224 Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 



chu. It will be recollected that this Caelchu — whose Rath and sepulchre, situ- 

 ated to the west of the hall, have been already described — was the hostage of the 

 people of Munster, in the time of Cormac, and that he left after him at Tara a 

 family, who became the chiefs of Ros- Teamrach, and of the tribe of Tuath-cis. 



The same authority places the Mound of Luchdonn beside the Rath of 

 Colman, to the west. Of this Luchdonn no historical notice has been found. 



To the south-east of the Rath of Colman, beside the Leitir, or slope of 

 the hill, the prose places the two Wells, called Adhlaic and Diadhlaic, which ac- 

 cording to the verse flowed down to Cairn na Macraidhe, or the Cams of the 

 Youths. These natural features have escaped total destruction, although an at- 

 tempt to obliterate one of them was lately made. In the year 1837 this one was 

 covered over, and, though there is still a strong flow of water at its site, it is no 

 longer an open well. Up to this period these wells had been considered holy, and 

 one of them was popularly called St. Patrick's Well ; about a rood of ground around 

 them had till that time been lay-ground, and kept in that state from a supposition 

 that it had been a burial ground in ancient times, and it is highly probable that 

 this belief was founded in fact. From a record in the Annals of Ulster, it would 

 appear certain that there was a church or ecclesiastical establishment at Tara as 

 early as the fifth century, as it records, at the year 503, the death of a Bishop 

 Cerpan, or Cerban, of Fearti Cherpain at Tara : — " Cerpan mortuus est — Eps. 

 o peapci Cheppani oc Uemuip." Tighearnach also records the death of 

 Cerban, bishop of Ferta Cerbain, at the year 504, the true year — but without 

 naming Tara ; and the Annals of the Four Masters have an entry similar to that 

 in the Annals of Ulster, but which is wholly in Irish, and erroneously placed at 

 the year 499. 



It would appear that this Bishop Cerpan was a convert made by St. Patrick 

 on his memorable visit to Tara in the reign of Laogaire, as it is stated in a pas- 

 sage in the annotations of Tirechan, already quoted, p. 167, — that on this occa- 

 sion he wrote elements, that is, an alphabet, for Cerpanus. 



From the identification of these wells the greatest facility is afforded in dis- 

 covering the situation in which the remaining monuments were located. 



The Tredumha, or Triple Mound of Nesi, the daughter of Eochaidh Sal- 

 bhuidhe, the mother of Conchobhar Mac Nesa, according to the prose, was at the 

 north-eastern end of Long na m-ban, or the Banqueting Hall. 



