254 Proceedings of the Eo/ial Irish Academy. 



at the third of the synods which gave Raith na Senad its name was an 



evenl of considerable historical importance; still, it is hardly sufficient to 



account for the occurrence of a knot of sites just at this part of the ridge, 



permanently bearing his name. A possible reason for this curious fact will 



be given presently. 



18. Oros Adamndin 



The Cross of Adamnan, so called, was at the entrance {arleloib) of Edith 

 na Senad, eastward soir), according to 1'1» 18. 



.Insi about the place indicated, though perhaps a little too far from the 

 Raith to make the expression arbeloib strictly accurate, there is a rude pillar- 

 stone. It La of red sandstone, 5 feet 5 Luches high above ground, 2 feet 

 broad at base, and 10 inches thick; and it stands in the graveyard, not far 

 from the modern church, to the south-west of it. A small figure, 1 foot 

 "i inches high, is carved in relief on its eastern face, 8J inches above ground. 

 The top hi' the Btone is fractured ; ami I 'i 'trie not unnaturally took this Btone 

 to be the Btunip of Adainnan'E I 



II id the stum- I n a little furthei i" the Bouth, I should have preferred 



tu identify it with Lecht Maine, another monument, which we have not yet 

 mentioned. But probably it actually is the Btone to which Dvnd-shenchas 

 i under the nam'- I I lamndin. This does not amount to an 

 admission of the historic truth of the tradition that associated it with 

 \ imnan, or even of the idea that it is the Btump of a cross. On both 

 Btatemeuta I am inclined to throw i siderable doubt. 



In the first place, thi lin amount of improbability in the idea 



tli.it Adamnan could have had anything to do with the erection of a massive 



to which he Beems to I I a mere flying visit. In 



the nature of the Bculpture on the eastern face is not such 



a- we usually fiml at with Iti.-h crosses. In the third place, the 



Btone was in the same condition as we see it now, in the tenth or eleventh 



tury when VD for that poem (lit leaks of it by the 



non-committal word Itae, " stone," and does not call it This would 



mean that the ci was then already But such a destruction 



wmilil involve no little violence, and would I sacrilege 



not likely at the time. 



I regard this Btone, like the other Btones of Temair now lost. .>- a pagan 

 monument It ivable that Adamnan consecrated il to Christianity 



erecting in its top been done in the case of the 



nhir of Dol.' I can offer no objection to this way of saving the tradi- 

 tion : it would, ind 1. account for the preservation of this particular stone. 



i. p. 17"' 3< the illustnitii.ii iii Dechelette'a Ma i, (40. 



