m 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Gaedhil '" aud the " Triumphs of Torlogh " show, the second chief line of the 

 Dergthene had two friendly war spirits, the " lovely " Aibinn, of Craglea, and 

 the loathsome and " dismal " Bionach of Bmren, each anonymous, with 

 opposite epithets. It may be that the Dergthene tribes reverenced Dairine 

 and Aibinn (the great war goddess of their later home Craglea, and perhaps 

 an epithet for the former) at 'Oenach Cairbre, as they reveienced the wife 

 of one of tlie many alias forms of their divine ancestor Nuada (Necht) at 

 'Oenach Culi and Ihe goddess 'Aine at Knockainey. 



The Conjoined Caiuns. — I cannot assert that (as seems to be the case 

 in other places) this work, originally sepulchral or religious, was eventually 

 used for residence. A rath (Railh Arcliaill) was used by the dniids for their 

 idols and altars in the time of King Datlii.^ Still more caution is needed in 

 discussing whether this work was the " chief fort," the Ccann duin Asail. 

 It was evidently near it that Fergus was conceived to have slain the thirty 

 spearmen. It stands on the southern edge nf tlic ridge above the stream, a 





MONASTtRANC NACH 



"mi 



O lOOfi 



Fco. 2. — Conjoined Ciiinu and Mounde. 



mass of green mounds and dense hawthorns. Most unfortunately the two 

 mounds, consisting mainly of stones,' tempted the road-makers to use it for 

 a fjuany, and more than half of each cairn has been carted away. Of course 

 there was no intelligent person to record if a cist was found. Manister 

 shows a bad record for vandalism. The fine arch and east window of the 

 chancel lay where they fell Ijefore 1876, when I fust saw them; nearly all 

 of the material was taken by road-makcre without hindrance.' The great 

 tower at the south-west end of the nave fell about 1825, and was removed ; 



' Encyc. Relig. and Ethics, vii, p. 128. 



' Looking for continental sidelighta, I only find one case whore three cairns touch 

 within a ramp.irt, at Malagradiiia in Bosnia (" B.-snia Herzegovina," Dr. R. Munro, 

 p. 189). 



^ Drawings of thi,s tine win.low by John Windle and \V. Wakeman are in K. 1. Acad. 

 Library, "Topographical .M.s." (It. LA., 12, C. 5), and "Sketches for Co. Limerick in 

 Ordnance Surrey." I have another by my late brother, Ralph Hugh Westropp. See 

 «upru, vol. jxv, Plate XI. See also Koy. Soc. Antt. Ir., xix, pp. 232-8. 



