the same in height to the flat stone forming
the apex of the vault. The walls, at a short distance
Fig. 33.— Beehive-shaped hut, called the ' School-house,' Cashel of
Inismurray.
from the ground, converge inwards until they join at the
apex of the roof. On one side of the wall is a project-
ing bench formed of masonry, probably intended for
accommodation of sleepers. The style of the doorw.iy
is very primitive ; its height is 3 feet 6 inches, its
breadth at top 1 foot 9 inches, and at the base 1 feet
3 inches, the inclination of the jambs being very great.
This hut is an interesting example of a probable 1
194 PA GAN IRELAND :
Christian edifice utilised, according to tradition, as a
school house by the early Christian missionaries to
Inismurray.
Roderic O'Flaherty, who wrote a description of
West Connaught in 1684, states that the natives 'have
clochdns — a kind of building of stones layd one upon
another, which are brought to a roof without any manner
of mortar to cement them, some of which cabins will
hold forty men on their floor — so antient that nobody
knows how long agoe any of them was made.'
Clochans of primitive type, however, were erected
in some of the remote parts of the western coast, for the
housing of pigs and cattle, long after the introduction of
Christianity, and, indeed, well on in the present century.
The story is narrated of a well-known antiquary who,
from the top of one of these modern pigsties, was dilat-
ing to his brother-savants on the antiquity of this type
of architecture in general, and the specimen on which
he stood in particular, until — amidst the laughter of the
bystanders — enlightened as to the date of its erection
by the builder !
The reader is referred to a most interesting Paper in
The Arc hceological Journal (vol. xv.) on the remains of
ancient stone-built fortresses and habitations which
occur to the west of Dingle, county Kerry ; also to the
old settlement on Aran Island, styled Baile-na-seati,
or the village of the ancients, which was disinterred from
its sandy covering by the Atlantic gales. According to
G. H. Kinahan, the settlement consisted of doons,
cahirs, clochans, cnocans, or beehive-shaped stone cells
covered with clay ; fosleacs, or cells built of flagstones
placed on edge, and roofed with flagstones; and ointeghs,
or stone huts not originally roofed with stone. All were
devoid of cement.
ARCHITECTURE. 195
Petrie gives a drawing and description of an admit-
tedly Pagan clochan, which differs in no respect from
those inside the cashel of Inismurray, or from the round
or oval houses erected in Pagan times, and of which
there are hundreds still remaining, though generally in
a more or less dilapidated state. This house, known to
the peasantry by the name of Clochan na carraige, or the
stone-house of the rock, was ' situated on the north side
of the great island of Aran, in the bay of Galway, and
is in its interior measurement 19 feet long, 7 feet 6 inches
broad, and 8 feet high ; its walls are about 4 feet thick ;
its doorway is 3 feet high and 2 feet 6 inches wide on
the outside, but narrows to 2 feet on the inside. The
roof is formed, as in all buildings of this class, by the
gradual approximation of stones laid horizontally till it
is closed at the top by a single stone ; and two apertures
in its centre served the double purpose of a window and
a chimney.' Petrie cites from Irish authorities some
examples of the resignation of Pagan forts by their
owners for the use of Christian communities — notably
one occurring in the Life of St. Cuillin, in the Book of
Fenagh, where it is stated that the chief of the country
of Breffny, on his conversion to Christianity by the Saint,
gave up to him his cathair, or stone fortress, in order
that he might erect his monastic buildings within its
enclosure. ' Indeed, in many instances, we find the
group of religious buildings within fortresses of the
greatest celebrity in Irish history, as in the great fortress
of Muirbheach Mil, in the island of Aran, erected by a
prince of the Firbolgs about the commencement of the
Christian era.'* These huts bear a strong analogy to
those of the Esquimaux, which are, however, situated
* Inquiry into the Origin and Use of the Round Towers oj
Ireland, p. 446.
O 2
1 96 PA GAN IRELAND :
partly under ground ; but their temporary dwellings,
erected in winter, and formed of blocks of ice, are almost
identical in shape with the Irish clochans.
The permanent huts of the Esquimaux, built of stone,
are partly below and partly above the surface of the
ground. The entrance is by a long narrow covered
passage, so low that a person must creep on hands and
knees to get into the dwelling. There are no windows
to the edifice, and, as it is deeply sunk in the earth, it
rises very little above the surface. The roof, generally
covered with sod, partakes so much of the appearance
of the rest of the ground that it can scarcely be distin-
guished from it, as it represents merely a green conical
mound. Strange to say, the solitary green knolls by the
sea-shore and on lonely moors are, amongst the primi-
tive inhabitants of Orkney and Shetland, regarded as
the abodes of supernatural beings designated 'Trows';
they are reputed to have been a race of dwarfs.
Amongst the Esquimaux, several families live in one
house. There is always a lamp, made of a hollowed
stone suspended from the roof, in which they burn the
blubber of the seal, &c. ; this lamp serves at once for
light, for warmth, and for cooking.
Castren, a Finnish ethnologist, who travelled much
amongst the northern tribes, describes other additional
means employed by the Lapps for heating the interior.
A fire is lighted, and for a while allowed to burn, then
extinguished. The small opening in the centre of the
roof was closed, and the hut remained heated by reten-
tion of the warmth generated by the fire. The round
clochan of the aborigines of Ireland and the hut of the
Lapp are almost identical ; both had low, or ' creep,'
entrances for the purpose of excluding the cold outer
air, and both were uhlighted. Some of the Irish under-
A R CHITECTURE.
197
ground examples were ventilated from the top, as were
also those of the Lapps; in fact, both are examples of
the best contrivances for obtaining heat which, in their
primitive state, these peoples could have invented.
The hot-air bath, now-a-days designated the ' Turkish
Bath,' itself but a degenerated imitation of the luxurious
laconicum of ancient Greece and Imperial Rome, was
in common use amongst the ancient Irish, and lingered
on until the commencement of this century. Such
a structure is designated by the natives Teack-an-alais,
Fig. 34. — ' Sweat- house,' Island of Inismurray, County Sligo.
i.e. a ' sweat-house ' ; many of them yet remain (fig. 34).
They were generally of beehive shape, about 6 feet in
diameter and 6 feet high, built of converging layers of
uncemented stones, covered with clay, and having a low
entrance, resembling the remains of stone huts or
clochans, still to be seen in juxtaposition with cashels.
The manner of heating the chamber appears to have
consisted in filling it with turf, igniting the fuel, ana
when consumed, the ashes were cleared out, and as
soon as the floor and sides of the interior of the con-
struction had sufficiently cooled down, the floor was
strewed with green rushes; the person or persons in-
tending to take the bath entered the heated chamber,
198 PAGAN IRELAND :
and the door was closed by means of a temporary screen.
This hot-air bath was much used down to recent times,
not only for pleasure, but also as a cure for rheumatism,
for which latter purpose it would seem to have been
eminently successful. In some cases it is stated that a
pool of fresh water, if in the immediate vicinity, was
utilized as a plunge-bath for the perspiring bather who,
having remained in the heated interior as long as practi-
cable, would then cool himself in the water, and again
return.
Russian baths, as used by the peasantry, bear a close
resemblance to the Irish method. They usually
consist of wooden houses situated, if possible, by the
side of a running stream. In the bath-room is a large
vaulted oven which, when heated, makes the paving-
stones lying upon it red hot, and adjoining to the oven
is a kettle fixed in masonry for the purpose of holding
boiling water. In parts of the country where wood is
scarce, the baths sometimes consist of wretched caverns
or holes scooped in the earth, close to the bank of some
river. The heat in the bath-room may be much in-
creased by throwing water on the hot stones in the
chamber of the oven. The Russian baths, therefore, are
also vapour baths ; and it appears as if even some of the
tribes of American Indians are acquainted with this plan.
Lewis and Clarke, in their voyage up the Missouri, thus
describe one : — ' We observed a vapour bath, consist-
ing of a hollow square of 6 or 8 feet deep, formed in
the river-bank by damming up with mud the other three
sides, and covering the whole completely except an
aperture, about z feet wide, at the top. The bathers
descend by this hole, taking with them a number of
heated stones and jugs of water, and, after being seated
round the room, throw the water on the stones till the
ARCHITECTURE. 199
steam becomes of a temperature sufficiently high for
their purpose.' Sauer, in his account of Billing's ex-
pedition, describes the same kind of bath as used in
north-western America.
Raths are formed by circular earthen ramparts, for-
merly surrounded by a deep fosse or ditch, and the
remains of these dwellings, in a more or less perfect
state, are to be found all over the kingdom. Like the
stone fortresses, they are generally placed on command-
ing situations, but are also found in seemingly most
unsuitable positions. In the county Sligo there are up-
wards of 1800 of these forts, and it has been computed
that there are at least 40,000 of them still remaining in
Ireland. They were protected from vandalism by the
superstitious fears of the peasantry, as interfering with
them, according to their belief, entails serious conse-
quences to the investigator. One countryman gravely
stated that the child of a well-known antiquary had
become 'daft,' owing to the parent having disturbed
a rath in the course of his archaeological researches.
Some forts possess only a single rampart ; others have
two, or even three. The ordinary extent of ground en-
closed within the circumvallation varies from about a
rood to as much as 5 acres. They may be divided into
three classes : those probably used merely for the pen-
ning of flocks and herds at night, to protect them from
wolves and marauders ; the fortified residence of the
smaller chiefs ; and those of the head chiefs, tribal and
provincial. The design or ground plan of some of these
circular fortresses is peculiar, being arranged in a trefoil
pattern like the leaf of a shamrock or in a cable-chain
pattern ; raths are placed also in couples. In some in-
stances the ramparts have been formed to enclose the
ridge surrounding a hollow. Square-shaped earthen
200 PAGAN IRELAND :
forts are by no means so uncommon as is generally
supposed, though it is thought they are not of the same
age as the circular examples; some of them occur in
Kilkenny, in Queen's County, and doubtless elsewhere
also ; but the prevalent type of primeval earthworks
was circular.
When the construction admitted of it, and water was
at hand, one of the most obvious means of strengthen-
ing a fort was to flood the external ditch. Whoever
is accustomed to examine these ancient structures must
be convinced that this plan was often adopted, and
not unfrequently the water still remains in the fosse.
The names of forts often prove the adoption of this
mode of defence. There are, in Ireland, twenty-eight
townlands called Lissaniska and Lissanisky, i. e. ' the
fort of the water.' *
It is curious that the belief, universal amongst the
peasantry in Ireland, of these earthen forts or raths
being the work of the Danes, is merely an anachronism,
for they were doubtless constructed by that race known
as Tuatha de Danann, who are fabled to have arrived,
in remote ages, as colonists and conquerors. The erec-
tion of some of these raths is subsequent to the age of
the Ogham-inscribing race ; for their architects often
utilized, as building materials, the large slabs on which
these characters were inscribed, and raths continued to
be occupied long after the Anglo-Norman Conquest.
T. O. O'Beirne Crowe states that a good deal has
been written on the words rath, lis, and dun — their
distinctive and respective meanings. According to this
authority, all three were required to constitute a royal
residence, ' while the rath, one or more, and lis, which
* Irish Names of Places, p. 282, P. "W. Joyce.
ARCHITECTURE. 201
must be always combined, constitute a non-royal resi-
dence'; and he quotes a paragraph from an old Irish
manuscript to prove that a king's residence must be a
chin, and continues, ' the whole place was surrounded
with three concentric ridges or circles (raths).'
Rath Croghan, in Roscommon, is, it is stated, the
locality in which some of the ancient kings of Ire-
land — or, at any rate, of that part of Ireland — were
inaugurated, and where they held their provincial as-
semblies. Now these so-called royal residences, Tara
and Emania, appear to have been wattled and plastered
buildings, and they do not warrant the admiring ex-
pressions of some writers ; they were, so to speak,
temporary structures, built on and surrounded by
earthen mounds and ramparts, doubtless palisaded, and
otherwise protected from sudden hostile attack.
The track of an ancient road leads up an incline,
styled the ' Slope of the Chariots,' to the ancient
remains situated on the Hill of Tara, which consist of
a collection of earthen mounds and a few scattered
boulders. The chief object of interest is the so-called
banqueting-hall, a deep excavation with parallel sides,
composed of earthen embankments, in which occur a
number of gaps, corresponding (according to some
writers) to the doors which led into the great Hall.
The longer axis of the building was north and south,
360 feet in length by 40 feet in width.
Closely adjoining is the Rath of Caelchu, and beyond
it two other raths in juxtaposition, together with a small
well, styled Tober Finn, or the Well of the Heroes.
The summit of the hill is crowned by a mound styled
the 'Rath of the Synod'; and upon it tradition avers
that some of the Synods at Tara in Christian times were
held. Further southward is the great oval enclosure,
202 PAGAN IRELAND :
or ' Fortress of the Kings,' the most extensive of all
the earthen circles at Tara, measuring about 290 yards
in length in its longest diameter. Immediately within
its northern boundary is a small circular moat, styled
'The Mound of the Hostages.' Nearly in the centre of
the enclosure is the Forradh, and towards the south-
east ' Cormac's house'; between it and the Forradh is
the supposed site of the ruins of Teamur, from which
Tara takes its name.
The other objects of general interest are the Rath of
Laoghaire, in which it was said the king was buried in
a standing position, armed for battle, and with his face
to his foes. A quarter of a mile from this locality there
is a great fort, styled the Rath of Queen Meave. All
these remains belong to a mound-building race. There
is one trace of stone-work, a cashel situated not far
from the ' Slope of the Chariots.' This, together with
the rectangular style of the so-called banqueting-hall,
points to a comparatively late period for their erection.
There is no trace of any general system of defence.
The remains on the Hill of Tara are, it would appear,
a series of isolated fortified posts (fig. 35).
Very few researches have been made to elucidate the
history of the age and civilization of the inhabitants
of raths. Those made by R. J. Ussher are the most
important, and throw most light on the subject. An
interesting description of objects found in the kitchen-
middens of raths may be seen in vol. vii., Journal
R.H.A.A.I.
The rath near Whitechurch, county Waterford, con-
sisted of a ring fence; in the centre was a depression,
flanked on one side by a rock, which, as the result of
the exploration, proved hollow beneath. This hollow
contained the kitchen-midden of the rath, and when
To face p. 202.
Fig.
JD-
General plan of the earthen remains on the Hill of Tara.
ARCHITECTURE. 203
excavated to the depth of about 30 feet was ascertained
to have filled a cave of considerable size, descending at
an angle of about 50 . This cavity was choked with
earth and stones, containing charcoal, bones, and other
relics. The animals represented were a small breed of
oxen, pigs, goats, dogs (the canine bones were of large
size), cats, and domesticated fowl. The rath had
evidently been occupied from remote times to well on
in the Iron Age, for iron objects were numerous, as
also slabs of stone, arranged evidently for hearths at
various levels in the cavity, which doubtless became
buried under the constantly accumulating debris.
A large portion of the kitchen-midden is believed to
have remained undisturbed. At a considerable depth
the cavity extended, and was found free of earth. On
exploring it, by means of lights, large chambers were
discovered, from one of which, by a steep descent, was
a way into an extensive system of galleries. On the
floors of these galleries were found charcoal and broken
bones of domestic animals, similar to those in the
upper kitchen-midden. Mr. Ussher explored several
other raths, none 01 which, however, presented equal
facilities for exploration, or such a yield of antiquities.
In Dumbell Rath, county Kilkenny, many articles
of bone, bronze, and iron were discovered, and among
the former were some decorated combs. The bronze
objects included pins, one of them most delicately
engraved, and a highly interesting but very small
bell. In the large collection of antiquities found at
Dowris in 1830 were thirty-one bells of various sizes,
having loose clappers, and many of them slits also, to
allow the sound to escape more freely. It is suggested
that these were bells for cattle, and such would be
specially useful among the dense forests which then
204 PAGAN IRELAND :
overspread the island. They are, it is believed, of a
very late, if not altogether modern, period.
A rath near Ardfinnan, county Tipperary, described
by the late Rev. James Graves, may be taken as a typi-
cal example as regards its souterrains. In the interior
of many earthen forts and stone cashels there are often
chambers and subterraneous passages, which vary in
length as well as in breadth and height. These pas-
sages are built of uncemented stones, and are covered
with flagstones, the extremities of which rest on the
parallel walls ; and whilst some are too low to stand
erect in, and the explorer has to proceed on hands and
knees, others are upwards of six feet in height, and of
corresponding breadth. They were constructed not
only for habitation but also for defensive purposes, and
follow strictly the principle used by the builders in the
defence of entrances to cashels, of which those in Inis-
murray are good examples. The entrances to these
retreats appear to have been concealed with great care.
Their discovery is generally the result of accident.
In the Rath at Ardfinnan, the souterrain lay a little
from the centre of the enclosure, and was approached
by a regular flight of steps, giving entrance to a small
beehive-shaped chamber of an irregular circular form.
It is about 7 feet wide, by 5J feet high, built of rough
blocks of limestone. From this chamber a narrow
passage, through which the explorers had to creep on
all-fours, led into another chamber of the same charac-
ter as the foregoing, and from this, a similar passage
gave entrance to a third beehive-shaped cell of larger
size than the preceding. The passages were square-
headed and roofed with slabs stretching across from
wall to wall. The jointing of the stonework was very
irregular, no courses being perceptible, and the stones
ARCHITECTURE.
205
were rudely fitted to each other. In each chamber
the beehive-shaped vault was capped by a single stone
at top. What is very noteworthy, as bearing on the habit-
able nature of these souterrains, each chamber was
provided with two ventilating shafts, placed near the
top, and diverging in opposite directions towards the
surface. That these structures were intended for the
storage of valuables, and for occasional places of refuge
for the inhabitants of the rath, there can be little doubt.
They would be unsuited for ordinary dwellings ; but for
that purpose they were not needed. Wattled, mud, or
Fig. 36. — Section of an ordinary underground beehive-shaped hut.
stone-built houses served for the ordinary habitations of
the chieftains and their followers, and it can be easily
imagined how the entrance to these cellars might be
concealed, so as to escape the attention of plunderers.
That they were often discovered and rifled there is
abundant evidence. ' In the Brehon Law, the law of
distress contemplated the event of the distress being
carried for concealment into a "cave," and provided
accordingly.' In fact, these ' caves ' were but the
c.lochans or stone huts, so common in the west of
Ireland, placed for concealment under the ground.
Fig. 37 represents the souterrain of Ardtole, county
Down, close to the old church of the same name. The
206 PAGAN IRELAND :
view is taken near the centre of the passage, looking
east. Sheets of white paper were used to reflect the
sunlight through an opening in the roof, caused by a
covering stone having fallen in. The total length of
the passage is 1 1 8 feet. The chamber is 17 feet in
length, 6 feet 6 inches wide, and the average height
5 feet 3 inches. The passage presents the usual ob-
struction to a hostile intruder in the form of a perpen-
dicular rise of earth and stones. The photograph and
description have been supplied by Mr. Welch.
Sometimes these underground chambers were roofed
with flags or slabs projecting one over the other, and so
arranged as to form a rude arch. George H. Kinahan,
m.r.i. a., remarks, however, that a few were burrowed
out in the drift, and had clay sides and roofs. One of
this class in the barony of Bear, county Cork, had
three chambers, while some had as many as eight or
ten. Tacitus, in his Germania (xvi.), states that, besides
their ordinary habitations, the Germans possessed a
number of subterranean caves dug out and carefully
covered over with soil. In these they found shelter
from the rigour of the seasons, and in times of foreign
invasion their effects were safely concealed. Numerous
allusions to forays by bands of Northmen occur in the
Irish Annals of a later period. In the year 866 the
provinces of Leinster and Minister were plundered by the
Danes, ' and they left not a cave there underground that
they did not explore . . . neither were there in conceal-
ment underground in Erinn . . . anything that was not
discovered by these foreign wonderful Denmarkians.'
From an Icelandic legend, quoted by Walker in his
Rise and Progress of Architecture in Ireland, it appears
that these retreats were used in the ninth century. The
passage is as follows: — 'Leifrwent on piracy towards
ARCHITECTURE. 207
the west, and infested Ireland with his arms, and there
discovered large subterraneous caves, the entrances of
which were dark and dismal, but, on entering, they
saw the glittering of swords which the men held in
their hands. These men they slew, but brought the
swords with much riches away.'
While a railway was in course of formation, a most
extensive souterrain was discovered in a cutting near
Athlumney, county Meath. It consisted of a straight
passage, 54 feet long, 8 broad, and 6 high, branching
into two smaller passages, which run off at right angles
from it, and ending in two circular beehive-shaped
chambers, together forming the figure of a cross. ' The
walls of this great cave having risen to a height of about
.fi feet, they then begin to incline, and the roof is
formed of enormous flagstones, laid across. These
stones are all rough and undressed, and they are placed
together without mortar or cement.'* Only a few bones
of oxen were discovered.
T. Crofton Croker gave a long and detailed account
of numerous souterrains in the county Cork,f examined
by him in the year 1835. Some had evidently been
inhabited, for a considerable quantity of charcoal and
fragments of a quern or hand-mill were found. He
states also that his companion, Mr. Newenham, had
' been exploring underground chambers by the dozen.'
In the course of an hour he visited five sets within a
circuit of two miles. Some examples appear to have
been ventilated by small square apertures. They did
not rise perpendicularly, but sloped upwards at an
angle of about seventy degrees. None of these latter
were connected with ancient forts or entrenchments.
* Beauties of the Boyne and Blackicater, p. 135.
t Dublin Penny Journal, vol. iii., pp. 350-52.
208
PAGAN IRELAND ;
The Rath of Parkmore, which contains a magnificent
specimen of a souterrain, was defended by two con-
centric ramparts and fosses, the diameter of the entire
being 214 feet. The ramparts were formed of high
mounds of clay, faced with stone, and havingdeep ditches.
The opening to the souterrain is about the centre of
the enclosure (fig. 38). The first gallery runs in a south-
westerly direction from the entrance. It is 26 feet long,
6 feet high, and the same number of feet in breadth.
The side walls are formed of large stones, rudely put
<
1
□ □
r '
Fig. 38.— Ground-plan and section of Souterrain in the Rath of Parkmore.
together, and the roof is made of immense flagstones.
At the end of the first gallery is a passage about 5 feet
in length, but only 3^ feet high, by 2 feet wide. In
order to pass through this confined communication one
must crawl on hands and knees. When the end of the
passage is reached it is found to be terminated by
a wall built across its breadth. The only way by which
to advance farther is by ascending through a square hole
overhead, the breadth only 1 foot 9 inches. On emerg-
ing through the opening one finds himself in a little
chamber 7 feet long, by $1 feet broad, and 4 feet high.
ARCHITECTURE. 20*
If desirous to proceed further, one must descend through
another square opening, which is similar to that already
passed, and creep from thence, as before, through
another low and narrow passage, also 5 feet long by
3^ feet high, and 2 feet wide. This last-mentioned
passage leads into another gallery, which runs at right
angles to the gallery above described. It is 14 feet
long by g% feet wide, and 6 feet high. Opposite to this
another passage leads, as a kind of sally-port, to the
exterior of the inner rampart of the fort. The last-
mentioned passage is 5 feet long, by 2 feet wide and
4-A- feet high. The flagstone which was placed outside
against this aperture was 4 feet square. Thus, from
whatever end of the souterrain its inhabitants might be
pursued, a fatal resistance could be made. Flagstones
stopped the holes (which have been described) in the
passages, and their upper surfaces, being even with the
floor of the little appartment, ' a stranger would have
much delay and difficulty in discovering the apertures
they covered. In this little citadel a woman or a child
could arrest the progress of giants ; for the instant one
of their heads appeared at the opening, a blow of an
axe or of any heavy implement from above would prove
fatal to him who was leading the forlorn hope, and his
lifeless body would effectually block up the passage
against those who followed. If the fort happened to be
stormed, its occupants had a secret exit into the inner
fosse by means of these caves, and, in case of friends
happening to be pursued, and obliged to seek protection
from the garrison, these intricate underground passages
afforded safe ingress for friends, but were impracticable
to the enemy.'
The souterrain in the fort on the lands of Murty-
clogh, closely adjoining the Rath of Parkmore, is even
p
210 PAGAN IR ELAND :
more spacious, but does not afford such a good
specimen of primitive defence.
An interesting account is given of the exploration of
a remarkable series of subterranean chambers underneath
a fort on the townland of Doom King's County, situated
on the summit of a hill rising about 200 feet above the
level of the surrounding country. These chambers were
cleared out and appear to have been of great size, one
of them being nearly 34 feet long and 7 feet broad by
6 feet in height — the roof formed of enormous stones,
some of them 9 feet in length, and from 5 to 6 feet in
breadth. The general architectural arrangements be-
tween this series of chambers and passages and the
ancient entrances to the cashel of Inismurray are almost
identical. The labour expended in their construction
must have been very great, one stone in particular,
forming the extreme eastern end of one of the cham-
bers, being 10 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 2 feet thick.
Near Dysart, not far from Mullingar, in consequence of
the rath under which they lay having been cut away, a
complete subterranean village, consisting of upwards of
ten beehive-shaped chambers, with connecting galleries,
became exposed to view.*
Souterrains almost similar in construction to those
found under raths are often discovered in the most
unlikely places, the means employed for concealment
of the entrance to the one class being employed in the
other, and probably the dwelling was erected over them.
* A very good description of a souterrain is given by Mr. T.
Broderick {Journal R.H.A.A.I., vol. v., 4th ser., pp. 637, 638).
It is in the centre of a large circular fort, which covers an area of
more than two acres, situated in the townland of Greenville, mid-
way between Mount Bellew and Castle Blakeny. The fort is sur-
rounded by two high ramparts of earth, with a deep ditch between ;
the remains of the third rampart are now nearly level with the field.
A R CHI 1 ECTUR E. •> \ 1
One that was explored, in the county Clare, consisted of
three chambers of considerable size, two of them being
about 26 feet long by 7 feet wide and 6 feet high. In
the innermost chamber a large flagstone was found rest-
ing on four upright stones that formed a kind of table ;
under this there were some bones.
Molyneux, in the year 1684, described a somewhat
similar object near a place he styles Warrington, county
Down : — ' In the middle of the vault were fixed, in the
ground, four long stones, each about 2% feet high, stand-
ing upright as so many legs to support a flat quarry-stone
placed upon them. This rude stone table seemed de-
signed, by the heathen founder, as an altar to offer
sacrifice upon for the deceased. Under the table, on
the ground, was placed a handsome earthen urn ; it
contained broken pieces of burnt bones.'
Both these souterrains may possibly have been built
originally for habitations, as it is not likely that their
architects would have erected such large vaults for
deposition of the calcined ashes of only one individual.
After the cave was abandoned as a habitation, it may
have been utilized as a sepulchre, or though still in-
habited, the innermost compartment may have been
devoted to the relics of the dead.
In the townland of Mullagheep, county Donegal,
there are small souterrains ; when first entered, in the
year 1854, in them were found traces of charcoal,
together with the fractured bones of an Irish elk.
seemingly broken for extraction of the marrow. These
bones were sent to the Royal Irish Academy, and were
afterwards presented by the Council to the Royal Dublin
Society, and are now, it is believed, deposited in the
Museum of the Science and Art Department, Kildare-
street.
p 2
212 PAGAN IRELAND:
The description of an artificial cave examined in
the townland of Bellurgan, parish of Ballymascanlan,
county Louth, may conclude the notices of these sou-
terrains.
One of the flagstones covering the cave, having been
stripped bare of mould, was lifted, when a passage
was found, about 4 feet high and 3 feet wide, inclin-
ing downwards in a direction parallel to the slope of
the bank over the adjoining river. As the defensive
arrangements are of a typical character, more compli-
cated than, but resembling the most ancient entrances
to, cashels, they are given in Mr. Edward Tipping's
words: — 'After 23 feet, it (the passage) turns at right
angles to the left or towards the river, and continuing
13 feet 6 inches further, terminates apparently built up
square ; but in the floor was seen a square hole, descend-
ing which, we found at a level about 3 feet lower a con-
tinuation 19 feet long, and in the same direction, which
finally terminated in a circular space or chamber, both
wider and higher than the passage leading to it.' The
cave is constructed throughout of water-worn boulders,
evidently taken from the bed of the adjacent river. In
most of these deserted galleries and chambers — badgers,
rabbits, and rats now hold their revels.
In a primitive state of society, it seems to have been
a very general belief that it was needful to appease the
anger of the spirit of the earth for intrusion into its
domain by digging into the ground for the foundations
of buildings. To this spirit, human blood was con-
sidered to be the highest offering that it was possible
to make. In India and many Eastern States the belief
still exists — as well as in Siam, Borneo, Japan, New
Zealand, and Fiji. It prevailed over the European
Continent and the British Isles. In Scotland the Picts
ARCHITECTURE. 213
are reputed to have poured human blood on the founda-
tions of their edifices, and the ancient Irish also seem
to have believed in the efficacy of this practice. Atten-
tion may be drawn to the well-known legend which
relates how St. Columbkille defeated the machinations
of an evil spirit, which sought to impede his building
operations on the Island of Iona, by the voluntary
sacrifice of one of his companions.* This story con-
tains very plain evidence indeed of the fact that in
early Christian times human sacrifices were still re-
membered, if not indeed practised.
At a later period a quern-stone was usually placed
under the foundation of any structure being erected. f
The sacrifice of a fowl seems to be the last trace of
this barbaric custom. A tradition connected with many
old Irish castles is that blood had been mixed with the
mortar, which imparted the hardness and tenacity so
characteristic of ancient cement.
The water-spirit also required his tribute, and hence
* After Columbkille was banished from Ireland, his first attempts
to build on Iona were rendered vain by the operation of some evil
spirit ; the walls fell down as fast as erected, and it was revealed to
the saint that they could never stand until a human victim was
buried alive beneath the foundations. One account says the lot fell
on a companion of the saint, named Oran, as the victim required
for the success of the undertaking ; another states that Oran volun-
tarily devoted himself, and was accordingly interred alive. At the
end of three days Columbkille, wishing to take a farewell-look at
his old friend, ordered the removal of the earth. Oran thereupon
raised his swimming eyes, and addressing Columbkille, said: ' Thee
is no wonder in death, and hell is not as it is reported.' The saint,
shocked at this disclosure, instantly ordered the earth to be Hung in
again on Oran, uttering in Irish the words : ' Earth ! earth ! on the
mouth of Oran, that he may blab no ?nore.' This saying has passed
into a proverb. There is also the well-known legend, which rehites
that Vortigern, advised by the British Druids, sought out a victim
to sacrifice at the foundation of his castle.
t Ulster Journal of Archeology, vol. i., p. 146.
214 PA GAN IRELAND :
is supposed to have arisen the widespread reluctance
amongst primitive sea-side folk to rescue a drowning
man from the water ; the old superstition that —
' Save a stranger from the sea,
And he '11 turn your enemy.'
might, many years ago, have been considered univer-
sally prevalent along the Irish littoral. When in the
Solomon Islands a man accidentally falls into the river,
and a shark attacks him, he is not allowed to escape.
If he succeeds in eluding the shark, his fellow-tribes-
men will throw him back to his doom, believing him
to be marked out for sacrifice to the god of the river.
In Egypt this idea is evidently present in the mind
of some of the Arabs on the Nile. Before trusting
their boat to the mercy of the cataract when descending
the river, a stick is thrown into the current ; if this dis-
appears in the swirl of the waters, it is looked upon as a
favourable omen, or that the offering has been accepted.
The water-demon in modern times assumes, in different
localities of Ireland, various forms and attributes, accord-
ing to the ideas of the peasantry in regard to its nature.
The crops on Coolnahinch Hill, in the county Meath,
were, in olden times, always eaten by the till fish, which
issued from the adjoining lake. This fabulous monster,
according to the old shannachies, or story-tellers of the
neighbourhood, is an aquatic horse which lives at the
bottom of Moynagh lake and other sheets of water in
the county Meath. The attention of P. \V. Joyce was
drawn to the name of this strange monster, and In-
states that ullfish is a corruption of ollphiast — pro-
nounced ulfeest — which has the same general meaning
as piast. Oil, or ull, is a prefix, signifying very large,
so that ollphiast is a very large piast or serpent-demon.
ARCHITECTURE. 215
In the vicinity of a cashel on Slieve Mis, county
Kerry, are two dark forbidding-looking tarns lying in
a hollow of the mountain. One is regarded by the
peasantry as unfathomable. The lakelet derives interest
from a legend in the Leabhar na h-Uidhre, relating that
it was once infested by an enormous piast, which de-
voured both the inhabitants of the fortress and their
cattle. On one occasion, when the hero Cuchullin was
near the cashel, he heard, at midnight, the approach of
the monster. 'These be no friends of mine,' said he,
'that come here' ; and he fled before it, and jumped
over the cashel wall, and alighted in the centre of the
enclosure and at the door of the king's residence — a
record leap. *
The oldest written reference, at present known, to
belief in supernatural aquatic horses was discovered by
O'Donovan in a vellum manuscript in Trinity College,
Dublin. It is a very extraordinary passage. Readers
interested in the subject are referred to a literal trans-
lation of it as given by the discoverer in the first volume
of the Transactions, Kilkenny Archaeological Society, p. 367.
The legend regarding this mythical demon assumes
various forms in individual cases, and many are the
tales the people can relate of fearful encounters with
a monster covered with long hair and a mane. Legends
of aquatic monsters are very ancient ; almost all sheets
of water possess their local demon, and in later times
they assumed different forms. O'Flaherty has a very
circumstantial story of an 'Irish crocodile' that lived
at the bottom of Lough Mask. The commonest legend,
attached now-a-days to almost all lakes, is that they are
the home of a frightful serpent, and that no one will
* Ulster Journal of A rchceology, vol. viii., p. 126.
2 1 6 PA GAN IRELAND :
swim in the water for fear of being swallowed by it.
The stories of immense deposits of treasures buried
deep in the bosom of lakes, and jealously guarded by
aquatic monsters, may have arisen from the actual
deposition of treasure, or what was then regarded as
treasure, in lakes or fountains, as an offering to, or part
of an ancient cult of, water.
Ireland anciently possessed a population living injirti-
ficial structures erected in the lakes (fig. 39). On the
Continent of Europe these dwellings were usually placed
on piles, whilst in Ireland they were built on artificial
islands. A race inferior in numbers~7 _ in arms, or in
physicial development, would avail themselves of arti-
ficial or natural bulwarks to ward off the attacks of
enemies, and water has, from the earliest times,
formed an important factor in the art of defence. In
Europe its lake-dwelling population, as such, had
ceased to exist before authentic history commences,
whilst in Ireland, although many of these artificial
islands may be of the remotest antiquity, yet owing
to the unsettled and restless state of the kingdom, they
continued to be used as places^ ofLrefuge and defence
up to the close of the seventeenth century ; the most
careful examination is, therefore, essential before arriv-
ing at a decision respecting the probable period of the
primary construction of lake dwellings or 'crannogs' —
!as they are designated by the Irish-speaking popula-
tion — the word being derived from crann, a tree, or
timber. The number of lacustrine sites known in
Ireland is now 230: these are, however, in all proba-
bility, a mere fraction of the multitude that had formerly
existed. Those interested in the lacustrine population
of ancient Erin are referred to a work styled The Lake-
Dwellings of Ireland, which contains all at present known
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ARCHITECTURE.
2i;
on the subject, and from which the greater part of the
following information with regard to crannogs is ex-
tracted.
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Fig. 40. — Plan of Crannog in Drumaleague Lake, Count}- I.eitrim.
(Scale 20 feet to one inch.)
A, Probable floor of hut. B, Hearth. C, Heap of hard clay.
D, Root of large tree bevelled off.
Having decided on the position, the crannog-builder
set to work by driving stakes into the bottom of the
lake, in a circle of from 60 to 80 feet in diameter, a
considerable length of the stake sometimes projecting
218
PAGAN IRELAND r
above the water; these were, in many instances, joined
together by horizontal beams, the interior being filled
up by branches of trees, stones, gravel, earth, and
branches (fig. 40). Often an inner row (or more than
one) of piling is found about 5 feet distant from the outer
one (fig. 41 ), and at various parts of the interior, piles are
driven in either to consolidate the mass, or to act as stays
for the walls of the dwelling. Next were placed one or
two layers of round logs, cut into lengths of about 6 feet,
and which were generally mortised into upright piles,
kept in position by layers of stones, clay, and gravel.
In some cases, when the foundation was soft, the
superincumbent layers of timber were of great depth ;
in other cases, when the bottom of the lake was firm,
the platform of timber was confined to a portion of the
island. The side most affected by the action of the
water was frequently strengthened by rows of piles,
sometimes five or six deep, as well as by a breakwater
of stones (see fig. 42). On the foundation — when raised
sufficiently above the water — the dwelling, or dwellings,
were erected, the hearth being generally in the centre
of the island, for in almost every case a collection of
flag-stones has been discovered in the interior of the
enclosure bearing on them marks of fire — and, in some
instances, several hearths occur. Considerable ingenuity
was displayed in the formation oT these island-homes,
which were frequently constructed in a depth of from 1 2
to 14 feet of water. Apart from having served in their
day as secure retreats for large numbers of persons,
these dwellings have proved their durability by resist-
ing successfully the ravages of time.
Marshes, small loughs surrounded by woods, and
large sheets of water were alike suitable for the home
of the Irish lake-dweller, his great and primary need
ARCHITECTURE.
•I 1 9
being protection. He was bound by no conventional
engineering rule ; he djdnot exclusively employ wood,
but appears to have beerPguided by surrounding cir-
cumstances. On peaty or muddy sites ji^yood en s ub-
structure was essentiaj ; on hard bottoms stone, gravel,
or earth were, if convenient, employed. As providing
good fishing-grounds, the entrance or exit of stream
22a PAGAN IRELAND:
from lake was a favourite site, and natural shoals thus
placed were eagerly selected—
' There driving many an oaken stake
Into the shallow, skilful hands
A steadfast island-dwelling make.
Seen from the hill-tops like a fleet
Of wattled houses.'
In some Irish manuscripts lake-dwellings are called
crannogs. G. H. Kinahan is of opinion that, although
'crannog' is now the generally accepted appellation
for the ancient lake-dwellings of Ireland, it is, never-
theless, ' a modern term introduced to supply the place
of the ancient one, which is unknown or unrecognised.'
In the Irish Annals they are in general simply de-
signated Inish, i. e. 'the island.'
There are numerous localities throughout Ireland in
which the term 'crannog' is embodied in the name,
and where, consequently, must have been formerly a
lake or swamp, with its accompanying artificial island,
although, in some cases, the lake has now disappeared,
and the swamp has been drained. In most of the dis-
tricts in which these islands were found, several small
lakes are clustered together. In Connaught, near the
demesne of Longford, county Sligo, the residence of
Sir Mai by Crofton, in a small pond, almost dry in
summer, there is an islet, still called by the country
people ' crannog.' It has bequeathed its name to the
townland in which it is situated, i.e. Lochanacrannog,
signifying 'the little lake of the crannog' (fig. 43).
Crannog sites in sma ll marsh-lakes are very remark -
able, for if the question be asked why these dwellings
were erected in such diminutive sheets of water, it is
difficult to give a conclusive and sa'tistactory_3nawjer,
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ARCHITECTURE.
221
either as regards facilities for the subsistence, or the
greater security of their occupiers. These lakes were
shallow, with foul b ottom s, on which the pe at was,
In some instances, already accumulatin g ; there f o r e
the fish we re comparatively small , and- few in number.
The si tes selected were usually close to the shore,
ther efore the distance co uld be easily bridged over by
an enemy ; the w ater not being deep~an d its surface
sheltered Irom th e wind, it w as probably frozen over
Fig. 44 — View of upper portion of Lough Talt, Crannog site in foreground.
for more or less lengthened periods every winter — an
opportunity facilitating pillage eagerly to be embraced
by an enemy. Crannogs thus situated would, however,
give comparative security from a sudden surprise during
the norT-winter period, and would be, pejhaps, as secure
as a fort, or dun, even during a severe frost.
Some crannogs were built in tarns and lakes, at great
elevations in mountains, amidst towering cliffs, and
222 PAGAN IRELAND :
primeval forests. In Lough Talt, county_Sli_go^' are
the foundations of three lake dwellings, one of them
still well defined. The sites can all be explored, owing
to the former water-level having been lowered about
sixty years ago. On the site, which is still entirely
surrounded by water (fig. 44), were discovered a beam
bearing traces of mortise holes — probably a part of the
original wooden structure — -a good specimen of a bone
arrow-head, fragments of polished and worked bone,
also teeth and bones of oxen, sheep, and horses.
The sites of many__cra.nno g s, at pre sent covered by
water, are often designated 'drowned i slands/ Bawt ha^
signifying 'drowned,' is applied by the country people
to places or objects submerged in water. When
the annalists recount how the sacred books of the
Christian Irish were destroyed by the Danes, who threw
them into the water, they use the expression the ' books
were drowned'; thus showing, remarks P. W. Joyce,
that this application of the term is not modern.
Although antiquarians differ in opinion respecting the
;i_g_e of crannog remains, yet, after patient analysis of the
characteristic features of the numerous excavations made
in recent years, the weigh tofevidence seem s to in dicate
that these constructions were of all ages, some being
very ancient ; it is apparent that theyhavebeen built
and rebuilt, and in them have been found implements
of stone, bronze, and iron.
The outer range of piles around crannogs rose con-
siderably above the water, and formed a sto c kade or
breastwork for repelling an attack from enemies (fig 39).
Within the area thus enclosed stood the hut or huts
in which the families lived ; the stockade served equally
for shelter and defence, fulfilling the same purpose as
did the circumvallation of the rath on terra firma.
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ARCHITECTURE. 223
Edifi ces constru ct ed of logs , of wattling and hurdles,
daubed over with clay and thatched with reeds were,
in early times, considered characteristic of the Irish.
We need not, however, refer to history, or depend
upon conjecture, in order to reconstruct these island
dwellings; for the foundations, and even some of
the log walls, have been exposed to view. Good
examples occurred in at least six crannog-sites, whilst
at Kilnamaddo, in county Fermanagh, log huts were
found^ buried under 17 f eet of peat , practicallyltlmost
perfect, wanting nothing save the roof ; they were
very low, the side walls scarcely 4 feet in height,
and they might be looked upon rather as lairs for
sjeerjirLg_jn, than dwellings in the modern sense of
the word ; indeed, the primitive races of Ireland,
whether building in stone or wood, made use of low
r oofs, and consequently Jow doors: the openings left
for egress and ingress were probably closed by hurdles
of wickerwork.
The wood en h ut discovered in 1833 by Captain W.
.Aludge, r.n., in the bog of Drumkelin, parish of Invcr,
county Donegal, is the most perfectly preserved primi-
tive dwelling of that material vet brought to light in
Ireland (fig. 45). It was surrounded by a staked enclo-
sure; portions of the gates were also discovered. The
flooring of the house rested on hazel branches covered
with a layer of fine sand ; a paved causeway, over a
foundation of hazel branches and logs, led from the
door of the house to a fire-place, on and around which
lay ashes, charred wood, and half-consumed turf. This
unique structure was nearly square, 12 feet wide and
9 feet high, formed of rough logs and planks of oak,
apparently split by wedges, the interstices filled with a
compound of grease and fine sea-sand. One side of the
224 PAGAN IRELAND :
hut, supposed to be the front, was entirely open. The
framework consisted of upright posts and horizontal
sleepers, mortised at the angles ; the mortises were
very rough, as if made with a blunt instrument — the
wood being bruised rather than cut. The interior of
the structure was divided into two stories, each about
4 feet in height; its flat roof was 16 feet below the
surface of the bog. Allowing 9 feet for the height of
the house, and 10 feet for the original depth of the
surrounding lake, nearly 35 feet of bog must have grown
around it since its first erection. The depth at which
the hut was buried, and the flint, stone, and wooden
implements in it, seem to prove unquestionably its ex-
treme antiquity. There is a beautiful model of this
unique structure deposited in the collection of the
Royal Irish Academy.
In the year 1839, at Lagore, county Meath, the site
of an historical lake-dwelling or crannog was discovered
by labourers engaged in making a drain through the
ancient bed of the lake. For some years after the
drainage operations, the site remained undisturbed, but
from 1846 to 1848 the site of the crannog was re-opened
by men engaged in the process of turf cutting, and, as
on the previous occasion, quantities of bones were ex-
humed ; also a surprising number of antiquities, together
with remains of the ancient stockading, and the ruins
j| of several structures used as huts. The site consisted
of a circular mound 520 feet in circum ferenc e, slightly
raised above the surrounding bog or marshy ground
which formed a basin of about a mile and a-half in
circuit, bounded by elevated lands. The circumference
of the circle was marked by upright posts of black oak,
from 6 to 8 feet in height, mortised into beams of
similar material, ib feet below the surface, laid flat
To face p. 224.
(a). Example of a completely drained lake-bed ; site of Crannog in the foreground.
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Fig. 46. — Cloneygonnell (alias Tonymork), Co. Cavan.
ARCHITECTURE. 226
upon the marl and sand beneath the bog. The up-
right posts were held together by connecting cross-
beams ; parts of a second upper tier of posts were also
found resting on the lower ones. The space thus
enclosed was divided into separate compartments by
divisions that intersected one another in different direc-
tions ; these divisions were also formed of oaken beams
in a state of good preservation, and joined together
with great accuracy. In some cases the sides of the
posts were grooved and rabbeted to admit of large
panels being driven down between them. It may be
inferred that fire was the final agent of destruction, as
almost everywhere amongst the timbers lay half-con-
sumed logs and masses of charcoal. This lake-dwelling,
founded o riginally in pre-historic times, was burned by
the Da nes who, for the purpose of capturing it, carried
a vessel from Dublin overland, and launched it on the
waters of the now dried-up lake. Structures formerly
reared in the centre of sheets of water are now oftener
found deep down below the surface on terra finna. This
is occasioned by the rapid formation of peat, as well as
by the discharge of water deepening and extending the
outlet of streams, together with the contemporaneous
deposition of matter held in solution in the lake-bed.
From whatever cause it be, some sites of lake-dwellings
are now on dry land (see fig. 46), while in many
instances small ponds occupy sites which, from natural
evidences, it is apparent must formerly have been ex-
tensive sheets of water (see fig. 47): and it will be of
interest to give an example of such an ancient lacus-
trine settlement. In Moynagh Lake, near Nobber,
county_ Meath, a network of bog and low-lying land
environs this lake, and 'the island,' so-called by the
country people. A good view of the site of the crannog
Q
226 PAGAN IRELAND :
may be had from a hill near Nobber (fig. 48) ; the
alluvial flat is the dried lake-bed; the 'island,' now-
covered with planting, has, since the draining opera-
tions on the River Dee, been converted into a narrow
neck of land, running in from the more elevated ground
of Brittas, between the two small sheets of water, which
are now the sole remnants of the original lake of Moy-
nagh. This neck of land seems to have been a natural
shoal or bank of earth, utilized by the primitive crannog-
folk for their lacustrine retreat. The portion of this
peninsula occupied by the lake-dwelling is of oval form ;
after the fall of the water level — the result of drain-
age — a great part of the bank forming its southern face
subsided, so that possibly the original shape may have
been circular. On being dug over, its surface was found
to be composed of small burnt stones, which had evi-
dently been subjected to intense heat, as appeared to
have been also the case in regard to the earth with
which they were intermixed. At the south-east corner
of ' the island ' there is a remarkable deposit of ashes,
3 feet in depth, where it joins the site of the crannog,
and which, though now about 6 feet above the surface
of the lake, yet was under water previous to the drainage
works. A colony of rabbits had taken possession of the
heap of ashes ; but by an examination of the material
they had scraped out of the holes, and, by some little
amount of digging, many objects of interest were found.
Where this ash-heap, or midden, joins the crannog there
is a layer of stiff clay similar to the sub-soil of the rest
of the island. It completely covers the ashes; it is
therefore open to conjecture that, at some compara-
tively recent period, the inhabitants, finding the site
too narrow for their requirements, had increased its
surface, possibly after the crannog had been burned, by
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spreading' a layer of earth over the old ' midden,' the
ashes of which can be observed — thanks to the rabbit
holes — to continue down into the island, lying in layers
of different colours, white, brown, and red. Under these
ashes there is peat. Amongst the superincumbent ashes
there were numerous fragments of bone ; where these
were not calcined, they were quite decayed and in a
state of pulp. Numerous articles were found, and may
be seen in the collection of antiquities belonging to the
Royal Irish Academy. This lake-dwelling offers a good
example of one inhabited from ancient to comparatively
modern times ; for, although many stone implements,
upwards of~a. score of fragments of flint-flakes — most
of them fairly finished — pieces of worked bone, as well
as some beads were discovered ; yet among the super-
incumbent ashes there were numerous pieces of iron
slag with portions of charcoal adhering to them, and
from the great quantity observed, there would appear to
have been on the island, at one period, a regular manu-
f acture~6TTron im plements. In the year 1850, when the
level of the lake was first lowered, it is said that amidst
a mass of bones of various animals some bronze hatchets
were found. It is stated that the site of the crannog is
within the demesne of Brittas ; therefore a systematic
and scientific excavation is now probably impossible.
Careful examination, however, as far as practicable, has
abundantly demonstrated the fact that the inhabitants
of the crannog had used flint, bone, bronze, and iron ;
but whether in successive order or contemporaneously,
must at present remain a matter for mere conjecture.
Although the low-lying ground surrounding this cran-
nog site is now dry, and produces good vegetation for
grazing purpose, about the year 1850 — before the drain-
age operations on the River Dee were completed — these
Q 2
228 PAGAN IRELAND :
lands were perfect swamps during the winter months,
and would probably continue in that state if the clear-
ing of the bed of the river were neglected. After ex-
ceptionally wet weather the lands are still liable to
revert to their original condition ; the autumnal rains
of 1866 caused the low hill on which the village of
Nobber stands to look like a green island in a minia-
ture sea, and, judging from the steep sides of the clay
hills around the hamlet, and from the accumulation of
bog in the lowland, having a great depth of marl under-
neath, one is tempted to surmise that at some remote
period, before the River Dee had cut out for itself a
channel through the little glen situated about a mile
from the village, all the low-lying ground was a vast
lake with the hills rising like islands out of the water.*
The most extraordinary discovery with regard to Irish
lake dwellings occurred at Ardmore, near Youghal.
After a very high tide, the waters retired more than
customary, disclosing the fact that this particular portion
of the sea-shore had been the site of a forest, as remains
of trees were observed in various parts of the submarine
deposit. This submerged tract extends to between the
four or five fathom line, but it has not been ascertained
to what further distance it may stretch seaward. A bank
of shingle having shifted by a change of current, laid
bare the substructure of an undoubted crannog, which
at high water was covered by the tide to a considerable
depth (fig. 49). Either this dwelling had been erected
when Ireland was joined to Great Britain, or it was
existent when Ireland was at a greater elevation above
* Synopsis of a paper On an Ancient Lacustrine Settlement in
Moynagh Lake, near Nobber, Co. Meath, read before the R.I. A.,
Nov. 12, 1888. The writer is indebted to Mr. Owen Smith, of
Nobber, for much interesting information on this subject.
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A R CHITECTURE.
229
the sea, and therefore of a greater extent than at pre-
sent; for the theory is enunciated by eminent geologists
that many of our present harbours had been lakes in
prehistoric times, and thus
the bay of Ardmore, where
the crannos: site was cfii-
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have been a peaceful inland
s"h"ee T~of wate r. The Trish
Annals contain much that
was formerly looked upon
as fabulous relations of in-
breaks of the ocean, but
which may be reasonably
held to be the reflex of tra-
ditionary tales having some
foundation in facts. There
is also hardly a large sheet
of water to which is not
attached a tradition of a
frightful outbreak of flood,
covering what was formerly
'a town,' or which does not
possess its legend of an en-
chanted well, which, conse-
quent upon some affront
offered to its guardian spirit,
covered the valley, its inha-
bitants, and houses. May not
these traditions be traceable
to lingering remembrances of former lacustrine habi-
tations ?
On Lough Gill, county Sligo, may be observed a good
example of the gradual rise of water-level ; the river
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which conducts its overflow to the sea had wandered
through a flat expanse of bog, which is now in greater
part covered with water, wherein the roots and stumps
of huge fir-trees are noticeable, as also in the low-lying
ground near Tubbernalt. Here, in the centre of a
small bay, may be seen, in summer, when the water is
very low, a pile of stones which marks the site of a
crannog ; and the present level of the remains of the
lake-dwelling, and that of the tree-stumps is about the
same. The eastern side of the crannog which had been
most exposed to the destructive action of the water, is
composed of large stones, and it shelves downwards
so as to form a breakwater ; on the western or sheltered
side, the edge sinks abruptly ; here some traces of
piling and layers of branches, on which the stones
forming the crannog rest, were observable. In an
exceptionally dry season — that of 1893 — teeth of oxen,
calcined bones, charcoal, nut-shells, an artificially
worked stone, and a bone arrow-head were extracted
from what appears to have been the refuse-heap of the
habitation, at a depth of about 2 feet under the then
very low water-level. Upon the rise of the lake-level,
either through natural causes, or perhaps the formation
of some weir, the crannog must have been abandoned,
as it is now under the present summer level of Lough
Gill ; and the crannog in Annagh Bay was either built
or the site was heightened, for the little islet is always
above the highest winter floods of recent times. The
permanent rise of Lough Gill caused the destruction of
the low-lying pine forests. As a result of recent
extensive drainage operations in the county Leitrim,
a large additional amount of water has, through the
river Bonnett, been directed into Lough Gill, at its
eastern extremity. Lough Gill is one of the numerous
ARCHITECTURE. '231
localities in Ireland to which is attached the legend of
a buried ci ty, and this points to the probability of the
former presence of an ancient water-town being thus
handed down in vague tradition.
The food on which the lake dweller existed appears
to have been plenteous : fishing implements are found
in abundance ; he slew cattle — wild as well as domesti-
cated — pigs and deer; and, in one refuse-heap, traces of
megaceros were discovered. Immense quantities of car-
bonized vegetable remains were found on a crannog site
in Meath. The barley was of the same small size as is
found in Swiss lacustrine sites ; grains ofoats not larger
than hayseed, Jiazel- and oak-nuts, sloes, and walnut-
shells were found at Lough Nahinch, and cherry-stones
at Ballinlough.
In the most diverse climates, settlements on the water
seem to have sprung up independently, by virtue of the
natural laws which govern man's action in a semi-
civilized state. The continuance, in Ireland, of this
primitive form of habitation was doubtless prolonged
in consequence of the restless internecine feuds and
generally unsettled state of the country.
In the opinion of some theorists, Irish lacustrine
settlements seem characteristic of an early wave of im-
migration from the east ; then throwing off its super-
abundant population, as does now the west ; and in this
manner, it is supposed, that the lakes of Central Europe
and Great Britain became studded with water-laved
houses. Recent investigation traces their origin back
to a period so remote, that the evidences of man's for-
mation and occupation of these retreats prove in their
way as interesting as the remains of the buried cities of
Herculaneum and Pompeii ; for lacustrine dwellings,
also, show traces of a species of civilization long passed
232 PAGAN IRELAND :
away, evidences of which were observable on the sites
of Venice, Mexico, and London ; and the purposes
of their primitive founders were alike, whether their
dwellings were situated on the lagoons of the Adriatic,
the flats of Central America, or the reaches of the
Thames.
The north of Ireland has, for many years past, yielded
a rich harvest in the exploration of the sites of primitive
huts, together with the refuse-heaps in their vicinity.
W. J. Knowles seems to have been one of the most
active and painstaking investigators of these settlements
along the littoral. From the remains found, it is
probable that their first occupiers were cannibals ; for
human and animal bones are strangely commingled.
They appear to have been in an extremely rude state :
no metal of any kind was found, there is scarcely a trace
of polishing on their flint implements, the pottery used
was coarse and sun-dried, and it is probable that they
had daubed themselves with pigments.
In this the aborigines were not a whit more bar-
barous than the primitive inhabitants of Great Britain ;
for there can be little doubt of this red pigment having
been in use for what was considered a personal decora-
tion by the neolithic occupants of Britain. ' But this
use of red paint dates back to a far earlier period, for
pieces of haematite, with the surface scraped apparently
by means of flint-flakes, have been found in the French
and Belgian caves of the Reindeer Period, so that this
red pigment appears to have been in all ages a favourite
with savage man.' Lumps of colouring matter, of
various hues, but principally red, have been found on
the sites of Irish lake dwellings. This red pigment
may, however, have been employed for the purpose
of coating the exterior of earthenware crocks. 'The
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ARCHITECTURE. 233
practice of interring war-paint with the dead is still
observed among the North American Indians'*: —
' The paints that warriors love to use
Place here within his hand,
That he may shine with ruddy hues,
Amidst the Spirit Land.'
They do not seem to have possessed domesticated
animals, nor do they appear to have been acquainted
with agriculture. They, in fact, belonged to the Neolithic
Age in Ireland, and to even its earliest period. There
was, however, in one locality, evidence of a still older
stone age. Along the shore, a short distance from
some hut-sites, heavy and massive flint-flakes, covered
with a thick crust, glazed on the outside, were noticed.
This crust is observable only on flints exposed to atmo-
spheric influences ; for flints buried in the ground,
deprived of air and moisture, do not weather. Several
•blocks of flint thus crusted, and which had been used
by the hut-building folk, when carefully examined,
afforded evidence that they had been previously wrought
in long distant times. This is a good example of an
older and a newer Stone Age: a people dwelling in huts
along the northern littoral, found rude and large cores,
flakes and implements, which would appear to have been
of a different type, old, weathered, and deeply-crusted,
when they picked them up, brought them to their dwell-
ings, and re-wrought and finished them after their
manner. A similar instance was noticed in some flint
implements discovered in cists at Carrowmore, near
Sligo.
A site examined and described by W. J. Knowles, at
* The Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great
Britain, p. 238, John Evans, F. K.S.I. A.
234 PAGAN IRELAND :
Ballyned, county Donegal, may be taken as a good
illustration of these remains. The beach, where the
various objects used by these primitive folk had been
found, was, not many years ago, covered with sandhills,
thirty feet in height. It has now been swept bare,
through the action of the wind, and is, in places,
studded with hut-sites. ' There were the usual hearths
with black matter underneath, full of shells, and rounded
and broken quartzite pebbles, some of which were
cracked from having been in the fire, but others were
not burned, and had evidently been split into sharp-
edged pieces, by hammering. Those quartzite flakes
and spalls must have been intentionally made and
used for cutting and scraping, though there was no
evidence of dressing, such as we found on flint imple-
ments. I picked up two flint pebbles, which were
split or chipped, but I saw no flakes or implements of
that material. Some hammer-stones were found.'
Articles of bronze and iron, glass and porcelain beads,
and even coins, have been found in several of these
sandhills ; for instance, a coin of Queen Elizabeth at
Dundrum, and a halfpenny of Queen Victoria at Port-
stewart. 'Such finds,' writes W.J. Knowles, 'have caused
some of my archaeological friends to look on flint imple-
ments as belonging to a comparatively late period, so late
as to be at least contemporary with iron objects.' But
as yet there has been no evidence ' that metal of any
kind was used conjointly with the flint tools. The old
surface is the test for contemporaneousness. Whatever
is dug out of it must have been in use at the same time,
and any implements lying loose on the surface, similar
to those contained in the old surface, must be classed
with them. But there have also been found, lying on
the present surface, among the worked flints, grains of
ARCHITECTURE. 235
shot, cartridge-cases, scraps of iron, such as nails, broken
bottles, portions of old shoes, and stray coins of late
date.' * It would not be surprising if modern articles
had been trampled into the old surface where it is ex-
posed, and thus become stumbling - blocks to some
archaeologists. Although some of these seaside settle-
ments belong exclusively to a flint-using folk, many
apparently lingered on to the time when bronze was
in use, and possibly even to the period of introduction
of iron.
The Neolithic Age in Ireland may in places reach
back to the same period as in England ; but, on the
other hand, it may also in places be advanced to times
comparatively modern.
The picture drawn by English and Spanish writers
of the kind of life led by the vast bulk of the Irish in
Elizabethan times, depicts a state of civilization which
is not inconsistent with an extensive use, for the fabri-
cation of weapons, of the readiest available materials.
English writers may be charged with prejudice, but
Captain Cuellar, a shipwrecked officer belonging to one
of the galleons of the Armada, wrecked off the coast of
Sligo, draws a very unfavourable picture of Irish ' man-
ners and customs.'
The investigation of 'shell mounds' along the sea-
coast, tells the story of primitive man as he lived. The
Irish peasant of the present day delights in spending a
few weeks of the summer at the sea-side; and his pre-
historic ancestor seems to have been inspired by the
same feeling. Of this, undoubted evidence has been
left in the artificial hillocks which dot the northern and
western littoral. Many of them that have been inspected
* Proceedings Royal Irish Academy, vol. i. (ser. iii.), pp. 184, ''15.
236 PAGAN IRELA ND :
lie only just above high-water mark, and are composed
principally of the shells of Crustacea and fractured bones,
both of animals and fish ; they may, in fact, be described
as the remains of primitive man's summer picnic at the
'salt-water.' Scattered amongst them are spindle-whorls
(so called), pins of bone, beads of bone, stone, and
glass ; weapons of bone and flint ; hammer-stones
abraded at the extremities, evidently used for breaking
the fish-shells; fragments of coarse fictilia and masses of
charcoal are intermingled in the debris of past festivities.
In the townland of Keele West, situated in the island of
Achill, were found three ancient shell-mounds, just above
high-water mark and in close proximity to each other.
These remains of the repasts of primitive toilers of the
sea had been almost entirely removed by the peasantry,
who burned the shells for the purpose of reducing them
to lime for whitening their homesteads ; this process
had been going on for years, so that the original size of
the refuse-heaps must have been very great. Two of
them, however, had not been quite so much exploited
as the first one noticed. Here were found a half-formed
' spindle-whorl,' a bead of green opaque glass, a
hammer-stone and a bone of a red deer, which showed
unmistakable marks of rude ornamentation. Nothing
of metal was discovered ; but there were traces of char-
coal, bones of red deer and wild pig in great quantities,
also shells of various marine crustacese.
George M. Atkinson describes a number of kitchen-
middens discovered by him, in the year 1870, on the
shore, as well as on some small islands, in the estuary
forming Cork harbour. Two of the largest heaps were
about 300 feet long, and from 3 to 5 feet in thickness.
They consisted principally of oyster-shells, amongst
which thin layers of charcoal were visible in many
ARCHITECTURE. 237
places, whilst the sections exposed through denudation
by the sea, or by farmers carting away the deposit for
agricultural purposes, afforded evidence of different
periods of occupation of these sites. With the excep-
tion of charcoal and some hammers of stone, no other
evidence of artificial formation was noticed.
Popular tradition depicts some of these primitive
fishermen as beings of gigantic stature. Great Man's
Bay, in Iar Connaught, took its name from one of these
giants. The country people show a large hollow rock,
which they call his churn, and three other rocks sup-
ported the caldron wherein he boiled the whales which
he causht with
'6'
' His angle-rod, made of a sturdy oak ;
His line a cable, which in storms ne'er broke.'
In the bay of Galway is one of the most considerable
fishing stations in Ireland. A village called ' the Clad-
dagh ' is situated not far from the town, and is reputed
1 to have been occupied as a fishing station since the
first peopling of the island. That it was so in the fifth
century of Christianity appears from the life of St.
Endeus, compiled from ancient authorities.'
In trying to picture to ourselves the life led by these
dwellers on the sea-shore, we are helped by accounts
descriptive of savages placed under similar circum-
stances in the present day.
Tribes of Chukches dwell in tents formed of skins on
sand-dunes near the coast. These dunes are bestrewn
with their broken implements and refuse of the chase.
Although from trading with civilized nations the more
important weapons of the natives are now made of
metal, yet they still employ stone and bone implements.
A shipwrecked sailor, who lived some time amongst the
238 PAGAN IRELAND :
Fuegians, describes the men as expert at making flint
arrow- and spear-heads. The women really do all the
work, as the men, except when hunting, lie about the
huts. If a dead seal were cast ashore, they gorged
themselves on the raw, and sometimes putrid, flesh and
blubber. When they killed an animal in hunting, they
fell upon it, cut it in pieces, and eat it raw. Sometimes
the tribe, with which the sailor was for a time do-
mesticated, would be on the move for days ; then,
perhaps, would settle down for weeks. Occasionally
they lived on the sea-shore, subsisting chiefly on raw
shell-fish.
Accounts like these may perhaps help us to form an
idea of the life led by the sea-shore dwellers of ancient
Erin.
This habit of roving from place to place for the pur-
pose of hunting, or for fresh pasturages for cattle, con-
tinued in Ireland so late as the time of Queen Elizabeth.
Spenser relates that the Irish in his time ' kept their
cattle and lived themselves the most part of the year in
Boolies (cow-houses), pasturing upon the mountain and
waste wild plains, removing still to fresh land as they
have depastured the former.' Many laws were passed
to prevent indiscriminate grazing, but without avail.
The late Sir William Wilde, in the year 1835, described
this custom as in full force in the Island of Achill. He
states that during the spring the entire population of
several of the villages on the island ' close their winter
dwellings, tie their infant children on their backs, carry
with them their loys and some corn and potatoes, with
a few pots and cooking utensils, drive their cattle before
them, and migrate into the hills, where they find fresh
pasture for their flocks; and there they build rude huts,
or summer-houses of sods and wattles, called booleys,
ARCHITECTURE. 239
and then cultivate and sow with corn a few fertile spots
in the neighbouring valleys. They thus remain for
about two months of the spring and early summer, till
the corn is sown. Their stock of provisions being
exhausted, and the pasture consumed by their cattle,
they return to the shore, and eke out a miserable and
precarious existence by fishing.' In the autumn they
again return to the mountains, where they remain while
the corn is being reaped.
A wide scope for investigation is opened up by exa-
mination of the refuse-heaps — which archaeologists
style ' middens ' — of the primitive inhabitants, whether
occurring on the sites of settlements along the sea-
shore, in caves, near raths, cashels, or lake-dwellings.
Up to the present the latter class alone has afforded
much information, and proved prolific in traces of the
past life of their inhabitants.
If careful examination be made of a kitchen-midden,
exposed to view by the simple drainage of water from
the site, then the antiquities discovered afford tolerably
correct and safe data from which to calculate the age
of the structure. The most usual site of the refuse
thrown out of the lake-dwelling, is at the entrance
through the stockade to the crannog, where was for-
merly the landing-stage or gangway leading to the
shore. The accumulated mass of refuse, ashes, and
bones — that were invariably found in a broken state for
extraction of the marrow — is in some instances immense.
It is estimated that at Lagore, in Meath, about two
hundred tons were sold for manure ; three hundred
tons were exhumed from the kitchen-midden of one of
the lake-dwellings in Loughrea, county Galway; and
fifty tons from that of Ardakillen, county Roscommon.
These refuse-heaps may be said to form a perfect mine
240 PAGAN IN ELA ND :
of antiquities, for every fractured or useless article of
household gear was thrown into them. Hence, the
objects, though numerous, are generally in an imperfect
condition. After bones, the next most frequent ' find'
consists of fragments of fictile-ware, traces of cattle,
cooking utensils, spindle-whorls, articles of personal
adornment, weapons of war and of the chase — in fact,
all the disjecta membra occasioned by a continuous
occupancy of the site.
Localities that had been at one time devoted to culi-
nary purposes are occasionally discovered, sometimes
in arable land, but more frequently covered by a con-
siderable depth of bog. They are designated falachda
na Feine, i.e. the cooking-places of the Fians or war-
riors. The country people relate that these places were
in ancient days frequented by the Fenians or military
forces of Erin, who spent part of every year in the pur-
suit of wild animals, and forming camps in favoured
positions. In the county Waterford these cooking-
places are called Fullogh Fca, which, it is stated, means
the ' boiling '-place, or 'fire-place of the deer.'
' Here,' remarks Mr. John Quinlan, when describing
these cooking-places in the county Waterford, 'wherever
a strong well or spring develops into a rivulet, you will
not travel far before coming on a mound by the side of
the stream ; it is usually hemispherical in form, and
having an opening towards the stream — unless its con-
figuration has undergone alteration from tillage, or such
like operations ... In their more perfect state they
present, in shape, the appearance of a horse's foot (sole)
with the shoe on ; the shoe itself being represented by
the protecting wall, and the sole by the flagged floor of
the hearths, where the small stones were heated by fire;
the heel may be considered as represented by the
To face p. 240.
PI 4 #
SECTIOM. m
wm»m»>jm»j»MM)»»i>,
hmf'
Fig. 49B.
Plan and section of ancient open-air cooking-place, Clonkerdon, barony of Decies-
without-Drum, county Waterford. By Mr. John Quinlan.
ARCHITECTURE. 241
opening in the protecting wall, with the descending
step adjoining and overlapping the trough, by which
the stream from a well ran, and into which the meat
was thrown. In this instance the trough is composed
of an oak-tree hollowed out, and when cleared of the
burned stones and rubbish, was found to be very much
decayed. . . . The floor of the hearth is composed of
heavy sandstone blocks, which appear to have been
dressed and neatly fitted into each other, and the steps
are well put together and very smooth . . . The floor of
the hearth, the steps and trough all have a decline
towards the water. The theory which suggests itself is,
that here people having lighted a great fire, the stones,
made red-hot thereby, were easily moved down the
incline into the trough holding water from the stream ;
that these stones, when cooled, were taken out, flung
back all around the fire-place, to be again heated and
returned to the trough until the water boiled, when the
meat was put in and kept simmering or boiling by a
continuance of the process. At the present time we
know that many tribes of savages cook their food in a
similar manner.'
In New Zealand, the Maories, when proceeding to
cook, heat in the fire the hardest stones they can find ;
on these the food is laid, and is then covered with
leaves and earth, an opening being left through which
water is poured. This, on coming in contact with the
heated stones, causes the formation of steam, by which
means the food is cooked. On the land of Mr. James
Ryan, of Foulkrath Castle, county Kilkenny, was dis-
covered a primitive cooking-place, in which the early
inhabitants of the country ' baked or roasted an animal
whole, in a pit lined and covered with small heated
stones, over which, during the cooking process, clay
R
242 PAGAN IRELAND :
was heaped.'* In England, also, in some of the swamps
in Essex, and elsewhere, heaps of burnt clay are of fre-
quent occurrence. In several places in Ireland, near
the edge of bogs, piles of burnt stones were observ-
able, more especially near the lake-dwelling in Moynagh
Lake, county Meath — a peculiarity noticed also near the
sites of lake-dwellings at Drumkeery and other localities.
Similar discoveries have been made in connexion with
some lacustrine settlements in the Swiss Lakes. There
are, or were, eight such heaps near Moynagh Lake; the
most remarkable of the series situated a short distance
to the north ; there is a pile of stones at the southern
verge of the ancient lake-shore; and the other piles of
burnt stones or ' fire-places,' around the edge of the bog,
are of small size and unimportant. Remains of this class
are common in the district ; there is hardly a moor on
which may not be seen at least one heap ; the peasantry,
as is usually the case with regard to ancient remains, im-
pute their origin to the Danes. The name of the ancient
Irish war-goddess, Morrigan, is found connected with
many of these ' fire-places,' particularly those of great
size, styled Fuldcht-na-Morrigna, i.e. Morrigan's hearth.
One was situated at Tara ; another, near the fairy mound
of Sidh Airfemhin, in Tipperary, is mentioned in an
Irish tract styled the ' Little Dialogue,' which is con-
tained in the ' Book of Lismore,' and is of interest, as
it demonstrates the fact that these cooking-places were
situated within easy distance of a good supply of water.
Two heroes, having erected a hut and made a cooking-
place, went to a neighbouring stream to wash their
hands. ' Here is the site of z.fulacht,'' said one. ' True,'
replied the other, ' and this is a fulacht-na- Morrigna,
* Jounml R.H.A.A.I., vol. iii., 4th series, p. 153.
ARCHITECTURE. 243
which is not to be made without water,' i.e. there should
be a supply of water near at hand.*
In the summer of 1 887, when a road was being formed
through a bog in the townland of Knockaunbaun, in
the county Sligo, traces of numerous fires were dis-
covered at from five to seven feet beneath the present
surface. These sites were all paved with small stones
for the purpose of forming the hearth ; six inches of
black mould lay between the paving and the red clay.
The labourers cut across the track of a group of small
fires, and also a large one, the hearth in the latter
being semicircular in shape, and thirty feet in diameter.
Under it lay about three cartloads of paving stones, but
from the combined action of fire and water they all
crumbled in pieces when shovelled up to the surface.
In sinking a drain, the site of another large fireplace,
forty feet in length, became exposed. It was paved
with the same kind of stones, covered with a quantity
of charcoal and ashes.
In the year 1864, when a farmer at Ardnahue, county
Carlow, was sinking for gravel, he observed that the
subsoil, in one place, was of a darker, richer, and softer
* Proceedings Royal Irish Academy, vol. x., pp. 439, 440.
W. M. Hennessy. He further remarks that 'the name of the
Morrigan enters not a little into the composition of Irish topogra-
phical names. In the present county of Louth there is a district
anciently known by the name Gort-na-Morrigna, or the " Morrigans
Field," which her husband, the Dagda, had given to her. The
" Book of Lismore " mentions a Crich-na-Morrigna as somewhere
in the present county of Wicklow. Among the remarkable monu-
ments of the Brugh, on the Boyne, were Mur-na- Morn Igria , the
mound of Morrigan ; two hills, called Cirr and Cuirrel, or comb
and brush of the Dagda's wife, which Dr. Petrie has inadvertently
transformed into two proper names ; and Da Cic/i na Morrigna,
or the Morrigan's two paps in Kerry, not far from which is a large
fort bearing the suggestive name of Lis-baoa. The name of
Morrigan is also probably contained in that of Tirreeworrigan, in
the county of Armagh.'
R 2
244 PA GAN IRELAND :
description than the surrounding earth, and was mixed
with bones in a fragmentary condition. The farmer
was so struck with its apparent richness that he utilised
the earth as manure to the extent of some seven hundred
cart-loads. A sample was sent to a chemist, who gave
it as his opinion that it was worth nine shillings a ton.
This stratum of rich earth filled what had evidently
been a trench of irregular curved shape, with occasional
offshoots of minor extent, the whole being interspersed
with animal bones. These consisted of the remains of
oxen, sheep, pigs, and goats, together with portions of
several crania ; in many instances a fractured depression
in the centre of the forehead indicating that death had
been caused by a blow from some heavy and blunt
instrument ; there were also traces of the skeletons of
two small horses, the skull of a dog, and the bones of
fowl. There was nothing in the surface or appearance of
the field to indicate the existence of this 'midden.' The
trench, made in following the layer of rich earth, was,
in some places, at least 10 feet deep, and measured
from 2 to 6 feet in breadth. At the bottom of the
trench, in several separate spots, stones in circular
form were found, evidently constituting hearths, the
centre filled with charcoal, in which were ' clinkers.'
Seven stone-hatchets, portions of a quern, some bone-
pins, a fragment of comb, a few pieces of coarse fictile
ware, and pieces of iron which, together with the
prevalence of ' clinkers,' or the slag of iron-smelting,
showed that the deposit belonged to a comparatively
recent period.*
It is well known that primitive man, like many savage
tribes of the present day, obtained fire by the rapid
* Transactions Kilkenny A. S., vol. v. (new series), pp. 117, 118.
ARCHITECTURE. 245
rotatory motion of a piece of wood inserted in a socket
of the same material. The practice of thus producing
kindling by friction is, strange to say, still in existence
in the form of a charm or preventative against disease
in cattle. When a disease or swelling of the head
amongst cattle called * Big Head ' appeared, every fire
was extinguished in the townland on which it had broken
out. The inhabitants then assembled at the affected
farm to kindle what was called a ' Need-Fire,' which
was done as follows: — Two men commenced to rub two
sticks together till the friction produced a flame. It was
hard work, each man rubbing in turn. When the sticks
had ignited, they collected dry 'scraws'* covered with
soot from the dwelling-houses, in order to produce a
great smoke. The affected cattle then had a piece of
wood inserted in their mouths, to keep them open, and
the head was held over the smoke till water ran plenti-
fully from mouth and nostrils, and the cure was
completed. Every fire that had been extinguished was
then re-kindled from the ' Need-Fire.' f
Ordinary bones of animals burn freely, one-third of
their constituents is combustible, and there is oil and
marrow in the interior of the larger bones. Bones
long buried may still retain a large proportion of ani-
mal matter. In an article published in 1825, Dr. Hart
describes a bonfire of a heap of bones of the extinct
Irish elk lighted in celebration of the Battle of Water-
loo. The remains of the Megaceros gave out as good
a blaze as the bones of horses then usually employed
on such occasions.
* From the Irish strath, i. e. a sward or sod.
t Journal, Royal Historical and Archccological Association,
vol. ix. Grimm cites a very similar superstition as occurring in
the island of Mull. — Tenth. Myth., p. 608.
246 PA GAN IRELAND :
It is quite possible that the masses of half calcined
bones found on the sites of ancient funeral pyres, in
the kitchen-middens of raths, cashels, lake-dwellings,
and sea-side settlements, are the remains of fuel so
employed in the cooking of primitive times. Fires
made of bones are still used by savage tribes; even
Darwin, in his Voyage Round the World, expresses
surprise at the skill with which his guides in the Falk-
land Islands substituted the skeleton of a bullock,
recently killed, for ordinary brushwood, of which there
was a scarcity, and mentions the hot fire made by the
bones. He was also informed that in winter a beast
they had killed was often roasted by them with the
bones belonging to it.
The dwellings of the ancient Irish having been
briefly noticed, it may be well to glance at the means
they possessed of locomotion. If we were to place
confidence in all the various articles in museums and
collections described as ' horse furniture,' the early
inhabitants were a sporting race. It would seem that
whenever an antiquary is in doubt respecting the original
use of an article, the question is at once solved by rele-
gating it to ancient harness, or to a chariot. It is certain,
however, that at one time the Irish did possess chariots,
but at. what date these vehicles were introduced, it is at
present impossible to decide. The Irish designation
for a chariot, carpat, evidently borrowed from the Latin,
carpentum, points to its foreign origin. The late W. M.
Ilennessy was of opinion that chariot-racing in Ireland
preceded horse-racing ; and that for the first three
centuries of the Christian era, the chariot, in contradis-
tinction to the horse, would appear to have constituted
the universal means of locomotion in the country ; but
notwithstanding the glowing descriptions left us to the
ARCHITECTURE.
247
contrary, we may well believe that these vehicles were
little better than the heavy waggon of the Roman
husbandman. At the close of the third century, chariot-
racing is apparently superseded by horse-racing, the
stories of the Fenians, and pieces of perhaps more
genuine history of the period, represent horse-racing as
the delight of kings and chieftains. Saints, both male
and female, are described as going from place to place
in chariots ; for it is to be noted that the early converts
Fig. 50. — Chariots, from a compartment on the North Cross of Clonmacnoise.
(Christian period.)
to Christianity were from the highest grades of Pagan
society, and on the early sculptured crosses, chariots
and horses are frequently depicted.
In representations, sculptured on Irish crosses, of
chariots of a later date, the wheels appear then to have
been greatly increased in size, to have been, in fact,
higher than an ordinary horse. This may, however,
be the fault of the sculptor, who was, doubtless, igno-
rant of correct ideas of proportion. The wheel of one
chariot has eight, and the second only six, spokes.
Fig. 50, drawn by W, F. Wakeman, is taken from a
compartment on the east side of the North Cross at
Clonmacnoise.
248
PAGAN IRELAND :
Figure 50 a represents a fragment of the fittings of
a chariot. In the year 1848, workmen, when making
a railway-cutting near Navan Station, adjoining the
River Boyne, found it, in company with other relics,
which allow an approximate calculation
of its antiquity to be made. It belongs
to an early period of the establishment
of Christianity in Ireland. With it were
associated human osseous remains, and
the skull and skeleton of a horse. There
are two purposes to which this article
(fig. 50A) could be assigned: that of
an attachment of a trace or a straddle-
terret for suspending the back-band or
the shafts of a chariot. ' It is a boss
of iron, 3I- inches in diameter, covered
on its external face with a plate of white
metal, from the centre of which projects
a massive bronze stud, in the shape of
a dog's head, like that of a bloodhound,
i^ inches long, having a human face
engraved on its extremity. From a
large aperture in this projection de-
pends a piece of a bronze chain, com-
posed of two rings and two double
loops, the latter resembling those of
iron found in crannogs.'* The dis-
covery of remains of chariots, horses' bits, and harness
on the sites of lake-dwellings, suggest the question,
how did these relics get there ? The gangways and
entrances to some crannogs must have been stronger
and wider than hitherto they are supposed to have been.
Fig. 50 A.
Portion of Fittings of
a Chariot.
(Christian period.)
* Catalogue, Museum Royal Irish Academy, pp. 573, 611.
ARCHITECTURE. 249
The three cognate races, the Gauls, the Britons, and
the Irish, made use of chariots in war. With regard to
the two first, there is evidence of the fact in contem-
porary Roman writers, and with regard to the latter,
evidence to the same effect is given by Irish writers.
From comparison of several passages in old Irish MSS.,
the late J. O'Beirne Crowe was of opinion that, in the
times therein described, the framework of a chariot
consisted of wood, the body of great height, was formed
of wickerwork, and it had two hind shafts. There
were but two wheels, probably at first made of solid
wood, subsequently of bronze, and afterwards of iron,
the average height of the wheels must have been under
three feet. There was a hood or covering to the body
of the vehicle, and some interior furniture. It had a
pole to which a single yoke for two horses was
attached.
When used in war the chariot was covered along
the edges, and at every available point, with hooks,
nails, spikes, and other devices, so placed as to serve
defensive and offensive purposes.* It is curious to
compare this description with the chariots sculptured
on the cross of Killamery, on the north cross of Clon-
macnoise, at Monasterboice, and on the cross in the
churchyard at Kells. Caesar's description of the cha-
riots of the Britons, and their management in war,
should be carefully read.
If Irish records are to be credited, there were in
ancient days, regularly made roads radiating from Tara
into each of the other provinces. However, no such
traces as are left by Roman road-making in England
have been discovered in Ireland, where the roads were
* Journal R.H,A.A.I., vol. i., 4th series, p. 422.
250 PAGAN IRELAND :
most probably mere tracks of a certain width cleared of
undergrowth and of trees. They could not have been
either paved, or otherwise made serviceable for traffic,
or we should find evidence of them, as is the case with
those roads that were made by the Anglo-Normans.
O'Donovan, however, states that the ancient Irish
possessed numerous roads, ' which were cleaned and
kept in repair according to law.' Wooden roads,
across deep, treacherous morasses have been frequently
booooouu
Fig-. 51.— Section of roadway in soft ground.
discovered under a growth of peat, for example, one
evidently leading to a lake-dwelling in Loughnahinch,
county Tipperary ; another submerged roadway, con-
structed somewhat like an American 'corduroy road,'
was discovered in a bog between Castleconnell and the
Esker of Goig, county Limerick. In the north portion
U
Fig. 52. — Section of roadway in firm ground.
of the Wexford estuary was a causeway that, in ancient
times, connected Begerin with other islands ; there
were two rows of oak piles, on which apparently had
formerly been transverse beams. In Duncan's flow bog,
Ballyalbanagh, county Antrim, was a wooden roadway,
under 20 feet of peat. The road was 7 feet wide, formed
of longitudinal oak-beams, sheeted with transverse
planking of the same material. In the centre of the
bog, where the foundation was soft, there were eight
longitudinal beams under the planking (fig. 51), whilst
A R CHITECTUR E.
251
Fig. 53-
Plan of part of roadway showing
repairs.
in firmer ground, near the edge of the bog, there were
but three, one at each side and one in the centre (figs.
5 2 - 53)- On an ancient
wooden causeway, or
road, in Ballykillen Bog,
King's Co., a remarkable
axe, formed of bone, was
found 7 feet below the
then surface of the boo: :
with it was a flint arrow-
head, in a briar-root
shaft, the thong which
tied it still adhering.
These wooden cause-
ways were in reality but
well-formed kishes, or roads made to float on the sur-
face of river, marsh, or quagmire. The most elaborate
were made on a foundation of hurdles ; those less care-
fully constructed, on branches of trees, on which a thick
coating of rushes was strewn.
Passing from land communications to those by water,
it would appear that a canoe, formed by hollowing out
the trunk of a tree, had been the first attempt at boat-
building. To form a boat in this way, a people, even in
the rudest state of existence, must possess some consi-
derable ingenuity. It may be safely concluded, however,
that unless implements, or articles of stone or bronze,
are found with ' dug-outs,' they do not of themselves
carry us back to pre-historic times, nor do they neces-
sarily indicate the great antiquity commonly attributed
to them. Canoes have been found of the oldest type
known, and yet containing articles of iron of very
modern form. In the year 1852 workmen dug up, at
about four feet below the bed of the river Blackwater,
'252
PAGAN IRELAND
several single-piece canoes, formed of the trunks of
trees, and evidently hollowed out by the action of
fire and implements of stone. The canoes were of
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various sizes. One measured thirty feet in length.
Close to them some skulls were discovered, one of
which retained marks of a severe wound on the crown.
It is conjectured that on the spot there had been) an
ARCHITECTURE. 253
aquatic struggle, in which some of the occupants of
the canoes were killed and 'the fleet' sunk. Various
discoveries have been made of canoes beneath the waters
of lakes, beside the site of lake-dwellings, or under
great accumulations of peat; and owing to the preser-
vative properties of peaty matter, these canoes are
in a fairly sound state when first dug up ; but they get
out of shape during the process of drying. Upwards
of sixty recorded specimens have been discovered up
to the present.
Irish single-piece canoes may be roughly divided into
three classes. The first (figs. 54, 55), generally either
sharp or rounded at both extremities, average 20 feet
in length and about 2 feet in breadth ; some, however,
have been discovered square at both ends ; again, some
are flat-bottomed, and others round. The inside depth
varies, according to their state of preservation.
The second kind of canoe (fig. 56) is of greater length.
One found, measuring 40 feet, was round in the bow,
but square in the stern, which was formed of a separate
piece let into a groove within a few inches of the extre-
mity. This make of boat is more heavy and clumsy
than the preceding one.
The third variety of canoe is trough-shaped, and
has been very appropriately designated ' the portable
canoe.' Its length is from 8 to 12 feet. It is square
at both ends, round in the bottom, having projections
at either extremity, apparently for the convenience of
carrying it.
There is a peculiarity in the construction of some of
these canoes, for which, up to the present, no theory
accounts in a satisfactory manner, i.e. the number of
holes which, in many specimens, are drilled through the
sides or bottom of the canoe. In one large 'single-piece'
254
PAGAN IRELAND
I
boat (upwards of 42 feet in length) the total amounted
to 48 perforations. This extraordinary
number is unusual, for some have but
three, some six, &c. These holes are
drilled with apparent regularity, and their
relative positions emphatically proclaim
marks of design. Some are pierced
right through the bottom, generally
about 5 inches in thickness. In some
of them plugs of pine were found, evi-
dently inserted from the interior. Their
great number preclude the possibility
of their being drainage-holes.
Numbers of wooden canoe-paddles
have been found. Fig. 57 represents
one 2 feet 7 inches long by 5+ inches
across the blade.
Fig. 58 is supposed to have been em-
Fig- 57- ployed as an anchor. The shank must
W PadIle from & haVe been ° f W0 ° d > and lashed t0 the
Toome Bar. stone.
There is yet another kind of boat, the
currach, that was employed by the early
inhabitants. Of it, however, on account
of the perishable materials of which it
was composed, no materials have been
exhumed. Nothing can be more simple
than the construction of these skiffs.
Only two materials are requisite, and
they the most accessible in the country,
willow-rods and hides of animals. When stone, probably
Caesar had boats constructed in Spain, use asananc
after the manner learnt by him in Britain, it is said
that ' the keels and ribs were made of light timber,
Fig. 58.
ARCHITECTURE. 255
the rest of the hull being woven together with basket-
work, and covered with hides.'
' The bending willow into barks they twine,
Then line the work with spoils of slaughtered kine.
On such to neighbouring Gaul, allured by gain,
The bolder Britons cross the swelling main.'
Pliny describes these boats as being in use in the
British Channel. Solinus, describing the rough sea
between Britain and Ireland, mentions a similar class
of skiffs. Adamnan (in his Life of St. Columba) refers
to a voyage made in a currach by St. Cormac.
The currach, the carabns of classic writers, is thus
described by Isidorus : — ' Carabus, parva scapha ex
vimine facta, quae contexta crudo corio genus navigii
praebet.' It is also mentioned by Festus Avienus.
According to a rare pamphlet entitled A Short Tour of
the County of Clare, by John Lloyd, printed in 1780,
the currach seems to have been then still in general use
off the coast. The author styles it, 'an artificial curiosity
made use of by certain Individuals. . . . It's a kind of
Canoe or Currach, compos'd of Wattles, cover'd with
Raw Hydes. With this Indian-like construction, they
Fish successfully in the proper Season, and Paddle some
Leagues out in calm weather; In the Month of August
there is often a large Squadron of them together in the
Bay of Liscanor, and in this Fishing Posture they appear
like so many Porpoises on the Surface ; Each Man
carries his Wicker Boat, or Canoe, on his Back,
occasionally to and from the Shore' (fig. 59).
The currach is still in use in remote parts of England
and on some parts of the coast of Ireland, in shape
and build similar to that of thousands of years ago.
256 PA GAN IRELAND :
There seems to be no foundation, in fact, for the
extravagant accounts of the ancient glories of the Irish
.=*§£
Fig. 50. — Currach, as recently used in Ireland.
navy, which consisted, until the advent of Christianity,
of some kind of large currachs; these were in use in Ire-
ARCHITECTURE.
•lot
land at a very early date. One monarch of ancient Erin
was known as Eochaidh Uairceas, in consequence of his
having either invented or developed the fabrication of
small boats. Now Eochaid {anglice Achy) signifies a
horseman, and uairceas, a small skiff, so the expression
' horse marine,' in its inception, is not a modern Irish
bull, but the very appropriate name of an Irish king
who, it is alleged, lived nearly 2500 years ago.
The civilization of a nation may, to a certain extent,
be gauged by the architectural outcome of its religion ;
up to the present time no authenticated remains of any
temples or religious edifices of the ancient Irish can
be pointed out. A fierce and warlike race, who raised
megalithic monuments to the honour of their chiefs,
appear to have erected these memorials to commemorate
their dead, and the worship of a deity or deities in nowise
entered the imagination of their builders, though, in
aftertimes, the dead became to a certain extent deified.
Although the ancient inhabitants, at this stage of human
existence in Erin, were doubtless somewhat removed
from what we would now regard as mere savagery, yet
the architectural remains which they have left do not
exhibit traces of the high culture and civilization claimed
for them by many enthusiastic writers.
258 PAGAN IRELAND :
CHAPTER VII.
SEPULCHRES — PILLAR-STONES — SPEAKING-STONES —
HOLED-STONES — STONE CHAIRS — ROCKING-STONES.
ot only from the face of the country, but also
from the memory of its present inhabitants,
the memorials of its dead are rapidly vanish-
ing, and it is apt to be forgotten that, from
the gigantic chambered earn of New Grange
to the simplest cist, the megalithic structures of
Ireland are but the graves of a primitive race.
Since these huge weather-beaten blocks were piled
up by primitive man, how often the form of worship
has changed. Time has effaced the race that reared
them, together with their religion, but the monuments
remain. The most important of our megalithic mortuary
structures are, by Act of Parliament, protected from
dilapidation and destruction, but unfortunately the
protection afforded is more nominal than real. Any
person can now delve amongst the bones of primitive
interments without impediment. Such should not be
permitted, except under proper restrictions and super-
vision, for the contents of sepulchres are often of more
importance than the structures themselves, and are
more likely to throw light on the unwritten history of
the remote past ; yet, despite many disadvantages, and
much apathy in archaeological investigation, we have
vaguely ascertained the manner in which the early
. SEPULCHRES. 259
inhabitants treated their dead. Except in remote and
mountainous localities, the peasantry do not now take
the same interest as formerly in the megalithic structures
reared by their ' rude forefathers ' ; they do not venerate
monuments from which legend and glamour have alike
fled, and of which they do not understand the origin.
Fortunately those monuments that still exist are, as a
rule, situated on ground unfitted for cultivation, or they
are of, perhaps, such magnitude as places an effectual
barrier against removal for purposes of agricultural
improvement. Climate, the productions of the country
in which they dwell, and the habits of life thereby
engendered, influence strongly the character and acts
of a people ; and although the general instinctive
feelings of primitive man led him to honour the last
resting-place of his dead, yet the memorials thus erected
necessarily depended upon the kind of materials at hand
that were available for the purpose ; thus the geological
nature of the surroundings must be taken into considera-
tion, not merely with regard to megalithic structures,
but also to cashels, some of which, according to the
districts in which they were found, had been constructed
with stones of small size, whilst, in other instances, the
stones are of greater magnitude.
The first species of megalithic sepulchral-structure
to be considered is the 'cromleac,' the 'dolmen' of
English and French writers, the 'labby' of the Irish-
speaking peasant. In the Abbey of Knockmoy, countv
Galway, there is an Irish inscription belonging to
the close of the fourteenth century, which offers an
unquestionable example of the use of the word leaba
(labby), i.e. bed, to designate a sepulchre. It shows that
the natives thoroughly understood the term, when applied
to the rude stone monuments of Ireland, to indicate,
s 2
260 PAGAN IRELAND:
not merely sepulchres, but places of rest. To the mind
of the primitive race who reared them, they were, most
probably, as truly the habitations of the spirit of the
dead, as were their dwellings the abode of the living- ;
they were the 'beds' into which all the members
of the clan or family were ultimately to be laid in
their long repose. Hence reverence to the dead de-
veloped into worship of the dead, then to their deifi-
cation ; and upon the appearance of new creeds, a
deterioration in their attributes set in, and finallv
even of their personal appearance. When the two
daughters of King Leoghaire saw St. Patrick with
his attendants, they regarded them as apparitions,
Duine sidhe, gods of the earth, or phantoms, whilst
in Colgan's time such spirits had degenerated into
fairies.
We, nowadays, bury our dead out of sight and shrink
from all associations connected with death ; but with
the ancient Irish there was such a constant commu-
nication with the receptacles of the dead, that of all
the monuments left by the primitive inhabitants none
bring us into such close contact with them as a careful
examination of their last resting-places.
The ancient Irish believed that their dead, though
deposited underground, still lived the same life as on
earth. This idea is exemplified in the story of the
' Cave of Ainged,' preserved in several mss. t.c.d.
The plot is as follows : Ailell and the celebrated Medb,
king and queen of Connaught, were celebrating the
feast of Samain — on November night — in their palace
of Croghan. On that night the siJ, or spirits inhabit-
ing the tombs and other localities, were allowed to
emerge from their retreats and run to and fro upon
the earth. To test the valour of his household the
SEPULCHRES. 2G1
king offered a suitable reward to any young warrior
who would sally from the banqueting-hall and tie a
coil of twisted twigs upon the leg of a man whom he
had caused to be hanged, and who was then suspended
just outside the palace.
The only one who succeeded was a hero named
Nera ; but on completion of the act the hanged man
came to life and imposed numerous commands on his
resuscitator, with all of which he had to comply. When
released from his task he saw the palace of Croghan in
flames, and a host of strange men plundering the build-
ings. He followed them into the cave of Croghan,
and into ' the sid of the cave.' Here he was imme-
diately taken prisoner, kept at hard work, and was
compelled to marry one of the women of the sid. He
finally managed to escape to upper air, and returned to
the king of Connaught, with such an amount of infor-
mation regarding the sid and its contents, that on a
succeeding Samai?i or November day earthly forces
broke into the treasure-house of the underground spirit-
world, and carried off great booty and costly treasure.
Even the Greek mind did not rise to the conception
that the soul after death might become a greater spirit
power than when on earth, or that it could exist without
a physical body. Their departed lived — like the char-
acters represented in the Irish legend — the life they
had been accustomed to on earth, and hankered after
the fleshpots of the upper world.
When we trench on the commencement of written
records the idea of a spirit or soul comes into existence ;
but it cannot even then be quite divorced from the body.
In ' The Pursuit of Dermod and Grania,' Aengus, the
magician, arrived on the scene after the hero's death,
and he carried the corpse from the heights of Benbulbin
262 PA GAN IRELAND :
to ' the Brngh on the Boyne,' explaining his action by
stating that although he could not restore him to life,
he would ' send a soul into him, so that he may talk to
me each day.' This strange passage is also elucidatory
of the constant communication supposed to be carried
on between the abodes of the living and of the dead.
In pagan sepulchres the cromleac occupies a leading
position for its grandeur and simplicity. The theory
of progressive development naturally suggests that the
more simple the construction, the more remote is its
age, and the best authorities who have studied the
megalithic structures of Ireland are of opinion that they
are not all of one period, although they may be the
work of one race. If the remains deposited under
cromleacs are similar to those found under the other
rude-stone monuments, and if we can trace these
characteristic forms of sepulchral monuments back to
the East, it is likely that the race who reared them
came also from the East; for modern research traces
such an early and megalithic building people from the
far East — a people who once spread themselves over the
greater part of Europe, Asia, and the north coast of
Africa.
Between the lowly cist, composed of four or more
flags with a covering-stone, and a gigantic cham-
bered earn, there is seemingly a great difference; but
that the latter is a development of the former, through
such connectins; links as varieties of cromleac-like
monuments afford, there can be but little question.
The cromleac consists of a large mass of rock, poised
on three or more upright blocks, all of unhewn stone,
forming a rude chamber, usually open at one end, and
sometimes divided internally by an upright slab ; the
whole bearing evidence of having been constructed on
SEPULCHRES. 263
the surface of the ground, and of having been always
sub-aerial, i.e. never covered by a mound of earth or
stones. The covering-slab, or massive rock, is generally
in an inclined position ; but this, it is thought, may be
occasioned by the sinking of the uprights on which
they are poised, for it is unlikely that, without carefully
prepared foundations, all the supporting pillars would
sink in an equal degree, under the superincumbent
weight. ' This general disposition of the " table," '
remarks W. F. Wakeman, ' has been largely seized by
advocates of the " Druid's Altar" theory as a proof of
the soundness of their opinion that these monuments
were erected for the purpose of human sacrifice. Some
enthusiastic dreamers have gone so far as to discover —
in the hollows worn by the rains and storms of centuries
on the upper surface of these venerable stones — channels
artificially excavated, for the purpose of facilitating the
passage of a victim's blood earthwards ! '* Cromleacs
are, when undisturbed, almost invariably surrounded by
a circle of large stones. The circle is often double;
the inner one is formed of smaller stones placed
edge to edge, and these being in many instances very
diminutive in size, they generally escape observation
on a cursory examination, as the gradual increase in
height of the surface-soil has either covered them
completely, or they now protrude, at intervals, only
slightly above the present level. In rare instances
there occurs a third circle within the second. What-
ever form, however, the enclosure around cromleacs or
other megalithic structures may assume, it is certain
that it formed the external mark or barrier, by which the
place of interment was distinguished and cut off from
* ArchcEologia Hibernica, p. 5;
264 PA GAN IRELAND :
the surrounding area, as regarded trespass of man or
beast.
Keats thus happily compares his ' bruised ' Titans to
a ruined stone circle : —
' . . . . one here and there
Lay vast and edgeways like a dismal cirque
Of Druid stones upon a forlorn moor.'
The finest stone circle in Ireland may be seen at
Wattle Bridge, near Newtownbutler ; some of the
boulders composing it are over sixteen feet in length.
Many Irish prehistoric remains are, in extent and
rude grandeur of construction, unmatched by the
same class of monuments in Great Britain.*
Cromleacs are sometimes styled ' Giants' Graves' by
the peasantry, who probably made the very pardonable
mistake of confusing great men with big men ; perhaps
the size of some of the monuments first gave rise to the
idea that giants were buried in them. It is not, how-
ever, always the greatest men — either mentally or physi-
cally — that have the largest monuments erected over
them, and if some of these hitherto undisturbed tombs
were scientifically examined, it might be discovered that
their occupants belonged to a primitive and undersized
race. Some antiquaries hold that all our cromleacs,
great and small, had been originally covered either by
a earn of stones or by a mound of earth. That such
was not the case, with very many examples, can be
abundantly proved, particularly with regard to those
monuments still existing in remote localities, and as yet
' untouched by Time's rude hand ' or that of the modern
agricultural vandal ; also those situated on the summits
* Journal R.H.A.A. I., vol. v., 4th series, p. 538 : W. F.
Wakeman.
SEPULCHRES. 265
of mountains, or in localities so abounding in stone,
that no temptation was presented to the spoiler.
Chambers, or cists covered with flat stones, have been
found under a mound of earth or of stones, but universal
tradition and the present appearance of cromleacs
assure us that they were ever in the same sub-aerial
state.
On this subject G. H. Kinahan remarks that ' in the
barony of Burren, county Clare, there are, in different
places, cromleac-like structures ; these could never
have been enclosed in either stone or earthen mounds,
as they are erected on the bare limestone crags.'
Cromleacs, as a rule, occupy situations similar to
those in which tumuli occur ; yet, notwithstanding this,
cromleacs invariably stand alone, i. e. are sub-aerial —
uncovered save by the table-stone — in contradistinction
to the cists which are frequently covered. It cannot
be supposed that, had the cromleacs been denuded by
human agency, no vestige of an original covering of
stones or clay would remain ; or, admitting the com-
plete and unaccountable removal of the superincumbent
layer or layers, why then should this part, containing
the largest, best, and most useful stones for building
purposes, remain perfect, with its interment sometimes
untouched ? It is evident that, as a rule, cromleacs
were erected without much attempt at nice adjustment
of the side-stones, or supports ; whilst on the other
hand, traces of care and trouble are observable in the
construction of most of the covered cists.
The top-stone of the cromleac of Mount Brown, near
Carlow, is computed to weigh no tons.
The table or covering-stone of a fine cromleac at
Howth measures 18 by 20 feet in length, its thickness
being upwards of 8 feet ; the block has been computed
266 PAGAN IRELAND :
to weigh about 90 tons. Many fine examples of this
class of megalithic monument are in close proximity
to Dublin, and will, to an antiquary, well repay the
trouble of a visit.
The finest monument of the Moytirra series of rude
stone monuments in the county Sligo presents a good
example of a large cromleac (fig. 60). The country
people commonly call it ' The Labby,' the Irish-
speaking natives Leaba Dhiarmada agus GrainnL The
covering-stone, oblong in shape, is of immense size; it
averages 15 feet 6 inches on two sides, 8 feet 6 inches
at the extremities (fig. 61), and the same in depth.
There are apparently six supports to this stone, but the
weight rests really on only four ; it is composed of lime-
stone, and taking its usual weight per cubic foot, the
mass must weigh close upon 75 tons.
Fig. 62 gives a good idea of the Ballymascallan crom-
leac, near Dundalk, locally known as the ' Puleek Stone.'
The cap-stone, a basaltic erratic, computed to weigh
46 tons, rests on three slender supports, the entire
structure having a total height of 12 feet. The small
stones on top of the table-stone are said to be there
thrown by the credulous, who believe that, if one rests
there, the thrower will be married before the expira-
tion of a year.
Fig. 63 is a view of Legananny cromleac, situated on
the slope of Legananny mountain, about nine miles
from Castlewellan, county Down. It is 10 feet in
height, the cap-stone being 1 1 feet 4 inches by 5 feet,
and about 2 feet thick.
In the townland of Tawnnatruffaun, parish of Kil-
macshalgan, county Sligo, may be seen a fine example
of a cromleac (lig. 64). Unfortunately the support at
its north-west termination has fallen inwards, thus
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Fig. 62.
Rallymascallan Cromleac, or 'The Pulcek Stone,' near Dunclalk. Weight of cap-stone
46 tons. From Welch's Irish Views.
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SEPULCHRES.
267
diminishing the average height above ground of the
level of the under surface of the covering-slab, which
had been originally in all probability upwards of 6 feet.
The table-stone measures 1 1 feet 6 inches by about 9
feet, but only averages a little over 2 feet in thickness.
Of the entire series of cromleacs at Carrowmore,
near the town of Sligo, that represented by fig. 65 is the
finest and best preserved. Indeed it, and its sur-
Fig. 64.— Tavvnatruffaun Cromleac, county Sligo. About 7 feet in height.
rounding circle (fig. 66), may be considered perfect ;
whilst its situation on the ridge of a hill gives it
an imposing and picturesque effect ; its porch-like
entrance is very remarkable. The cromleac, though
the largest of the group, is but 7 feet in extreme
height. Dr. Petrie, who examined most of these
sepulchres, left no record of a search having been
made in it, yet it had evidently undergone a thorough
clearing out. The soil, however, was well re-siftedj
and the corners and crevices carefully examined. The
268
PAGAN IRELAND .
usual flagging at the bottom of the chamber had been
removed, but a couple of stones still remained in position
at the angles : here were found eighty small fragments
of bone, greyish-white in colour, apparently calcined,
some traces of the bones of animals, crustacese, &c,
and a worked flint. This flake would, in the north of
Ireland, be considered of very little value : found,
Fig. 66.— Ground Plan of No. 7 Monument, Carrowmore.
(Scale 20 feet to 1 inch.)
however, in the West of Ireland, at a distance from a
flint formation, it is replete with interest, and points to
traffic or barter with the North, for flint proper or chalk
flint is only found in very few localities in Ireland,
chiefly in the counties Antrim, Down, and Deny.
Next to the cromleac may be classed the cist — some-
times styled the kistvaen, or stone-chest — a rude rect-
angular chamber of four or more stones, slab-like in
SEPULCHRES. 269
form ; in some instances there is a double row, covered
with a flat flag or flags, constructed either below or on
the soil ; either sub-aSrial or covered with a mound of
clay or stones. The floor, in general, is rudely flagged,
and the sides of the cist are sometimes lined with low,
narrow flags ; these cists or chambers, both uncovered
or covered with earth or stones, are often grouped
together in curious patterns, in lines, single, double, or
triple, in the form of a cross, connecting stone circles,
so as to form a dumb-bell — in fact in all possible com-
binations.
Sometimes, but rarely, the slabs over covered cists
containing cinerary fictilia are ' shaped like a mill-
stone' ; two such were noticed in the county Sligo.
In the summer of 1848 a swamp in the demesne of
Milverton (through which a stream ran) was drained.
On the subsoil, beneath the peat, were found the remains
of a diminutive water-mill, made of oak ; in the interior
were two small grindstones, the one eight, the other
five inches in diameter. Close to it were large heaps
of bones, boars' teeth, and skulls of the wild oxen.
Covering the top of a cist in a pagan cemetery in the
immediate vicinity were found two similar mill-stones,
one broken, the other tolerably perfect.* Other in-
stances could be cited, but very little attention has been
directed towards this subject, which must belong to the
latest period of urn-burial.
Strange, fantastic, as well as purely local or descrip-
tive designations have been bestowed by the peasantry
on the rude stone monuments of the cromleac and cist-
like class, and even on rude earth-fast rocks situated in
widely-severed localities in Ireland.
* Journal Kilkenny Archceological Society, vol. ii. (new series),
p. 252.
270 r.lGAN IRELAND:
In the sandhills of Finner, between Bundoran and
Ballyshannon, there is an earth-fast roek called the
' Fleatueh.' The signification of this word is un-
known. At Moytirra, in the county Sligo, there is
a huge rectangular block of grey magnesian lime-
stone, nearly 18 feet in height, a little over 7 feet
broad on two of its sides, and 1 1 feet 6 inches on the
others. It conveys at first sight the idea of being a
pillar-stone, but on examination it proved to be in
reality an erratic boulder, placed in its present position
by the hand of Nature. It was originally of greater
bulk, for two immense pieces have, through the agency
of frost or other natural causes, been torn from its sides,
and now lie prostrate at its base. This gigantic block
is called the 'Eglone' (fig. 67); no one in the neigh-
bourhood was able to give any explanation of the
word. The question arises, Could it have been an
idol-stone ?
The most common appellation of the cromleac is
' tabby,' or ' Dermod and Grama' s Bed,' this designation
being derived from the well-known legend of Dermod
O'Dyna's elopement with Grainne, or Grania.
Leaba-caillighe y pronounced Labba-cally,* i.e. the
' Hag's Bed,' is a term also given to these monuments,
or more particularly, the witch ' Vera's,' or ' Aynia's
Bed,' also 'The Fairy's Bed,' or 'House,' the 'Giant's
r.rd,'| and Leaba-fianna, or the Fiann's Bed.
* For example, in Frazer's Guide through Ireland mention is
in. nli oi .1 carious sepulchral monument, situated about a mile from
the village oi Glanworth, aeai Fermoy, and styled ' I. aha -tally,' ,\
the Hag s-bed. I 1 e d< sign ii<>n for a witch and a nun are in Irish
pronounced, it is stated, alike. Jt is strange that there should I e
tlii> similarity between a term describing what were the ancient
godd the people, and the representatives of the new religion.
t There 1- proof that at the time the old ' Lives ' of St. Patrick
wiie compiled, some ol the rude -turn- monuments were then re*
7V> /.«. i /
Fig. 67.
The • Bftione,' n.-.ir the rillag d . « ountj Sligo.
SEPULCHRES. 271
Half-way between Belleek and Ballyshannon there is
a cromleac styled Labbinlee, t. e. the bed of the hero,
thus embodying the tradition that the monument was
erected over an old warrior of the forgotten past ; and
near Cootehill, county Cavan, there is a townland styled
Labbyanlee, which doubtless also received its name
from some cromleac.
Lackanscaul, i. e. the flagstone of the hero, is the
designation of a large cromleac, in the townland of
Kilmogue, county Kilkenny. Here tradition is silent
with regard to the hero buried beneath.
There are also names simply descriptive of the appear-
ance of the structure, such as the ' Grey Stone,' the
'Speckled' or 'Bracked Stone'; ' Cloyhtogla,' i.e. the
raised or uplifted stone,* in allusion to the covering
boulder or rock. Then there are fanciful or poetical
names, 'The Children of the Mermaid,' 'The Black
Boar's Grave,' 'The Giant's Griddle,' 'The Load,'
'The Giant's Load,' 'The Grey Man's Load,' 'The
Giant's Quoits,' 'Finn Mac Cumhaill's Rock,' 'Finn
.Mac Cumhaill's Finger-stone,' ' The Stones of the
Champion,' and Cloghnabogh.il, near Ballintoy, County
Antrim, signifies 'the Stone of the Youth.' A circle of
boulders, 27 feet in diameter, styled ' Cucullin's tomb,'
and then almost covered by the sand which the waves
yarded as the ' Resting-places of the Giants ' ; for, when the National
Saint was going round Ireland preaching the Gospel, he saw by the
wayside a tomb of great size, about thirty feet in length. The
saint's companions expressed the opinion that no human being
could ever have attained a stature requiring such a grave ; where-
upon St. Patrick, to prove to his half-doubting disciples the truth
of the resurrection to come, called up the gigantic inhabitant of the
tomb to life !
* In the construction of these monuments a really difficult engi-
neering feat was the lifting and proper placing on its uprights the
heavy mass of stone forming its roof, which in many instances
272 PAGAN IRELAND:
washed on to it, was, in the last century, pointed out
near Tanrego, County Sligo.
About a mile from the village of Dundonald, county
Down, there is, in the corner of a field, a remark-
able monument called the ' Kempe Stones' ; according
to the tradition of the neighbourhood, a giant is here
interred who was slain by a warrior of superior strength.
The locality in which the structure stands is styled
Baille-dough-togal — the place of the lifted stone.
In a recess of a mountainous ridge called the Craigs,
in the parish of Finvoy, county Antrim, there are the
ruins of a megalithic structure called 'The Broadstone.'
Adjoining, is a round cavity, about 2 feet in diameter,
faced with stone, and called the ' Giant's Pot.' The
1 Broadstone ' marks the grave of the giant ; a little to
the northward three large upright stones are said to
mark the graves of three of his followers.*
exceeds 100 tons in weight. It is thought that the plan suggested by
the 
