372 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



The Remains. 



Examination of the Assembly places at Tara, Telltown, Biugh, Eath- 

 eroghan, the Cunagh of Kildare, 'Oenach Culi, Temair Erann, and Knock- 

 aineyi shows us well what we have to expect at a Celtic Assembly-place, 

 Sanctuary, and Cemetery. We may find tumuli, cairns, ring mounds 

 (probably one or more conjoined oues=), platform forts (simple or conjoined), 

 old roads, and water supply. 'Oenach Cairbre fulfils all these requirements, 

 and even retains (like Tailltiu) the very name " Enagh " in the compound. 

 It has a confessed Sid mound called still " .Shecnafinnoge " ; a ring fort > 

 conjoined cairns, or tumuli ; and an ancient roadway leading to the last from 

 the ford. As we noted, the Mcsca Ulad calls the pool on the Cammoge, east 

 of Knockainey Hill, " the Maig." Tlic Abbey name " De Magio " confirms it 

 for the reach at Manister ; the name is now reserved for the larger river 

 running, over a mile distxint, to the west. The "Cam" in the lesser river's 

 name is fully justified by its endless bends and loops. It joins the Maigue 

 opposite to the old church of Anhid, above Croom. The road from the ford 

 and Abbey Bridge leads to the fords of the Maigue at Cherry Grove and 

 Rosstemple and on to Bruree. 



SuEKNAFlNNOGE. — Near Caherduff, on the higher part of the long ridge 

 running E. and W'., on wliich Manister House stands, but just over the 

 summit, we find tlie " holy mound," proliably the Sid Asail, or Sidan Maig 

 Asail. It is a conical mass of liawthorns, rising from rich meadow lands. 

 The dark, whale-backed Dromassell rises behind, making an impressive 

 background, with the pleasant woods of Fort Elizabeth at its foot. I am 

 told there is no trace of an ancient cairn on its summit, as one might expect.' 

 The thicket has modelled itself on a perfect little tumulus. This is girt by a 

 shallow depression, rarely over a foot deep, and 5 to 6 feet wide. Such 

 hollows were probably merely intendetl to define the holy ground. The Sid 

 is from 10 to 12 feet high, slightly oval, with a flat summit, 15 to 18 feet 

 across, or from 46 to nearly CO feet at the base. A deep cattle track cuts 

 into the platform to the east' 



'For the last three, sceii";<rn, xxxiii, p. 403 ; xxxiv,.p. 60. 



'."^uch do not r«aiain at Tailltiu or on the Currajjh. However, the conjoined earth- 

 works at Donat;hj>atrick and Mnrristown Hiller respectively lie not very far distant. 



'Such monumenta are removed with surprising thoroughness, while some trace of a 

 mound nearly always remains. Most of the missing monuments at Tara seem to have 

 hcen cairns or stones. 



*Tho following Oenach sites have each »till a trace of the supernatural : — Temair 

 Erann, in the appearance of li<>hts at night ; Knockainey. in the rites and apparitions of 

 .Vine ; Oenach Cairbre in it« Sid ; Ballykinvarga, in its magic market-held, called 

 " Muthair an amaddn," for anyone who intrudes on it at night is fooled and cannot get 



