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IV. 



GEOMM CEUAICH OF MAGH SLEACHT. 



By JOHN P. DALTON. 



Plate I. 



[Read June 27, 1921. Published February 28, 1922.] 



In his Catalogue of the Irish Manuscripts preserved in the Library of Trinity 

 College, Dublin, Dr. John O'Donovan defined Magh Sleacht as "that level 

 part of the barony of Tullyhaw (in the county of Cavan) in which the island 

 of Breaghwee, now Mogue's Island, the church of Templeport, and the little 

 village of Ballymagauran are situated."' That the town of Magauran, or of 

 Mac Sami'adhain, was in Magh Sleacht is shown by an entry in the Irish 

 Annals for 1459.^ That Inis Breaghmhuighe was in Magh Sleacht is proved 

 by the older Irish Lives of St. Moaedhog, the saint's birthplace being named 

 in them " Inis brecmuige for Mag Slect."^ That O'Donovan was right in 

 identifying Inis Breaghmhuighe with the islet of Templeport Lake, just 

 facing Templeport Church — Tempall an Phuirt, or "The Church of the 

 Bank "^— has recently been demonstrated by records which in his time were 

 hidden away in the Eoman archives." 



In restricting Magh Sleacht within the limits of Tullyhaw barony 

 O'Donovan, moreover, was in agreement with Colgan, who wrote in his 

 "Vita de S. Dallano Martyre": "Natus est in Connaciae regione Ultoniae 

 contermina, quam prisci Masraige et Cathraige Sleacht, modern! vero 

 Teallach Eathach nuncupant."'^ Teallacli Eachdaich, which has been angli- 



1 " Manuscript Catalogue " (T. C. D.), p. 159. 



2 See "Annals of Ulster," edited by MacCarthy, vol. iii, p. 199. 



3 MS. 23, O 41, R.I.A., p. 242 ; H 2. 6, T.C.D., pp. 33, 34. 



^ See "Annals of Four Masters," a.d. 1496 (O'Donovan's edition). 



^ See " De Annatis Hiberniae " (published by the Maynooth Record Society), pp. 231, 

 234, and 237. Vide infra, p. 39. 



s " Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," p. 203. Colgan professes to have taken this 

 from the "Acts of the Synod of Druimm Ceta." The ancient preface to the 

 "Amra Choluim Chilli" ("L. na h-Uidhri," pp. 5, 6) gives the same information 

 ("Dalian Forgaill do Masraigi i Maige Sleet"). O'Beirne Crowe (" Amhra C. Cille," 

 p. 9), and Hennessy ("Book of Fenagh," p. 89) misconstrue this text when they make 

 St. Dalian not merely a native of Masraighe Sleacht, but one "of the Masraighe of 

 Magh Sleacht." 



E.I.A. PEOC, VOL. XXXVI, SECT. C. [4j 



