Westropp — Fortified Headlands and Castles, S. Coast Munster. 189 



of vantage " of the cliffs. Amid such scenes, as endlessly interesting for the 

 artist as for the naturalist, lies a rich harvest of the time-worn defences of 

 the ancient shore-dwellers to be gathered by the antiquary. 



Historical Notes. 



In general terms, as we could sum up each district in our former 

 researches as " Domnonian," " of the Oorcavaskin," the " Ui Fearba," the 

 " Corca Dhuibhne," or the " Corca Laidhe," we may call this group of forts 

 after the Desi. The oldest legends and indications seem to show that the 

 present Co. "Waterf ord was connected with an Ivernian population ; the map 

 of Ptolemy, about a.d. 140, marks Iouernoi and Brigantes to either end of 

 this district ; Irish legend frequently coincides with this. Behind the 

 " Nan Desi " tradition looms the name of Nia Segamon, a prehistoric king of 

 Munster, whose chronology is doubtful even in the mythic history, but lay 

 somewhere about a century before our era (B.C. 75 to 150). Again and again 

 in the Decies we are met by ogham-inscribed pillars with epitaphs ending in 

 the formula " Maqi mucoi Netta Segamonos " at Seskinan, at Ardmore, and 

 at Island, close to one of the most remarkable forts noted in these pages. 1 

 The central legend, though possibly the most problematical, is certainly that 

 of the flight of the Desi of Bregh from Meath to this coast. 



Legend tells us how the Nan Desi lived near Tara in the third century, 

 and were descendants of King Fedlimid Bechtmhar, the restorer of the Tara 

 monarchy, after the great servile revolt in the middle of the previous century 

 (164-174). Their nearer ancestor was Fiachadh, brother of King Conn " the 

 hundred fighter " ; his descendants were passed over, and their exclusion from 

 the throne rankled in their minds. To the chronic trouble was added a new 

 insult : Aenghus " dread (or poison) spear," Fiacha's grandson, found that his 

 niece had been carried off by Cellach, son of King Cormac Mac Airt. 2 He 

 found her drawing water from the well Nemnach (that, where all else is 

 changed, bursts as cool and clear and sweet as ever, out of the east slope of 

 Tara hill under Cathair Crofin fort) ; he carried her home and went to seek 

 justice from the High King. He unfortunately met Cellach ; there was a 

 fierce quarrel in which Aenghus slew the prince and the steward, and by 

 accident struck out one of Cormac's eyes. No mutilated man could reign at 



1 See Journal Roy. Soc. Antt. Ir., vol. xxxiii, p. 381, and the Dublin Museum 

 " Handbook for the Irish Ethnographical Collection," Part v, p. 10. For the curious 

 history of the attempted reading of these epitaphs see the first, p. 373. 



2 Or, as in Keating, that Ceallach took prisoner and blinded a chief in violation of the 

 security of Aonghus Gaoibuaibhtheach (" History," Book I, sec. xliv). 



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