58 Proceedings of the Royal Irlih Academy. 



native rock, may liave been Lrouglit from ^lagh Adiiair.^ That there 

 ■were formerly men in Clare willing to expend consideral.le lihoiir and 

 money in removing any cnrious stone, is shcmi by the removals of a 

 huge block from Birr to Cullane by Tom Steele, of the crosses of 

 "Kiln ahoy and Termon to Kilfenora, of the cross of Xilfenora to 

 Kill aloe, and of St. Senan's slab to Kilkee. 



HiSTOfir. 



The origin of the monad, like that of so many prehistoric remain^ 

 in Clare, is attributed to tlie Huamorian Pirbolgs in the first 

 century; the '"'Lay of Cam Chonoill " giving among the names 

 and residences of those legendary warrioi^ that of "Adar at Mag 

 Adair." 2 It is conceivable that the predecessors of the Dalcassians 

 held sacred the grave of some chief, and that their later conquerors 

 marked their victory by using it as a place of inauguration for their 

 own princes,' from the fifth to the sixteenth century. 



Great obscurity broods over the history of Thomond before the 

 middle of the ninth centurv. From Brian's reign it abounded in 

 historians and bards, while monastic writers collected the legends of 

 its saints, but strange to say, as regards its rulers, we have not even 

 a consistent list, still less a history of its early kings. Two divergent 

 accounts remain with no name in common, from Conall, son of Eochy 

 Balderg, in the fifth century, to Lorcan, grandfather of Brian, in the 

 ninth. The less known list seems to bear internal marks of genuine- 

 ness, and fits into the required time ; the other is wrong in its chro- 

 nology and defective in its succession, but it is supported by the few 

 independent facts which do nothing to sux)port its rival. All the 

 princes of both lists can be placed in the Dalcassian pedigree, except, 

 perhaps, Rebechan, son of Mothla (the latter possibly gave his name 

 to Ballyvally, baile ui ttiocIq, near Killaloe, in which the fort of 

 Boruma stands). Bebechan's contemporary, Lachtna (Lorcan's father), 

 dwelt on Craglea (where the defaced Grianan Lachtna still remains). 

 He appears as ruler of Thomond, at the time of the invasion of Felim, 



' Proc. E. I. A., vol. X., p. 441. Other footprints, the Macilahoru atMulloch 

 Leaght, Monaghan; Belmont, near Deny ; Arzon Morbihan, Brittany; Dunadd, 

 Argyllshire. See also Kilkenny Soc. Journal, v., p. 451 : Ordnance Survey of 

 Templemore, p. 441 ; Delandre's Morbihan, p. 214. 



- See Revue Celtique, 1894, p. 479, by Dr. "^^hitlev Stokes. 



' The conquest of Thomond by the Dalcassians seems to have been accomplished 

 between eirea 380 and 420. " Silva Gadelica," II., pp., 377, 378. 



