Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 283 



inscription on its doorway clearly proves. This inscription is contained in two 

 bands, encircling the external face of the inner arch, the letters, as is usual in 

 all ancient inscriptions, being indented, and is as follows : 



1. In the lower band': 



" OR Do Neim igiN CUIRC acus t>o mach^amaiN u chiaRimeic tas 



IN t>eRNat> T cempuc,sa 



i. e. " A PRAYER FOR NIAM DAUGHTER OF CORC, AND FOR MATHGHAMAIN 

 O'CHIARMEIC, BY WHOM WAS MADE THIS CHURCH." 



2. In the upper band : 



"OR t)o 5iw,e mochocmoc u cecucdi DO 



i. e. "A PRAYER FOR GILLE MOCHOLMOC O'CENCUCAIN WHO MADE IT." 



It is to be regretted that neither our annals nor genealogical books preserve 

 the names of any of the persons recorded in this inscription, so that it is impos- 

 sible to determine exactly the period at which they flourished ; but it is obvious, 

 from the surnames applied to the three individuals concerned, that they could 

 not have lived earlier than the eleventh century, when the use of hereditary 

 surnames was generally established in Ireland. And that the Mathghamhain, 

 or Mahon, O'Ciarmaic, whose name is here inscribed, was a chieftain of the 

 district, might be naturally inferred from the inscription itself, even if no other 

 historical evidence existed ; but this inference is rendered certain by a passage 

 in the Book of Lecan, fol. 96, b, in which we find a Leinster family, of this 

 name, mentioned as one of the six tribes descended from Fergus Luascan, who 

 was the son of Cathaoir Mor, monarch of Ireland in the second century, and 

 the ancestor of almost all the distinguished chieftain families of Leinster. It 

 appears, moreover, from the following passage in the Annals of the Four Mas- 

 ters, at the year 1087, that a Conall O'Ciarmaic was then a chief of some dis- 

 tinction in the Leinster army. 



" A. D. 1087. Cacli Radio 6oaip eccip 6aijnib ajup piopa ITluiTian, co po paeimio pia 

 ITluipcheapeach Ua m-6piam ajup pe b-peapaib ITluriian pop Caijnib, agup pop mac Oom- 

 naill, mic JDaoil na rn-bo, ajup ap Oiapmaio Ua m-6piam, a^up ap Gnoa, mac t)iapmaoa, co 

 po lao ap mop ann pin pop aijmb, im mac ITIupchuDa Ut Oomnaill, tin rigeapna h-Ua 

 n-Opona, ajup im Conull Ua Ciapmaic, a^up im ua Neill TTlai^e oa con, ec peliqui." 



"A. D. 1087. The battle of Rath Edair [was fought] between the Lagenians and the men of 

 Munster, in which the victory was gained by Muircheartach O'Brien and the men of Munster over 



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