Bury — The Itlnevary of Patrick in Connniight. 165 



This criticism is borne out, and the problem defined, when we 

 discover that almost the same clause recurs in f. 15 r° a (328,) : 



et exiit trans montem filioium Ailello et fundauit aeclessiam ibi, id Tamnacli 

 et Echenach et Cell Angle et Cell Senchuae. 



Now, the fact that this crossing of Sliab mace n Ailello and founding 

 of the church in Tamnach (in Tirerrill) is mentioned in almost the same 

 words in two different contexts, at two different stages of the itineraiy 

 which Tirechan has marked out for Patrick, is highly significant. It 

 seems clear, in the first place, that the foundation of Tamnach was 

 not the work of an excursion of the saint from Shankill on this occa- 

 sion, but belongs to the context of other work in the region of 

 Tirerrill. And in the second place, it seems probable that the founda- 

 tion of the churches in Tirerrill (as described in the passage just 

 quoted) belonged to a previous visit to Connaught. For it is natural 

 to suppose that it was from Tamnach that Mathona came in peregrina- 

 tionem to see Patrick, at Shankill ; and if so, the Tamnach community 

 was already established. 



Moreover, the mention of the mons filiorutn Ailello corroborates 

 these inferences. This chain of hills can hardly be any other than 

 the Bralieve mountains which divide Tii'errill from Leitrim. There- 

 fore if Patrick crossed these hills to reach the districts of Tamnach 

 and Senchua (Tawnagh and Shancoe), he must have come from the 

 Leitrim side. This confirms the conclusion that the work in those 

 districts belonged to a different visit. 



A corollary of considerable importance may be drawn. We cannot 

 easily explain this particular confusion unless Tirechan had a written 

 source before him, in which the crossing of the Mons filiorum Ailello was 

 distinctly recorded in connexion with the foundations in Tirerrill. If 

 his material had been merely oral, he would have been less likely [to 

 fall into the topographical inconsistency which helps to reveal his 

 methods to us. But, having a written authentic statement before 

 him : exiit trans montem filiorum Ailello, he simply wrote it out without 

 criticism. 



In both the passages where he repeats this statement (3 His fiifl 

 328i), there are signs of patchwork. "We have seen how the Mathona 

 passage is dislocated ; but there is also an awkwardness, though of a 



the editor translates "founded the church east in Tanmach," and observes, in a 

 note, that Colgan gives msignem ecclesiam, "as if for s(dr, his texts had s6ir, 

 ' noble.' " But surely Tirech^n's Hbej-am shows that the M-ord is sacr, ' free.' 



K. I. A. PROC, VOL. XXIV., SEC. C] [1-] 



