Maoalistkr — Temair Brey : Remains and Traditions of Tara. 237 



of Ireland; a height in the west, a great height in the north, a low level 

 away from it eastward 1 — a noble excellence." Such are the materials that 

 we have for the study of this interesting building, of which not a vestige 

 now remains. 



From these passages we learn — (1) that Tech Mairisend was already in 

 ruins when Dind-shenchas Erenn was compiled ; (2) that even in its ruined 

 state it was understood to have been of an unusual design, though the descrip- 

 tion is not so clear as we might have wished ; (3) that it was considered a 

 lucky model to follow, and that houses built after the same pattern were 

 blessed with prosperity and happiness. 



But why? Assuredly because the House of Mairisiu was something 

 more than merely the residence of an otherwise undistinguished widow. For 

 PD records three further remarkable facts about it: (1) it was built above 

 a tumulus ; not a place, I venture to assert, where any ordinary person con- 

 temporary with Cormac would willingly dwell ;■ (2) it was just beside 

 Nemnach, the holy well; (3) there were three small stones round about it. 3 



What were these three stones ? There is not a house in Ireland, 

 ancient or modern, in whose neighbourhood three small stones could not 

 be found ; why then are the stones round the house of Mairisiu men- 

 tioned? Clearly because thay had some special significance. In all pro- 

 bability they were the remains of a stone circle that girdled the site of the 

 house. We need not assume that these cloclia becca were mere insignificant 

 pebbles ; the same expression is used of the stones called Moel, Bloce, and 

 Bluicne, which, as we shall see, must have been of some considerable size. 



The name Mairisiu, also written Mairiseo/ does not appear anywhere 

 else, so far as I have been able to discover. We are told that the owner of 

 the name was a widow of the time of Cormac; it is, however, evident that 



1 This seems to bo the meaning of the Irish, ard uniar, irard atuaid, \ Isel uad mir. 

 The first line might mean, as Gwynn lias translated, '' it was high in the west, very high 

 in the north" ; but the second line can only mean " there was a low level away from it 

 eastward," so that an analogous translation seems to be required for the preceding words. 

 What this implies will be considered later. 



- On the other hand, the presence of a s?d-mound seems to have been considered an 

 advantage for what may be called the sacred or official structures of the site. Such a 

 mound is incorporated with the building here called Cormac's House ; the ureat riug of 

 Raith Rig has been deflected to include another ; a third forms part of Raith ua Senad, 

 in which I am inclined to see Mvir nOllomhiin, the original assembly-hall of /•'•'/« Tern- 

 mch ; and a fourth is incorporated with the south wall of Tech Midchiiarta, the later 

 assembly-hall. See the different articles in which these structures are described. 



3 This is the reading of L (imbe). H reads and ("in it"). R, 13, U omit the word 

 altogether. 



'The mark of prolongation over the « is sometimes omitted. The name appears as 

 Muiriusc in H. 



