94 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



that I have been able to glean regarding the history of the island. In the 

 second I describe the ruins and monuments as they are to be seen at the 

 present time. In the third some miscellaneous legends and traditions 

 connected with the island are noticed. 



Part I.— The Histoey of the Island. 



In a letter addressed to the Eev. M. J. Kenny, P.P. of Scariff, by the late 

 Professor Brian O'Looney, and by its recipient communicated to the 

 " Freeman's Journal " for 26th May 1876, the writer says that he takes a 

 great interest in the island " on account of its historic remains, its ancient 

 history, and the number and variety of the legends and traditions 

 concerning the pagan and Christian history of the place that have 

 come down to us in our ancient manuscripts." He further says: "The 

 history of the place, even in the dark ages of paganism, was most interesting, 

 and is in great part preserved in prose and verse in our native literature. It 

 was then known under a pagan name as the retreat of kings, druids, and 

 warriors, and the scene of manj' an adventure and enterprise." This letter 

 is quoted extensively in O'Hanlon's " Lives of the Irish Saints," vol. iii, 

 p. 942. On consulting the original newspaper we find that for not one of 

 these bold statements does O'Looney give any authority, not does he enlighten 

 us as to what was the " pagan name " to which he makes so tantalizing an 

 allusion. I have found it impossible to get on the track of what was in his 

 mind when he penned the lines above quoted, and much more to similar purport 

 in the same letter. Though, as we shall see presently, there are not wanting 

 hints that the sanctity of the island was inherited by the Christians from 

 their pagan predecessors, I suspect that Professor O'Looney had no more 

 basis for his statements than this : the island possesses a round tower, which 

 possibly he imagined to be a pagan monument ; and he probably interpreted 

 the name of the island as " the Island of Celtchair " — a translation favoured 

 by Dr. Joyce in the third volume of his book on Place-names, and by him 

 probably borrowed from O'Donovan. The name, however, can have nothing 

 to do with "Celtchair." It simply means " CI lurch Island": ccltair mea,\^B, 

 inter alia, a "church, fane, temple" (see Meyer's "Contributions to Irish 

 Lexicography," s. v.). There are no remains of pagan date e.xtant on the 

 island, unless the large rough stones in the Anchorite's Cell be the disjecta 

 inemhra of some megalithic structure. 



According to the common account, the monastic settlement of Inis 

 Cealtra owes its origin to Caimin, half-brother of Guaire Aidhne, pentarch 

 of Connacht. But when we refer to the records, we find that Caimin was 



