272 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



him, it was not long death, he died of the red wound." He was High King 

 until the god Nuada's lopped hand was healed, 1 and he is usually said to 

 have fallen at the second battle of Magh Tuired. 2 



It is very interesting to find situations at and near the promontory forts 

 so closely connected with gods and mythic heroes. Carn Ui Neid, Dun 

 Cearnmna, Dun Sobhairche, Leim Chonchulainn, and Dunbalor have tales of 

 the remoter past. Caherconree, Dun Fiachrach, Dunadh Certain, Dun an 

 aeinfhir, Dunadearg, and perhaps Portacloy (the cladh, being the fosse of 

 Dunminulla fort) are connected with the Ked Branch ; Dundahlin, Moher, 

 and Dermot's Island, with the Finn Sagas. 



In 975 the " Munster Annals " (usually confused with those of Inisfallen) 

 give Carn Ui Neid and Carn Thigernach, near Fermoy, as the bounds of the 

 Ui Eacach, under Cian. The Synod of Eathbreasail, in 1112, supports this 

 by fixing the limit of the See of Corcagh, on the west, as Carn Ui Neid. 3 

 The later traces of the name are found in a group of documents between 

 1580 and 1601. The Hardiman maps give Missen Head alias Carene Head 

 (No. 1) ; Mizen Head alias Carowne (No. 4), Baptist Boazio, 1590. In 1601 

 (July) one of the Carew MSS. says : " The haven of Beere is 1 2 miles to the 

 north of that promontory of Myssen Head, or Caron Head." Grandyers, 

 "Butter for Ireland," in 1623, mentions Cape Clear to Missine, 4 and the 

 Down Survey Map 111, Mizon Head; but the ancient Carn name is gone, 

 nor does it appear in C'arbcriae Notitia, 1686, 5 where the alias is Carriga- 

 glaveen. The summit has a magnificent outlook along the extremities of 

 the coast to Dorsey Island. 



Dunlough or Three Castle Head (0. S. 146). 



One of the most interesting fortified headlands on the coasts of the three 

 southern provinces is Dunlough. In one respect (that, so to speak, of its 

 being a legible palimpsest of a true promontory fort) it is even more 

 interesting than Dunluce. It occupies a very remote and somewhat 

 inaccessible nook among low hills at the north angle of the Ivagha 

 peninsula. Penetrating a maze of narrow roads, through dull valleys, in a 



1 Todd Lecture Series, R. I. Acad., Ser. iii, p. 155. 



2 Keating' s " History of Ireland" (ed. Irish Texts Soc), vol, i, p. 221 (Book i, 

 sect. xii). 



3 Keating, "History of Ireland" (ed. Irish Texts Soc), vol. iii, p. 305. 

 1 Carew m.ss., Cal., p. 435. 

 5 Cork H. and A. Journal, vol. xii, p. 142, so far, at least, as 1 have seen extracts 



