CONWELL— (7/i the Cemetery of Taillten. 81 



buried at Taillten, seven of the Tuatha de Danann dynasty, whose 

 names are given above, were also interred here. 



On the next page of our valuable old MS., alluding to the ancient 

 fairs held at the cemeteries, we have the following poetical enumeration 

 of the mounds, earns, or tombs to be found at each of the three ceme- 

 teries above referred to : — 



C6eca cnoc m ce6 Oenud bib pm ; " Fifty hills in each Oenach of them : 

 Coeca cnoo,6Tn,m-Oena6Cpua6an, Fifty hills at Oenach Cruachan, 



Ocup coeca cnoc m Oenuo Calcen, And fifty hills at Oenach Taillten, 



Ocup coeca in OenuO m bposa. And fifty [hills] at Oenach inBroga." 



Leabhar na h- Uidri p. 39, col. 1, top. Leabhar na h- Uidhri, p. 39, col. 1, top. 



The ruins or sites of more than half the above number of earns set 

 down as being at Taillten can still be pointed out on the Loughcrew 

 Hills. 



Out of the list of the ancient Royal Cemeteries of Ireland before 

 given, the sites of two only, viz. Croghan, about the middle of the 

 county Roscommon, and Brugh, in Meath, a few miles west of Drog- 

 heda, are definitely known. The sites of the remainder, so far as 

 we know, have yet to be established. 



In the preceding extracts, from the most ancient MS. we pos- 

 sess, we have so much definite information given as to that of Taillten, 

 that it appears to us almost impossible to doubt its existence on the 

 Loughcrew Hills. If Taillte was buried here, in whose memory the 

 fair and games of Taillten were established by Lugh Lamhfhada, 

 whose death is recorded at b. c. 1829, it must have been used as a 

 cemetery for upwards of 18 centuries before the Christian era ; but, 

 if we only date its being used from the time of the name of the first 

 on the list mentioned as interred here, viz. Ollamh Fodhla, whose 

 death is set down by The Four Masters as having occurred b. c. 1277, 

 it must be thirty-one centuries and a half old. 



As to the period at which the cemetery of Taillten ceased to be used 

 as such, it is here distinctly stated that it was used by the Ultonians 

 up to the time of Conchobhor, who specified his wish to be buried else- 

 where. Now, as Conchobhor is set down in the generally received cor- 

 rect Annals of Tigherneach* as having died a. n. 33, and Ollamh Fodhla 

 by the Four Masters at b. c. 1277, it is plain that the cemetery of Taill- 

 ten must have been in actual use at least for nearly thirteen centuries 

 before the Christian era, when, on the death of Conchobhor, it ceased 

 to be used. 



As Conchobhor and Crimthann were the two kings of the two great 

 dynasties reigning in Ireland at the commencement of the Christian 

 period, and Crimthann being the first of his line, according to 

 Senclias na Relec, buried at Brugh, we have a very clear view, as Mr. 

 Fergussonf points out, of the relative age and history of the two Royal 



* Pronounced Teema. 



f " Rude Stone Monuments," p. 221. 



R. I. A. PROC. — VOL. II., SER. II., POL. LIT. AND AXTIQ. N 



