IRELAND.
MOYTURA.
It is probable, after all, that it is from the Irish annals that the
greatest amount of light will be thrown on the history and uses of
the Megalithic monuments. Indeed, had not Lord Melbourne's Ministry
in 1839, in a fit of ill-timed parsimony, abolished the Historical
Commission attached to the Irish Ordnance Survey, we should not now
be groping in the dark. Had they even retained the services of Dr.
Petrie till the time of his death, he would have left very little to
be desired in this respect. But nothing of the sort was done. The
fiat went forth. All the documents and information collected during
fourteen years' labour by a most competent staff of explorers were cast
aside--all the members dismissed on the shortest possible notice, and
our knowledge of the ancient history and antiquities of Ireland thrown
back half a century, at least.[201]
Meanwhile, however, a certain number of the best works of the Irish
annalists have been carefully translated and edited by John O'Donovan
and others, and are sufficient to enable any one not acquainted with
Irish to check the wild speculations of antiquaries of the Vallancy
and O'Brien class, and also to form an opinion on the value of the
annals themselves, though hardly yet sufficient to enable a stranger
to construct a reliable scheme of chronology or history out of the
heterogeneous materials presented to him. We must wait till some second
Petrie shall arise, who shall possess a sufficient knowledge of the
Irish language and literature, without losing his Saxon coolness of
judgment, before we can hope to possess a reliable and consecutive
account of ancient Ireland.
When this is done, it will probably be found that the Irish possess a
more copious literature, illustrative of the eocene period of their
early history, than almost any other country of Europe. Ireland may
also boast that, never having been conquered by the Romans, she
retained her native forms, and the people their native customs and
fashions, uninterrupted and uninfluenced by Roman civilization, for a
longer time than the other countries of Europe which were subjected to
its sway.
As most important and instructive parts of the Irish annals, it is
proposed first to treat of those passages descriptive of the two
battles of Moytura[202] (Magh Tuireadh), both of which occurred
within a period of a very few years. A description of the fields on
which they were fought will probably be sufficient to set at rest the
question as to the uses of cairns and circles; and if we can arrive at
an approximative date, it will go far to clear up the difficulties in
understanding the age of the most important Irish antiquities.
The narrative which contains an account of the battle of Southern
Moytura, or Moytura Cong, is well known to Irish antiquaries. It
has not yet been published, but a translation from a MS. in Trinity
College, Dublin, was made by John O'Donovan for the Ordnance Survey,
and was obtained from their records above alluded to by Sir William
Wilde. He went over the battle-field repeatedly with the MS. in his
hand, and has published a detailed account of it, with sufficient
extracts to make the whole intelligible.[203] The story is briefly
this:--At a certain period of Irish history a colony of Firbolgs, or
Belgæ, as they are usually called by Irish antiquaries, settled in
Ireland, dispossessing the Fomorians, who are said to have come from
Africa. After possessing the country for thirty-seven years, they
were in their turn attacked by a colony of Tuatha de Dananns coming
from the north, said to be of the same race and speaking a tongue
mutually intelligible. On hearing of the arrival of these strangers,
the Firbolgs advanced from the plains of Meath as far as Cong, situated
between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, where the first battle was fought,
and, after being fiercely contested for four days, was decided in
favour of the invaders.[204]
The second battle was fought seven years afterwards, near Sligo, under
circumstances which will be detailed more fully below, and resulted
equally in favour of the Tuatha de Dananns, and they in consequence
obtained possession of the country, which, according to the Four
Masters, they held for 197 years.[205]
[Illustration: 54. Circle on Battle-field of Southern Moytura. From Sir
W. Wilde.]
[Illustration: 55. Cairn on Battle-field of Southern Moytura.]
The field on which the four-days' battle of Southern Moytura was fought
extends from five to six miles north and south. Near the centre of the
space, and nearly opposite the village of Cong, is a group of five
stone circles, one of which, 54 feet in diameter, is represented in
the annexed woodcut (No. 54). Another, very similar, is close by; and
a third, larger but partially ruined, is within a few yards of the
first. The other two can only now be traced, and two more are said to
have existed close by, but have entirely disappeared. On other parts of
the battle-field there are six or seven large cairns of stone, all of
them more or less ruined, the stones having been used to build dykes,
with which every field is surrounded in this country; but none of them
have been scientifically explored. One is represented (woodcut No. 55).
Sir W. Wilde has identified all of these as connected with incidents
in the battle, and there seems no reason to doubt his conclusions. The
most interesting, however, is one connected with an incident in the
battle, which is worth relating, as illustrating the manner in which
the monuments corroborate the history. On the morning of the second day
of the battle, King Eochy retired to a well to refresh himself with
a bath, when three of his enemies looking down, recognised him and
demanded his surrender. While he was parleying with them, they were
attacked by his servant and killed; but the servant died immediately
afterwards of his wounds, and, as the story goes, was interred with
all honours in a cairn close by. In the narrative it is said that the
well where the king had so narrow an escape is the only open one in
the neighbourhood. It is so to the present day; for the peculiarity of
the country is, that the waters from Lough Mask do not flow into Lough
Corrib by channels on the surface, but entirely through chasms in the
rock underground, and it is only when a crack in the rock opens into
one of these that the water is accessible. The well in question is the
only one of these for some distance in which the water is approached
by steps partly cut in the rock, partly constructed. Close by is a
cairn (woodcut No. 56), called to this day the "Cairn of the One Man."
It was opened by Sir W. Wilde, and in its chamber was found one urn,
which is now deposited in the Museum of the Royal Academy at Dublin,
the excavation thus confirming the narrative in the most satisfactory
manner.
[Illustration: 56. The Cairn of the "One Man," Moytura.]
[Illustration: 57. Urn in the Cairn of the "One Man," Moytura.]
"The battle took place on Midsummer day. The Firbolgs were defeated
with great slaughter, and their king, who left the battle-field
with a body-guard of 100 brave men in search of water to allay his
burning thirst, was followed by a party of 150 men, led by the three
sons of Nemedh, who pursued him all the way to the strand, called
Traigh Eothaile, near Ballysadare, in the county of Sligo. Here a
fierce combat ensued, and King Eochy (Eochaidh) fell, as well as the
leaders on the other side, the three sons of Nemedh."[206] A cairn is
still pointed out on a promontory jutting into the bay, about a mile
north-west of the village of Ballysadare, which is said to have been
erected over the remains of the king, and bones are also said to have
been found between high and low water on the strand beneath, supposed
to be those of the combatants who fell in the final struggle. It may
be otherwise, but there is a consistency between the narrative and the
monuments on the spot which can hardly be accidental, and which it will
be very difficult to explain except in the assumption that they refer
to the same events.
In fact, it would be difficult to conceive anything more satisfactory
and confirmatory of the record than the monuments on the plain; and no
one, I fancy, could go over the field with Sir William's book in his
hand, without feeling the importance of his identifications. Of course
it may be suggested that the book was written by some one familiar with
the spot, to suit the localities. The probability, however, of this
having been done before the ninth century, and done so soberly and so
well, is very remote, and the guess that but one urn would be found
in the cairn of the "One Man," is a greater piece of luck than could
reasonably be expected. Even, however, if the book was written to suit
the localities, it will not invalidate the fact that a great battle was
fought on this spot, and that these cairns and these circles mark the
graves of those who fell in the fight.
The collection of monuments on the battle-field of Northern Moytura is
even more interesting than that on Moytura Cong, and almost justified
the assertion of Petrie "that, excepting the monuments at Carnac,
in Brittany, it is, even in its present state of ruin, the largest
assemblage of the kind hitherto discovered in the world."[207] They
have also this advantage, that the principal group, consisting of some
sixty or seventy monuments, are situated on an elevated table-land, and
in an area extending not more than a mile in one direction, and about
half a mile in another. The country, too, is much less stony than about
Cong, so that the monuments stand out better and have a more imposing
look. Petrie examined and described sixty-four monuments as situated in
or around this space, and came to the conclusion that originally there
could not have been less than 200.[208] My impression is that there
may have been 100, but hardly more, though, of course, this is only a
guess, and the destruction of them is going on so rapidly that he may
be right after all.
In the space above described almost every variety of Megalithic
art is to be found. There are stone cairns, with dolmens in their
interiors--dolmens standing alone, but which have been evidently always
exposed; dolmens with single circles; others with two or three circles
of stones around them; and circles without dolmens or anything else in
the centres. The only form we miss is the avenue. Nothing of the sort
can now, at least, be traced, nor does it seem that any of the circles
possessed such appendages.
[Illustration: 58. Battle-field of Northern Moytura.
Scale 6 inches to 1 mile.]
The annexed woodcut (No. 58) will explain the disposition of the
principal group. It is taken from the Ordnance Survey, and is perfectly
correct as far as it goes, but being only on the 6-inch scale, is
too small to show the form of the monuments.[209] In the centre is,
or rather was, a great cairn, called Listoghil. It is marked by
Petrie as No. 51, but having for years been used as a quarry for the
neighbourhood, it is now so mined that it is difficult to make out
either its plan or dimensions. Petrie says it is 150 feet in diameter;
I made it 120. It was surrounded by a circle of great stones, within
which was the cairn, originally, probably, 40 or 50 feet high. All this
has been removed to such an extent as to expose the kistvaen or dolmen
in its centre. Its cap stone is 10 feet square and 2 feet thick, and is
of limestone, as are its supports. All the other monuments are composed
of granite boulders. "Those who first opened it assert that they found
nothing within but burnt wood and human bones. The half-calcined bones
of horses and other animals were and are still found in this cairn in
great quantities" (Petrie, p. 250). In a note it is said that a large
spear-head of stone (flint?) was also found in this cairn.
[Illustration: 59. Sketch-plan of Circle 27, Northern Moytura.]
The annexed woodcut (No. 59) will give an idea of the general
disposition of a circle numbered 27 by Petrie.[210] It is of about the
medium size, being 60 feet in diameter. The general dimensions of the
circles are 40, 60, 80, and one (No. 46) is 120 feet in diameter. The
outer circle of No. 27 is composed of large stones, averaging 6 feet in
height, and some 20 feet in circumference. Inside this is a circle of
smaller stones, nearly obliterated by the turf, and in the centre is a
three-chambered dolmen, of which fifteen stones still remain; but all
the cap stones, except that of the central inner chamber, are gone, and
that now stands on its edge in front of its support.
The general appearance of this circle will be understood from the
annexed view (woodcut No. 60), taken from a photograph. It does not,
however, do justice to its appearance, as the camera was placed too low
and does not look into the circle, as the eye does. In the distance is
seen the hill, called Knock na Rea, surmounted by the so-called Cairn
of Queen Meave, of which more hereafter.
[Illustration: 60. View of Circle 27, Northern Moytura. From a
photograph.]
Another of these circles, No. 7, is thus described by Petrie:--"This
circle, with its cromlech, are perfect. Its diameter is 37 feet, and
the number of stones thirty-two. The cromlech is about 8 feet high, the
table-stone resting on six stones of great magnitude: it is 9 feet long
and 23 feet in circumference." Its general appearance will be seen in
the annexed view from a photograph (woodcut No. 61); though this, as in
the last instance, is far from doing justice to its appearance.[211]
[Illustration: 61. Dolmen, with Circle, No. 7, Northern Moytura. From a
photograph.]
No. 37 is described by Dr. Petrie (p. 248) as a triple circle. The
inner one 40 feet in diameter. The second of twelve large stones,
and of 80 feet, the third as a circle of 120 feet in diameter. "The
cromlech is of the smallest size, not more than 4 feet in height. The
circumference of the stone table is 16 feet, and it rests on five
supporters."
Excavations were made into almost all these monuments either by Mr.
Walker, the proprietor of the ground, or by Dr. Petrie, and, with
scarcely one exception, they yielded evidence of sepulchral uses.
Either human bones were found or urns containing ashes. No iron,
apparently, was found in any. A bronze sword is said to have been
found, forty years ago, in 63; but generally there was nothing but
implements of bone or stone. At the time Petrie wrote (1837) these
were not valued, or classified, as they have since been; so we cannot
draw any inference from them as to the age of the monuments, and no
collection, that I am aware of, exists in which these "finds" are now
accessible. Indeed, I am afraid that Petrie and those who worked with
him were too little aware of the importance of these material points of
evidence, to be careful either to collect or to describe the contents
of these graves; and as all or nearly all have been opened, that source
of information may be cut off for ever.
Besides these monuments on the battle-field, there are two others,
situated nearly equidistant from it, and which seem to belong to the
same group; one known as the Tomb of Misgan Meave, the celebrated
Queen of Connaught, who lived apparently contemporaneously with Cæsar
Augustus, or rather, as the annalists insist, with Jesus Christ;[212]
though, according to the more accurate Tighernach, her death occurred
in the 7th year of Vespasian, in A.D. 75.[213] It is situated
on the top of a high hill known as Knock na Rea (woodcut No. 60),
at a distance of two miles westward from the battle-field. It was
described by the Rt. Hon. William Burton, in 1779, as an enormous heap
of small stones, and is of an oval figure, 650 feet in circumference
at the base, 79 feet slope on one side and 67 feet on the other. The
area on the top is 100 feet in its longest diameter and 85 feet in
its shortest. When Petrie visited it in 1837, it was only 590 feet in
circumference, and the longest diameter on the top only 80 feet. It
had in the interval, in fact, been used as a quarry; and I have no
doubt but that the flat top originally measured the usual 100 feet,
and was circular. "Around its base," says Petrie, "are the remains
of many sepulchral monuments of lesser importance, consisting of
groups of large stones forming circular or oval enclosures. A careful
excavation within these tombs by Mr. Walker resulted in the discovery
not only of human interments, but also of several rude ornaments and
implements of stone of a similar character to those usually found in
sepulchres of this class in Ireland, and which, being unaccompanied by
any others of a metallic nature, identify this group of monuments as
of contemporaneous age with those of Carrowmore, among which no iron
remains are known to have been discovered, and mark them as belonging
to any period of semi-civilized society in Ireland."[214]
From their situation, it seems hardly possible to doubt that these
smaller tombs are contemporaneous with or subsequent to the Great
Cairn; and if this really were the tomb of Queen Meave, it would throw
some light on our subject. The great cairn has not, however, been dug
into yet; and till that is done the ownership of the tomb cannot be
definitely fixed. There are several reasons, however, for doubting
the tradition. In the first place, we have the direct testimony of a
commentary written by Moelmuiri, that Meave (Meahbh) was buried at
Rathcroghan, which was the proper burying-place of her race; "her body
having been removed by her people from Fert Medhbha; for they deemed it
more honourable to have her interred at Cruachan."[215] As the Book of
the Cemeteries confirms this, there seems no good reason for doubting
the fact, though she may have first been laid in this neighbourhood,
which may have given rise to the tradition.
If, on the other hand, we may trust Beowulf's description of a
warrior's grave, as it was understood in the 5th century, no tomb in
these islands would answer more perfectly to his ideal than the Cairn
on Knock na Rea:--
"Then wrought
The people of the Westerns
A mound over the sea.
It was high and broad,
By the sea-faring man
To be seen afar."
That an Irish queen should be buried on a mountain-top overlooking the
Western Ocean seems most improbable, and is opposed to the evidence we
have; but that a Viking warrior should be so buried, overlooking the
sea and a battle-field, seems natural; but who he may have been is for
future investigators to discover.
The other cairn is situated just two miles eastward from the
battle-field, on an eminence overlooking Loch Gill. It is less in
height than the so-called Queen's Tomb, but the top is nearly perfect,
and has a curious saucer-like depression, as nearly as can be measured,
100 feet in diameter. It has never been dug into, nor, so far as I
could learn, does any tradition attach to it.
* * * * *
The history of the Battle of Northern Moytura, as told in the Irish
Annals, is briefly as follows:[216]--
Nuada, who was king of the Tuatha de Dananns when the battle of
Southern Moytura was fought, lost his arm in the fight. This, however,
some skilled artificers whom he had with him skilfully replaced by one
made of silver; so that he was always afterwards known as Nuada of
the Silver Hand. Whether from this cause or some other not explained,
he resigned the chief sovereignty to Breas, who, though a Fomorian by
birth, held a chief command in the Tuatha de Danann army. Owing to
his penurious habits and domineering disposition, Breas soon rendered
himself very unpopular with the nobles of his Court; and, at a time
when the discontent was at its height, a certain poet and satirist,
Cairbré, the son of the poetess Etan, arrived at his Court. He was
treated by the king in so shabby a manner and with such disrespect,
that he left it in disgust; but, before doing so, he wrote and
published so stinging a satire against the king, as to set the blood
of the nobles boiling with indignation, and they insisted on his
resigning the power he had held for seven years. "To this call the
regent reluctantly acceded; and, having held a council with his mother,
they both determined to retire to the Court of his father Elatha,
at this time the great chief of Fomorian pirates, or Sea Kings, who
then swarmed through all the German Ocean and ruled over the Shetland
Islands and the Hebrides."
Elatha agreed to provide his son with a fleet to conquer Ireland for
himself from the Tuatha de Danann, if he could; and for this purpose
collected all the men and ships lying from Scandinavia westwards for
the intended invasion, the chief command being entrusted to Balor of
the Evil Eye, conjointly with Breas. Having landed near Sligo, they
pitched their tents on the spot--Carrowmore--where the battle was
afterwards fought.
Here they were attacked by Nuada of the Silver Hand, accompanied by the
great Daghda, who had taken a prominent part in the previous battle,
and other chiefs of note. The battle took place on the last day of
October, and is eloquently described. The Fomorians were defeated, and
their chief men killed. King Nuada was slain by Balor of the Evil Eye,
but Balor himself fell soon after by a stone flung at him by Lug his
grandson by his daughter Eithlenn.
After an interval of forty years, according to the 'Annals of the Four
Masters,' the Daghda succeeded to the vacant throne, and reigned eighty
years.[217]
From the above abstract--all the important passages of which are in the
exact words of the translation--it is evident that the author of the
tract considered the Fomorians and the Tuatha de Danann as the same
people, or at least as two tribes of the same race, the chiefs of which
were closely united to one another by intermarriage. He also identifies
them with the Scandinavian Vikings, who played so important a part in
Irish history down to the Battle of Clontarf, which happened in 1014.
This may at first sight seem very improbable. We must not, however,
forget the celebrated lines of Claudian:[218] "Maduerunt Saxone fuso
Orcades: incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule: Scotorum cumulos flevit
glacialis Ierne." This, it may be said, was written three or even four
centuries after the events of which we are now speaking; but it was
also written five centuries before the Northmen are generally supposed
to have occupied the Orkneys or to have interfered in the affairs of
Ireland, and does point to an earlier state of affairs, though how much
anterior to the poet's time there is nothing to show.
It has been frequently proposed to identify the Dananns with the Danes,
from the similarity of their names. Till I visited Sligo, I confess
I always looked on this as one of those random guesses from identity
of mere sound which are generally very deceptive in investigations of
this sort. The monuments, however, on the battle-field correspond so
nearly to those figured by Madsen in his 'Antiquités préhistoriques
du Danemark,'[219] and their disposition is so similar to that of the
Braavalla feld[220] and other battle-fields in Scandinavia, that it
will now require very strong evidence to the contrary to disprove an
obvious and intimate connection between them.
In concluding his account of the battle, Mr. O'Curry adds: "Cormac Mac
Cullinan, in his celebrated Glossary, quotes this tract in illustration
of the word _Nes_; so that so early as the ninth century it was looked
upon by him as a very ancient historic composition of authority."[221]
If this is so, there seems no good reason for doubting his having
spoken of events and things perfectly within his competence, and so we
may consider the account above given as historical till at least some
good cause is shown to the contrary.
* * * * *
It now only remains to try and find out if any means exist by which the
dates of these two battles of Moytura can be fixed with anything like
certainty. If we turn to the 'Annals of the Four Masters,' which is the
favourite authority with Irish antiquaries, we get a startling answer
at once. The battle of Moytura Cong, according to them, took place in
the year of the world 3303, and the second battle twenty-seven years
afterwards.[222] The twenty is a gratuitous interpolation. This is
equivalent to 1896 and 1869 years before Christ. Alphabetical writing
was not, as we shall presently see, introduced into Ireland till after
the Christian Era, the idea therefore that the details of these two
battles should have been preserved orally during 2000 years, and all
the intermediate events forgotten, is simply ridiculous. The truth of
the matter seems to be that the 'Four Masters,' like truly patriotic
Irishmen in the middle of the seventeenth century, thought it necessary
for the honour of their country to carry back its history to the Flood
at least. As the country at the time of the Tuatha de Dananns was
divided into five kingdoms,[223] and at other times into twenty-five,
they had an abundance of names of chiefs at their disposal, and instead
of treating them as cotemporary, they wrote them out consecutively,
till they reached back to Ceasair--not Julius--but a granddaughter
of Noah, who came to Ireland forty days before the Flood, with fifty
girls and three men, who consequently escaped the fate of the rest of
mankind, and peopled the western isle. This is silly enough, but their
treatment of the hero of Moytura is almost as much so. Allowing that
he was thirty years of age when he took so prominent a part in the
second battle, in 3330, he must have been seventy-one when he ascended
the Irish throne, and, after a reign of seventy-nine years, have died
at the ripe old age of 150, from the effects of a poisoned wound he
had received 120 years previously. The 'Four Masters' say eighty
years earlier, but this is only another of their thousand and one
inaccuracies.
When we turn from these to the far more authentic annals of Tighernach,
who died 1088 A.D., we are met at once by his often quoted
dictum to the effect that "omnia Monumenta Scotorum usque Cimboeth
incerta erant."[224] It would have been more satisfactory if he could
have added that after that time they could be depended upon, but
this seems by no means to have been the case. As, however, Cimboeth
is reported to have founded Armagh, in the year 289 B.C.,
it gives us a limit beyond which we cannot certainly proceed without
danger and difficulty. We get on surer ground when we reach the reign
of Crimthann, who, according to Tighernach, died in the year of our
era 85, after a reign of 16 years.[225] The 'Four Masters,' it is true,
make him contemporary with Christ; but even Dr. O'Donovan is obliged
to confess that all these earlier reigns, after the Christian era,
are antedated to about the same extent.[226] Unfortunately for our
purpose, however, Tighernach's early annals are almost wholly devoted
to the chronicles of the kings of Emania or Armagh, and it is only
incidentally that he names the kings of Tara, which was the capital
both of the Firbolgs and Tuatha de Dananns, and he makes no allusion to
the battles of Moytura. Though our annalist, therefore, to a certain
extent deserts us here, there are incidental notices of the Daghda
and his friends in Irish manuscripts referring to other subjects,
which seem sufficient to settle the question. The best of these were
collected together for another purpose by Petrie, in his celebrated
work on the Round Towers, and, as they are easily accessible there, it
will not be necessary to quote them in extenso, but merely the passages
bearing directly on our subject.[227]
The first extract is from a very celebrated work known as the 'Leabhar
na l'Uidhre,' written apparently before 1106, which is given by the
'Four Masters' as the date of the author's death. Speaking of Cormac,
the son of Art and grandson of Conn of a Hundred Battles:--"Before his
death, which happened in 267, he told his people not to bury him at
Brugh, on the Boyne, where the kings of Tara, his predecessors, were
buried, because he did not adore stones and trees, and did not worship
the same god as those interred at Brugh, for he had faith," adds the
monkish chronicler, "in the one true God according to the law."
The tract then goes on to say that "the kings of the race of Heremon
were buried at Cruachan until the times of Crimthann, who was the first
king of them that was buried in Brugh." The others, including Queen
Meave, were buried at Cruachan, because they possessed Connaught.
"But they were interred at Brugh from the time of Crimthann to the
time of Leoghaire, the son of Niall (A.D. 428), except three
persons, namely Art the son of Conn, and Cormac the son of Art, and
Niall of the Nine Hostages." A little further on we have the following
paragraph:--"(101.) The nobles of the Tuatha de Danann were used
to bury at Brugh, _i.e._, the Dagdha with his three sons, and also
Lughaidh and Oe, and Ollam and Ogma, and Etan the poetess, and Corpre
the son of Etan, and Crimthann followed them because his wife was one
of the Tuatha Dea, and it was she that solicited him that he should
adopt Brugh as a burying-place for himself and his descendants."
In the 'Book of Ballymote' (p. 102) it is said, "Of the monument of
Brugh here, viz., The Bed of daughter of Forann. The monument of the
Daghda. The mound of the Morrigan. The Barc of Crimthann in which he
was interred. The Carnail (stone cairn) of Conn of a Hundred Battles,"
&c. In a second passage we recognise the following names rather
more in detail: "The Bed of the Dagdha first, the two paps of the
Morrigan, at the place where Cermud Milbhel, the son of the Dagdha
was born[228]--(the monuments of) Cirr and Cuirrell wives of the
Dagdha--there are two hillocks; the grave of Aedh Luirgnech, son of the
Dagdha." Again, in a prose commentary on a poem which Petrie quotes, we
have the following apparently by Moelmuori. "The chiefs of Ulster before
Conchobar (he is said to have died 33[229]) were buried at Talten....
The nobles of the Tuatha de Dananns, with the exception of seven who
were interred at Talten, were buried in Brugh, _i.e._, Lugh and Oe, son
of Ollamh and Ogma, and Carpre the son of Etan, and Etan (the poetess
herself), and the Daghda and her three sons, and a great many others
`of the Tuatha de Danann, Firbolgs, and others."
There is no doubt but that many similar passages to these might be
found in Irish MSS., if looked for by competent scholars, but these
extracts probably are sufficient to prove two things. First, that
the celebrated cemetery at Brugh, on the Boyne, six miles west from
Drogheda, was the burying-place of the kings of Tara from Crimthann
(A.D. 84) till the time of St. Patrick (A.D. 432), and that it was
also the burying-place of all those who were concerned--without being
killed--in the battles of Moytura. We are not, unfortunately, able to
identify the grave of each of these heroes, though it may be because
only one has been properly explored, that called New Grange, and that
had been rifled before the first modern explorers in the seventeenth
century found out the entrance. The Hill of Dowth has only partially
been opened. The great cairn of Knowth is untouched, so is the great
cairn known as the Tomb of the Dagdha. Excavations alone can prove
their absolute identity; but this at least is certain, we have on the
banks of the Boyne a group of monuments similar in external appearance
at least with those on the two Moytura battle-fields, and the date of
the greater number of those at Brugh is certainly subsequent to the
Christian era.[230]
The second point is not capable of such direct proof, but seems equally
clear. It is that the kings of the race of Crimthann immediately
succeeded to the kings of the Tuatha de Danann, who fought at Moytura.
If, indeed, we could trust the assertion that Crimthann was the first
king that was buried at Brugh, we should be obliged to find a place for
the Daghda under some pseudonym afterwards, and it is possible that
may be the case,[231] but for the present it seems more reasonable to
assume that he preceded him at a very short interval.
According to the 'Four Masters,' the Tuatha de Danann had been extinct
for nearly 2000 years when we find Crimthann marrying a princess of
that race, and one of sufficient influence to induce him to adopt what
appears literally to have been the family burying-place of the Dagdha
for that of himself and his race; and it seems impossible to believe
that when this took place it could have been old, or neglected, or
deserted.
According to the 'Four Masters,' the Firbolgs reigned thirty-seven
years only, so that they do not in this case seem to err on the side of
exaggeration, and the Tuatha de Danann 196 years. From this, however,
we must deduct the twenty years they unnecessarily interpolated between
the two battles, and we must take something from the eighty years the
Dagdha reigned after he was ninety-one years of age. If we allow, then,
a century, it will place the battles of Moytura 20 to 30 B.C.,
and the arrival of the Firbolgs about the middle of the first century
B.C. This, with a small limit of error either way is, I am
convinced, pretty nearly the true date of these events.[232]
If we turn to the celebrated Hill of Tara, about ten miles off, where
those resided who were buried at Brugh-na-Boinne, we find a great deal
to confirm the views expressed above. When Petrie was attached to the
Ordnance Survey, he had a very careful plan made of the remains on that
hill, and compiled a most elaborate memoir regarding them, which was
published in the eighteenth volume of the 'Transactions of the Royal
Irish Academy.' It concludes with these words (p. 231): "From the
historical allusions deduced it will be seen that, with the exception
of the few last described,[233] they are all nearly contemporaneous
and belong to the third century of the Christian era. The era of the
original Tuatha de Danann Cathair belongs to the remote period of
uncertain tradition. The only other monuments of ascertained date are
those of Conor Mac Nessa and Cuchullim, both of whom flourished in the
first century. These facts are sufficient to prove that before the
time of Cormac Mac Art,[234] Tara had attained to no distinguished
celebrity."
[Illustration: 62. Rath na Riogh, or, Cathair of Cormac, at Tara.]
The only difficulty in this passage is the allusion to the Tuatha de
Danann. At the time Petrie wrote it he, like most Irish antiquaries,
had been unable to emancipate himself from the spell of the 'Four
Masters,' and, struck by the pains they had taken, and the general
correctness of their annals after the Christian era, had adopted their
pre-Christian chronology almost without question. The Cathair here
alluded to is only an undistinguishable part of the Rath of Cormac,
to which tradition attaches that name, but neither in plan, nor
materials, nor construction can be separated from it. That the Dananns
had a Cathair on this hill is more than probable if, as I suppose,
they immediately preceded the Crimthann dynasty, who certainly resided
here. It may also well be that they occupied this site, which is the
highest on the hill, and that their palace was afterwards enlarged by
Cormac. The plan of it is worth referring to (woodcut No. 62), from its
curious resemblance to that of Avebury; what was here done in earth was
afterwards done in stone in Wiltshire, and it seems as if, as is so
often the case, the house of the dead was copied from the dwelling of
the living.
The Dagdha had apparently no residence here. From the context I would
infer that he resided in the great Rath, about 300 feet diameter, at
Dowth, where his son, apparently, was born, and near to which, as above
shown, he also was buried. If, however, he had no residence on the
Royal hill, his so-called spit was one of the most celebrated pieces of
furniture of the palace. It was a most elaborate piece of ironmongery,
and performed a variety of cooking operations in a very astonishing
manner, and shows, at all events, that the smith who made it had no
little skill in the working of iron, of which metal it was principally
composed.[235]
The Rath of Leoghaire (429-458 A.D.) is interesting to us,
not only as the last erected here, but from the circumstances of its
builder being buried in its ramparts. It seems that, in spite of all
the preaching and persuasions of St. Patrick, who was his contemporary,
Leoghaire refused to be converted to the Christian religion; but like
a grand old Pagan, he ordered that he should be buried standing in his
armour in the rampart of his Rath, and facing the country of the foes
with whom he had contended during life. That this was done is as well
authenticated as any incident of the time, perhaps even better;[236]
and I cannot help fancying from the appearance of the Raths, that some
others of the kings were interred here also. Be that as it may, this
circumstance ought to prevent our feeling any surprise at the actual
discovery of the skeleton of a man under the rampart at Marden (_ante_
p. 86), or if human bones were still found under the vallum at Avebury,
in spite of the negative evidence of the partial explorations of the
Wiltshire Archæological Society.
There is still another point of view from which this question may be
regarded, so as to throw some light on the main issue of the age of
the monuments in question. If we can ascertain when the art of writing
was first practised in Ireland, we may obtain an approximate date
before which no detailed history of any events could be expected to
exist. Now all the best antiquaries of Ireland are agreed that no
alphabetic writing was used in Ireland before the reign of Cormac Mac
Art, A.D. 218-266. There seems to be evidence that, as above
mentioned, he was converted to Christianity by some Romish priest; and
though it is unlikely that he himself acquired the art of writing, he
seems to have caused certain tracts to be compiled. None of these, it
is true, now exist, but they are referred to and quoted from an ancient
Irish MS. in a manner that leaves little doubt that some books were
written in Ireland in the third century, but almost certainly there
were none before that time. It is true, however, that Eugene O'Curry
pleads hard for some kind of Ogham writing having existed in Ireland
before that time, and even before the Christian era.[237] But though
we may admit the former proposition, the evidence of the latter is of
the most unsatisfactory description. Even, however, if it could be
established it would prove very little. It would be as difficult to
write a connected history in Ogham as it would be in Exchequer tallies,
and so far as is known, it never was attempted. The utmost Ogham
ever did, or could do, was to record genealogies; and such detailed
histories as we possess of the Moytura battles are quite beyond its
powers. On the other hand, Mr. O'Curry's own account of Senchan's
difficulties in obtaining copies of the celebrated 'Táin Bó Chuailgne,'
or 'Cattle Spoil of Cooley,' after the year 598, shows how little the
art was then practised. No copy of this poem, which contains the life
and adventures of Queen Meave, in the first century, then existed in
Ireland. A mission was consequently sent to Italy to copy one said
to have existed there, and though the missionaries were miraculously
spared the journey,[238] the inference is the same, that no written
copy of their most celebrated work existed in Ireland in the year 600.
Petrie is equally clear on the subject. In his history of Tara
he states that the Irish were unacquainted with letters till the
introduction of Christianity in the fifth century, with the doubtful
exception of the writings ascribed to Cormac Mac Art. He consequently
believes that the authentic history of Ireland commences only with
Tuathal, A.D. 130, 160, in which he is probably correct.[239]
But here the question arises--Before the introduction of writing into
a country, how long could so detailed a narrative as that which we
possess of the Battles of Moytura, and one so capable of being verified
by material evidences on the spot, be handed down orally as a plain
prose narrative? Among so rude a people as the Irish avowedly then
were, would this period be one century or two, or how many? Every
one must decide for himself. I do not know an instance of any rude
people preserving orally any such detailed history for a couple of
centuries. With me the great difficulty is to understand how the memory
of the battles was so perfectly preserved, assuming them to have taken
place so long ago as the first century B.C. As it is not
pretended that the narratives were reduced to writing so early as the
time of Cormac, I should, from their internal evidence, be much more
inclined to assume that the battles must have taken place one or two
centuries after the birth of Christ. At all events, it seems absolutely
impossible that the date of these battles can be so remote as the Four
Masters place them, or even as some Irish antiquaries seem inclined to
admit.
The truth of the matter appears to be that, in the Eocene period
of Irish history or in the one or two centuries that preceded the
introduction of writing, we have a whole group of names so inextricably
mixed together that it is impossible to separate them. We have the
Dagdha and his wives and their sons. We have Etan the poetess and her
ill-conditioned son. There is Queen Meave of the Cattle Raid, and her
husband Conchobhar McNessa. There is Cumbhail, the Fingal of Macpherson
and Cuchullin; and then such semi-historical persons as Tuathal the
Accepted, and Conn of a Hundred Battles. All these lived almost
together in one capital, and were buried in one cemetery, and form a
half-historic, half-mythic group, such as generally precedes written
history in most parts of the world. Many of their dates are known
with fairly approximate certainty, whilst that of others cannot be
fixed. There seems, however, enough to justify us in almost positively
affirming that the Battle of Moytura, which raised the Dagdha to
fame, happened within the fifty years that preceded or the fifty that
followed the birth of Christ. My own impression is in favour of the
former as the more probable date.
To some this may appear an over-laboured disquisition to prove an
insignificant point. It is not, however, one-tenth part of what might
be advanced on the subject from translated and printed documents, and,
certainly, it would be difficult to exaggerate its importance with
reference to the subject matter of this work. If the two groups of
monuments at Cong and Carrowmore can be proved to be the monuments of
those who fell in the two battles of Southern and Northern Moytura,
we have made an immense step towards a knowledge of the use of these
monuments; and if it can be shown that they date from about the
Christian Era, we gain not only a standpoint for settling the age
of all other Irish antiquities, but a base for our reasoning with
reference to similar remains in other countries.
No Irish antiquary, nor indeed of any other country, so far as I know,
has ventured to hint a doubt that they mark the battle-fields. Nor, in
the present state of the evidence, do I see any reason for questioning
the fact; and, for the present at least, we may assume it as granted.
The second proposition is more open to question. Irish antiquaries
generally will dissent from so serious a reduction in the antiquity of
these two great battles. But, after the most earnest attention I have
been able to give to all that has been written and said on the subject
and a careful comparison of the monuments on these fields with those
of other countries, I would, on the whole, be inclined to bring them
forward a century or two, if I could find a gap to throw them into,
rather than date them earlier. They look older and more tentative than
the English circles described in the last chapter, but not so much
so as to lead us to expect a difference of four or five centuries.
On the other hand, they are so like those on the Bravalla field, and
other monuments in Scandinavia, to be described hereafter, that it is
puzzling to think that seven or ten centuries elapsed between them.
But, taking all the circumstances of the case into consideration,
the conclusions above arrived at appear fair and reasonable, and in
conformity, not only to what was said in the last chapter, but to the
facts about to be adduced in the following pages.
CEMETERIES.
Although Irish antiquaries have succeeded in identifying the localities
of a considerable number of the thousand and one battles which, as
might be expected, adorn at every page the annals of a Celtic race;
yet, as none of these are described as marked with circles or cairns,
like those found on the two battle-fields of Moytura, they are of
no use for our present purpose, and our further illustrations must
be drawn from the peaceful burying-places of the Irish, which are,
however, of singular interest.
In the history of the Cemeteries, eight are enumerated;[240] but
of these only the first three can be identified with anything like
certainty at the present day. But as the antiquities of Ireland have
never yet been systematically explored, others may yet be found, and so
also may many more stone-marked battle-fields. Meanwhile our business
is with
"The three cemeteries of the idolaters:
The Cemetery of Tailten the select,
The Cemetery of the ever fair Cruachan,
And the Cemetery of Brugh."[241]
The two last are known with certainty. The first is most probably the
range of mounds at Lough Crew, recently explored by Mr. Conwell; but,
as some doubt this identification, we shall take it last, and speak
first of those regarding which there is more certainty.
Cruachan, or Rathcrogan, is situated five miles west from
Carrick-on-Shannon, and consists, according to Petrie, of a circular
stone ditch,[242] now nearly obliterated, 300 feet in diameter. Within
this "are small circular mounds, which, when examined, are found to
cover rude sepulchral chambers, formed of stone, without cement of
any kind, and containing unburnt bones." The monument of Dathi (428
A.D.), which is a small circular mound with a pillar-stone of
Red Sandstone, is situated outside the enclosure, at a short distance
to the east, and may be identified from the following notice of it
by the celebrated antiquary Duald Mac Firbis. "The body of Dathi was
brought to Cruachan, and was interred at Relig na Riogh, where most of
the kings of the race of Heremon were buried, and where to this date
the Red Stone pillar remains on a stone monument over his grave, near
Rath Cruachan, to this time (1666)."[243]
Here, therefore, we have the familiar 300-foot circle, with the
external burial, as at Arbor Low, and external stone monument as
at Salkeld and elsewhere. The chief distinction between this and
our English battle-circles seems to be the number of cairns, each
containing a chamber, which crowd the circle at Rath Crogan, and it is
possible that if these were opened with great care, a succession might
be discovered among them; but at present we know little or nothing of
their contents.
At present there are only two names that we can identify with
certainty as those of persons buried here. Queen Meave, who, as before
mentioned, was transferred from Fert Meave--or Meave's Grave, her first
burying-place, to this Rath, about the end of the first century, and
Dathi, at the beginning of the fifth. Whether any other persons were
interred here before the first-named queen seems doubtful. From the
context, it seems as if her being buried in her own Rath had led to its
being consecrated to funereal rites, and continuing to be so used till
Christianity induced men to seek burying-places elsewhere than in the
cemeteries of the idolaters.
* * * * *
By far the best known, as well as the most interesting, of Irish
cemeteries is that which extends for about two miles east and west on
the northern bank of the Boyne, about five miles from Drogheda. Within
this space there remain even now some seventeen sepulchral barrows,
three of which are pre-eminent.[244] They are now known by the names
of Knowth for the most westward one, Dowth for that to the east, and
about halfway between these two, that known as New Grange. In front of
the latter, but lower down nearer the river, is a smaller one, still
popularly known as that of the Dagdha, and others bear names with more
or less certainty; but no systematic exploration of the group has yet
been made, so that we are very much in the dark as to their succession,
or who the kings or nobles may be that lie buried within their masses.
That at Knowth has never been carefully measured, nor, so far as I
know, even described in modern times. At a guess, it is a mound 200
feet in diameter, and 50 to 60 feet in height, with a flat top not
less than 100 feet across. It is entirely composed of small loose
stones, which have been extensively utilized for road making and farm
buildings, so that the mound has now a very dilapidated appearance,
which makes it difficult to ascertain its original form; and so far as
is known, its interior has not been accessible in modern times. Petrie
identifies it (p. 103) with "the cave of Cnodhba, which was searched
by the Danes on an occasion (A.D. 862), when the three kings,
Amlaff, Imar, and Auisle, were plundering the territories of Flann, the
son of Conaing. If this is so, its entrance ought not to be difficult
to find, but the prospect of the explorers being rewarded by any
treasure or object of value is very small indeed.
[Illustration: 63. View of Mound at New Grange. From a drawing by
Colonel Forbes Leslie.]
Less than a mile from this one is the larger and more celebrated mound
of New Grange. It is almost certainly one of the three plundered by
the Danes 1009 years ago. No description of it has anywhere been
discovered, prior to the time when Mr. Llwyd, the keeper of the
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, mentioned it in a letter dated Sligo,
1699.[245] He describes the entrance, the passage, and the side
chapels, and the three basins as existing then exactly as they do now,
and does not allude to the discovery of the entrance as being at all
of recent occurrence, though Sir Thomas Molyneux, in 1725, says it
was found apparently not long before he wrote, in accidently removing
some stones.[246] The first really detailed account, however, is that
of Governor Pownall, in the second volume of the 'Archæologia' (1770).
He employed a local surveyor of the name of Bouie to measure it for
him, but either he must have been a bungler, or the engraver has
misunderstood his drawings, for it is almost impossible to make out
the form and dimensions of the mound from the plates published. In the
100 years that have elapsed since his survey was made, the process of
destruction has been going on rapidly, and it would now require both
skill and patience to restore the monument to its previous dimensions.
Meanwhile the accompanying cuts, partly from Mr. Bouie's plates,
partly from personal observations, may be sufficient for purposes
of illustration, but they are far from pretending to be perfectly
accurate, or such as one would like to see of so important a monument.
Its dimensions, so far as I can make out, are as follows: it has a
diameter of 310 to 315 feet for the whole mound, at its junction with
the natural hill, on which it stands. The height is about 70 feet, made
up of 14 feet for the slope of the hill to the floor of the central
chamber, and 56 feet above it. The angle of external slope appears to
be 35 degrees, or 5 degrees steeper than Silbury Hill, and consequently
if there is anything in that argument, it may, at least, be a century
or two older. The platform on the top is about 120 feet across,
the whole being formed of loose stones, with the smallest possible
admixture of earth and rubbish.
[Illustration: 64. New Grange, near Drogheda.]
Around its base was a circle of large stone monoliths (woodcut No.
63). They stand, according to Sir W. Wilde, 10 yards apart, on a
circumference of 400 paces, or 1000 feet. If this were so, they were
as nearly as may be 33 feet from centre to centre, and their number
consequently must originally have been thirty, or the same number as
at Stonehenge. From Bouie's plan I make the number thirty-two, but
this is hardly to be depended upon. From this disposition it will be
observed that if the tumulus were removed, or had never been erected,
we should have here exactly such a circle--333 feet in diameter--as we
find at Salkeld or at Stanton Drew, and it seems hardly doubtful but
that such an arrangement as this on the banks of the Boyne gave rise
to those circles which we find on the battle-fields of England two or
three centuries later. Llwyd, in his letter to Rowland, mentions one
smaller stone standing on the summit, but that had disappeared, as well
as twenty of the outer circle, when Mr. Bouie's survey was made.
At a distance of about 75 feet from the outer edge of the mound, and
at a height of 14 or 15 feet above the level of the stone ring, is the
entrance to the crypt. The threshold stone is 10 feet long by about
18 inches thick, and is richly ornamented by double spirals of a most
elaborate and elegant character;[247] and at a short distance above it
is seen a fragment of a string-course, even more elaborately ornamented
with a pattern more like modern architecture than anything else on
these mounds. The passage into the central chamber is, for about 40
feet, 6 feet high, by 3 feet in width, though both these dimensions
have been considerably diminished, the first by the accumulation of
earth on the floor, the second by the mass of the mound pressing in the
side walls of the passage, so that it is with difficulty that any one
can crawl through. Advancing inwards, the roof, which is formed of very
large slabs of stone, rapidly becomes higher; and at a distance of 70
feet from the entrance, rises into a conical dome 20 feet in height,
formed of large masses of stone laid horizontally. The crypt extends
still 20 feet beyond the centre of the dome; and on the east and west
sides are two other recesses, that in the east being considerably
deeper than the one opposite to it.
In each of these recesses stands a shallow stone basin of oval form 3
feet by 3 feet 6 or 7 inches across, and 6 to 9 inches deep. They seem
to form an indispensable part of these Irish sepulchres, though what
their use was has not yet been ascertained.
On one stone in the passage, and on most of those in the inner chamber,
are sculptured ornaments, mostly of the same spiral character as that
on the stone at the threshold, but hardly so elaborately or carefully
executed. One stone on the right hand angle of the inmost chamber
has fallen forward (see plan), so that by creeping behind it, it is
possible to see the reverse of some of the neighbouring stones, and it
is found that several of these are elaborately carved with the same
spiral ornaments as their fronts, though it is quite impossible that,
situated as they are, they could have been seen after the mound was
raised. To account for this, some have asserted that they belonged to
an older building before having been used in this; but it hardly seems
necessary to adopt so violent an hypothesis. It may have been that
the stones were carved before being used, and at a time when no plans
or drawings existed, may have been found unsuited in size or form for
the places for which they were first intended, and consequently either
turned round or used elsewhere. Or it may be that as the crypt must
have been built and tolerably complete before the mound was raised
over it, the king may have had it ornamented externally while in that
state. Labour was of little value in those days, and it is dangerous to
attempt to account for the caprices of kings in such a state of society
as must then have existed. The identity of the style and character
of the ornaments both on the hidden and the visible parts of these
stones excludes the idea that they were the work of different epochs. A
removal from an older building implies a desecration and neglect which
must have been the work of time; and, having regard to their identity,
it is improbable that a time considerable enough would have elapsed
to admit of a building being so desecrated and neglected as that its
stones should be carried away and used elsewhere.
[Illustration: 65. Ornament at New Grange. From a rubbing.]
[Illustration: 66. Ornament at New Grange. From a rubbing.]
The position of the entrance so much within the outline of the Tumulus,
is a peculiarity at first sight much more difficult to account for.
As it now stands, it is situated at a distance of about 50 feet
horizontally within what we have every reason to believe was the
original outline of the mound. Not only is there no reason to believe
that the passage ever extended further, but the ornamented threshold,
and the carved string-course above, and other indications, seem to
point out that the tumulus had what may be called an architectural
façade at this depth. One mode of accounting for this would be to
assume that the original mound was only about 200 feet in diameter at
the floor level, and that the interior was then accessible, but that
after the death of the king who erected it, an envelope 50 feet thick
was added by his successors, forming the broad platform at the top,
and effectually closing and hiding the entrance to the sepulchre. If
this were so, we may easily fancy that many of his family, or of his
followers, were buried in this envelope, and formed the secondary but
nearly contemporary interments which are so frequently found in English
mounds. The experience of Minning Lowe (woodcut No. 33), Rose Hill
(woodcut No. 39), and other English tumuli, goes far to countenance
such an hypothesis; and there is much besides to be said in its
favour, but it is one of those questions which can only be answered
satisfactorily by a careful examination of the mound itself. Meanwhile,
however, I am rather inclined to adopt the hypothesis that the mound
had a funnel-shaped entrance like Park Cwn tumulus (woodcut No. 46),
and that at Plas Newydd (woodcut No. 47), and shown in dotted lines
in the woodcut No. 64. The reason for this will be more apparent when
we come to examine the Lough Crew tumuli, but the apparent ease with
which Amlaff and his brother Danes seem to have robbed these tombs in
the ninth century, seems to indicate that the entrances were not then
difficult to find.
[Illustration: 67. Branch at New Grange. From a rubbing.]
[Illustration: 68. Sculptured mark at New Grange, of undecided
character.]
The ornaments which cover the walls of the chambers at New Grange are
very varied, both in their form and character. The most prevalent
design is that of spirals variously combined, and often of great
beauty. They seem always to have been drawn by the hand, never outlined
with an instrument, and never quite regular either in their form or
combination. The preceding woodcuts from rubbings give a fair idea
of their general appearance, though many are much more complex, and
some more carefully cut. The most extensive, and perhaps also the
most beautiful, is that on the external doorstep.[248] These spirals
are, however, seldom alone, but more frequently are found combined
with zigzag ornaments, as in (woodcut No. 66), and in lozenge-shaped
patterns; in fact, in every conceivable variety that seemed to suit
the fancy of the artist, or the shape of the stone he was employed
upon. In one instance a vegetable form certainly was intended. There
may be others, but this one most undoubtedly represents either a palm
branch or a fern; my impression is that it is the former, though how a
knowledge of the Eastern plant reached New Grange is by no means clear.
One other example of the sculptures is worth quoting, if not for its
beauty, at least for its interest (woodcut No. 68). It is drawn full
size in the second volume of the 'Archæologia,' p. 238, and Governor
Pownall, after a learned disquisition, concludes that the characters
are Phœnician but only numerals (p. 259). General Vallancey and
others have not been so modest; but one thing seems quite clear, that
it is not a character in any alphabet now known. Still it can hardly
be a mere ornament. It must be either a mason's mark, or a recognizable
symbol of some sort, something to mark the position of the stone on
which it is engraved, or its ownership by some person. Similar marks
are found in France, but seem there equally devoid of any recognizable
meaning.
[Illustration: 69. Chambers in Mound at Dowth. From a MS. plan.]
The third of these great tumuli on the Boyne is known as that of Dowth.
Dubhad if Petrie is right in identifying it with the third sepulchre
plundered by the Danes in 862. It was dug into by a Committee of the
Royal Irish Academy in 1847, but without any satisfactory results. A
great gash was made in its side to its centre, which has fearfully
disfigured its form,[249] but without any central chamber being
reached; but on the western side a small entrance was discovered
leading to a passage which extended 40 feet 6 inches (from A to D)
towards the interior. At the distance of 28 feet from the entrance it
formed a small domical chamber, with three branches, very like that at
New Grange, but on a smaller scale. In the centre of this apartment was
one large flat basin (L), similar in form, and, no doubt, in purpose,
to the three at New Grange, but far larger, being 5 feet by 3 feet. The
southern branch of the chamber extends to K in a curvilinear form for
about 28 feet, where it is stopped for the present by a large stone,
and another partially obstructs the passage at 8 feet in front of the
terminal stone.
The Academy have not yet published any account of their diggings, nor
does any plan of the mound exist, so far as I know, anywhere. Even its
dimensions are unknown. Pending these being ascertained, it does look
as if this chamber was in an envelope similar to that just suggested
as having existed at New Grange. In that case the original tumulus was
probably 120 feet in diameter, and with its envelope 200 feet.
The walls of the chambers of this tomb are even more richly and
elaborately ornamented than those of the chambers at New Grange, and
are in a more delicate style of workmanship. Altogether I should be
inclined to consider it as more modern than its more imposing rival.
One other small tumulus of the cemetery is open. It is situated in
the grounds of Netterville House. It is, however, only a miniature
repetition of the central chambers of its larger compeers, but without
sculptures or any other marked peculiarity.
The mound called the Tomb of the Dagdha and the ten or twelve others
which still exist in this cemetery, are all, so far as is known,
untouched, and still remain to reward the industry of the first
explorer. If the three large mounds are those plundered by the Danes,
which seems probable, this is sufficient to account for the absence of
the usual sepulchral treasures, but it by no means follows that the
others would be equally barren of results. On the contrary, there being
no tradition of their having been opened, and no trace of wounds in
their sides, we are led to expect that they may be intact, and that the
bones and armour of the great Dagdha may still be found in his honoured
grave.
Nothing was found in the great mounds at New Grange and Dowth which
throws much additional light either on their age or the persons to
whom they should be appropriated. Two skeletons are said to have been
discovered at New Grange, but under what circumstances we are not told,
and we do not consequently know whether to consider them as original
or secondary interments. The finding of the coin of Valentinian is
mentioned by Llwyd in 1699, but he merely says that they were found
on the top, or rather, as might be inferred, near the top, when it
was uncovered by the removal of the stones for road-making and such
purposes. Had it been found in the cell, as at Minning Low, it would
have given us a date, beyond which we could not ascend, but when and
under what circumstances the coin of Theodosius was found, does not
appear, nor what has become of either. A more important find was made
by Lord Albert Cunyngham in 1842. Some workmen who were employed to dig
on the mound near the entrance discovered two splendid gold torques,
a brooch, and a gold ring, and with them a gold coin of Geta[250]
(205-212 A.D.). A similar gold ring was found about the same
time in the cell, and is in the possession of Mrs. Caldwell, the wife
of the proprietor. Although we might feel inclined to hesitate about
the value of the conclusions to be drawn from the first discovery of
coins, this additional evidence seems to be conclusive. Three Roman
coins found in different parts, at different times, and with the
torques and rings, are, it seems, quite sufficient to prove that it
cannot have been erected before 380, while the probable date for its
completion may be about 400 A.D. It may, however, have been
begun fifty or sixty years earlier. It is most likely that such a tomb
as this was commenced by the king whose remains it was destined to
contain; but the mound would not be heaped over the chamber till the
king himself, and probably his wives and sons, were laid there, and a
considerable period may consequently have elapsed between the inception
and the completion of such a monument.
At Dowth there was the usual miscellaneous assortment of things. A
great quantity of globular stone-shot, probably sling-stones; and
in the chamber fragments of burned bones, many of which proved to
be human; glass and amber beads of unique shape, portions of jet
bracelets, a curious stone button, a fibula, bone bodkins, copper pins,
and iron knives and rings. Some years ago a gentleman residing in the
neighbourhood cleared out a portion of the passage, and found a few
iron antiquities, some bones of mammals, and a small stone urn, which
he presented to the Irish Academy.[251] In so far as negative evidence
is of value, it may be remarked that no flint implements and nothing
of bronze--unless the copper pins are so classed--was found in any of
these tumuli.
[Illustration: 70. Ornament in Dowth. From a rubbing.]
[Illustration: 71. Ornament in Dowth. From a rubbing.]