[ 378 ] 



XI. 



DUN CKOT AND THE ■ HARPS OF CLIU," ON THE GALTEES, 

 COUNTY LIMEEICK. 



By THOMAS JOHNSON WESTKOPP, M.A. 



(Plate VIL) 



Read April U, 1919. FabUshed April 23, 1920. 



The successive studies' of the forts and other verj' remarkable places 

 connected with the ancient gods and the great assemblies of the tribes of the 

 present County Limerick have expanded far l)eyond the limit laid down, even 

 in 1917. I am on that account anxious to close the series by a note on the 

 very important fort of Pun Crot and the great mountain mass of Crotta 

 Cliach,"the Harps of Cliu," which makes so large a figure in Irish mythology 

 and legend. 



The district of Cliu was notably " non-Milesian." The great tribes of the 

 Uailhne, Ai-ada, Eniai, and Muscraige hem it around. In its ambit (apart 

 from the narrow " corridor " joining the Dei-gthene tribes of Cashel and 

 County Clare) lie the Mairtine — the five allied races of the Margraige, 

 Sitienraige, Greccraige, Calraige, and Gargraige — with their sanctuary and 

 meeting-place at Knockainey, and, along the flank of theGaltees, three little- 

 known tribes : the Crotraige, Artraige, and Eatharlaige. Of the latter group, 

 the last are still named on the maps in the Vale of " Aherloe " ; the first, 

 whatever be the real import of their name, e>'idently originated the name of 

 the great mountain, Crotta Cllarh, which the Denrthene, from its resemblance 

 to the word ei-ot, a harp, derived from a l^end of a siiperaatui-al harper, CHu.* 

 The Mairtine tribe, a term includint; many of the above races, figured in 

 the sagas of their rivals as expert fort-builders, as where ("A.D. 160") they 

 aided Eogan " Mog Nuadat " and his patron, the god Nuada, to make a 

 square fort, " three high-mounded, deep-trenched baileys, three strong dtins, 

 and three murs of assembly.'" 



' Syk}Ta, xxxiii, p. 480 ; zxxiT, p. -47, pp. I63-8. 



' In order to shorten this paper, at desire of the Pablication Committee, I omit the ntudjr 

 of the hi.story o( the " preCeltic " tribes »nd the many legends referring to the Galtees. 

 ' Battle of Magh Leana, p. 3. 



