Con well— On the Cemetery of Taillten. 75 



We are, however, not disposed to concur in the hitherto popu- 

 larly received opinion that the great Fair of Taillten was held at the 

 modern Telltown, which lies in a remarkably low situation, on the 

 banks of the Blackwater, nearly midway between Kells and !Navan. 



It is well known that an annual meeting of the people, called in 

 Irish Oenach* (Fair),f was usually held at their Regal cemeteries: and 

 we submit that the epithet applied to the cemetery of Taillten, in the 

 folio wing quotation, could not only not apply to the place now known, 

 as Telltown, singularly destitute of hills as it is, but will accurately 

 describe the site of the cemetery at present under consideration. 



Flannagan,| King of Bregia in Heath, a man of no small distinction 

 in his time, and to whom the locality must have been well known, 

 referring to the death of Qe& phirmlvac (Aedh Fhinnliath),% Sovereign 

 of Ireland, on 20th November, 876, after recounting his various pecu- 

 liarities and admirable qualities, styles him in the following two lines 

 of poetry : — 



<5paipTii0 Cailcen celjjlaine, "Master of the games of the fair-hilled Taillten, 

 "Tit Ceampac cper- co cecaift. KingofTeamhau'(Tara)ofanhundredconflicts."|| 



From this we can infer three facts : first, that the site of the ceme- 

 tery of Taillten, though forgotten in the 19th, was well known in the 



measuring 334 yards round its base, which will make it occupy an area of 

 1a. 3e. 13p. ; while its circumference on top, measuring 307 yards,, gives an area 

 of 1a. 2r. 8p . statute measure. The slant height of this artificially raised table- 

 land on the north is 17 ft. 4 in., north-west 17 ft., west 17 ft. 6 in., south-west 

 15 ft., south 21 ft. 3 in., south-east 18 ft., and on the east 12 ft. The north-east 

 side of the rath has been levelled, for the purpose, evidently, of facilitating access to 

 it: and on the south side an excavation has been made, 15 yards in breadth, 

 extending 12 yards inwards ; but at what period we are unable to state. There 

 are MS. accounts of several royal residences being erected for Taillte by her hus- 

 band, the Monarch Eochaidh Garbh, who is recorded to have made her presents of 

 Palaces, Grianans, Buns, and lands : and we think it highly probable that this 

 great rath was the site of one of the principal royal residences of Queen Taillte, and 

 that to this fact both the townland and parish may owe their names. 



Among the other remains of antiquity still to be seen at Telltown are traces of 

 three artificial lakes ; and, about forty perches north-west of the spot pointed out as 

 " the vale of marriage," two earthen mounds, popularly known as " the knockans," 

 but which tradition says constitutes " the hill of separation." The distance between 

 the bases of the two mounds, which run parallel, is about ten feet ; and the gradual 

 slope at each end affords an easy mode of ascent and descent. The length of the 

 southern mound is 235 feet ; its greatest slant height on the northern side is 

 22i feet, and on the southern side 33£ feet. The length of the northern mound is 

 340 feet, greatest slant height on northern side 34 feet, and on southern side 10 

 feet. It has been said that in pagan times those who had contracted a " Telltown 

 marriage" might, "after a year and a day," cancel their contract, if so disposed, 

 by simply marching up these mounds and turning their backs upon one another. 



* Pronounced Aynagh. 



f Petrie's " Round Towers," p. 107. 



% "Four Masters," a.d. 876, 890, 891. 



§ Pronounced Ae Finlay. 



\ " Four Masters," a. d. 876, vol. i. p. 524. 



