Conwell — On the Cemetery of Taillten. 87 



paratively flat county of Meath, we still have, among the general 

 destruction which has befallen the others around it, as well as the 

 partial injury to itself, a very perfect carn,f with an unique stone 

 chair placed in its northern boundary. As we know that such seats, 

 in a state of primitive civilization, were used for purposes of inaugu- 

 ration and the administration of pristine laws, we can have little diffi- 

 culty in associating this chair with the memory of some one laid here 

 to his rest who, during his lifetime, must have been in a remarkable 

 degree connected either with the making or the administration, or 

 both, of the laws of the country. 



And to whom, keeping in view the preceding MS. testimony, could 

 this great megalithic chair}; be more appropriately ascribed than to 

 Ollanih Fodhla ? It would be natural to suppose that for the site 

 of the tomb of the great King and law-maker, his posterity (or, 

 indeed, probably he himself, during his own lifetime), selected the 

 most elevated spot on the entire range ; hence, we propose to call 

 the earn on that spot, 904 feet above the sea level, and situated on 

 the middle hill, Ollamh Fodhla's Tomb ; the great stone seat Ollamh 

 Fodhla's Chair ; and the ruined remains of the smaller surrounding 

 earns, six of which still remain, the tombs of his sons and grandsons, 

 mentioned in the previous extracts. In fact, on the summit /of the 

 highest hill in the site of this ancient royal cemetery, we believe 

 there still exist the remains of the tombs of the dynasty of Ollamh 

 Fodhla. 



What first led us to conceive the idea that this earn must be the 

 tomb of Ollamh Fodhla was the fact of its having, as one of the thirty - 



" The Age of the World, 3943. The first year of the reign of Slanoll, 1 son of 

 Ollamh Fodhla, over Ireland." 



" The Age of the "World, 3959. The seventeenth year of Slanoll in the 

 sovereignty ; and he died, at the end of that time, at Teamhair [Tara], and it is not 

 known what disease carried him off; he was found dead, but his colour did not 

 change. He was afterwards buried ; and after his body had been forty years 

 in the grave, it was taken up by his son, i. e., Oilioll mac Slanuill; and the body 

 had remained without rotting or decomposing during this period. This thing, was 

 a great wonder and surprise to the men of Ireland." 



For further particulars as to the reigns of the descendants of Ollamh Fodhla, 

 see " Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters," Vol. I. p. 55, &c. 



* Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece and the great Athenian legislator, is 

 recorded to have died B. C. 558 ; and Ollamh Fodhla B. C. 1277. 



+ See Map, Cam T. 



X The ancient stone chair has been found in countries widely apart — viz., in 

 Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Greece, South America, &c. The place selected 

 for its site has been always in an elevated position, either on a mountain, a natural 

 hill, or an artificial eminence in the centre of a large plain {Magli) ; and it has been 

 always associated with the ideas of power and dignity, having been used as well for 

 the dispensation of justice as for the inauguration of ancient kings and toparchs. 



1 Slanoll. Keating derives this name from pldn, health; and oil, great; and adds that 

 he was so called because all his subjects enjoyed great health in his time. The Annals of Clon- 

 macnois contain the same remark: — "During whose reign the kingdom was free from all 

 manner of sickness :" and add : — " It is unknown to any of what he died, but died quietly on 

 his bed ; and after that his body remained five years buried, and did not rott, consume, or 

 change eollour. Ha reigned 26 years." 





