98 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
time of Mura but two old stones, exhibiting rude ornaments and repre- 
sentations of the crucifixion. We learn from Colgan that this was a 
place of much celebrity in former ages, and that some famous reliques 
belonging to it were preserved in his own time.® 
O’ Donovan adds: ‘‘The natives know nothing about St. Mura now, 
except that he first commenced to build his church on the summit of 
a hill at a short distance from the old graveyard of Fahan, and that 
some blessed birds made signs unto him to erect it in the hollow 
beneath.” 
The only confirmation now forthcoming of the fact that there had 
been an attempt to erect a church on the top of the adjoining hill is 
the existence on the summit of the Golan Hill, at an elevation of 
about 800 feet above the sea level, a cairn of stones, that evidently 
had been placed there at some very remote period, inasmuch as they 
are all ‘‘as grey as a ghost,” and are now heaped together in conical 
form, having been collected by the officers of the Ordnance Survey as 
a distinguishing point for the purpose of their triangulation survey of 
Ireland. 
Comparing the relative distances of the site of Aileach or Zura 
and Mount Crom/a, in Inis-owen, as marked on Beaufort’s map of 
Ireland, the distance would accord with the cairn of the Golan of 
Fahan.! 
O’Donovan further says:—‘‘I can get no account of Bachull 
Mura; it is probable that it was destroyed during the disturbances of 
1688, or carried to the Continent. What does Dr. Petrie the great 
carrier off of Bachulls think ?”’ 
The Bachull Mura or Crozier of St. Mura. 
The crozier of St. Mura found its way into the hands of Dr. 
Petrie, as suggested might have been the case by O’Donovan, but a 
portion of the crozier, comprising the head or crook, and about 
18 inches in length of the staff, it seems was preserved in the 
vicinity of Sligo, whither in all likelihood it was carried about the 
time of the flight of the Earlsin 1607. Dr. Petrie, the great collector of 
croziers, discovered it, and fortunately presented it (with many others) 
to the Royal Irish Academy, where it now remains: all its gems and 
adornments are gone, but what remains of the workmanship reveals 
the fashion and style of art of an early age. The late Henry O’ Neill, 
in describing some drawings of the Bachull Mura, executed by him for 
the author of this Paper, says:—‘‘The one which represents the shrine 
is the same size as the original; the other is double the size (lineal) of 
the ornamentation on the upper boss, this being well decorated. As 
3 See Colgan’s Acta Sanctorum Hibernia, p. 587. 
4 The ‘‘ Golan Hill,”’ the hill immediately adjoining the site of the abbey. 
