Dalton — Cromm Cruaich of Magh Sleacht. 37 



demolished,^ I proceed to the next stage of this great missionary operation. 



The Tripartite Life relates : — 



" He founded a church in that stead, namely, Domnach Maighe Sleacht, and left 

 herein Blabran (whose cognomen is) Barbarus Patricii, a relative of his and a prophet. 

 And there is Patrick's well, wherein he baptized many."- 



St. Patrick's Well is still to be seen in the second field to the east of 

 St. Mogue's Roman Catholic Church at Kilnavart, and but a short distance 

 in from the road leading thence to Ballyconnell. Its site is marked " Tober 

 Patrick " on the Ordnance maps : and the well, now a muddy pool, can 

 easily be located by the aid of a solitary ash tree which towers above it. 

 St. Patrick's personal association with this well retains its hold in local 

 tradition with a vitality that, I believe, could now be matched in very few 

 parts of Ireland by an inherited remembrance of the apostle. Everybody in 

 the neighbourhood will repeat, in tlie same simple words, and with as 

 absolute faith in their verity as if he were relating an incident which 

 happened before his own eyes, that "St. Patrick went on his knees from the 

 well to the chapel." The present parish priest of Templeport, who resides 

 at Kilnavart, has kindly supplied me with some interesting notes on the 

 district, from which I extract the following : — 



" I can find no tradition about the patron of the church. There is a tradition that 

 St. Patrick was at the holy well, -which is distant only two fields from the chapel, and 

 that he moved over on his knees from the well to the site of the present chapel, and on 

 this site founded a church. The churchyard is still used for interments. The site of 

 the old thatched chapel is the site on which the present church is built. There is no 

 trace of the old chapel site. It was very small, and stood within the present chapel."^ 



Father Brady, I may mention, had no theories to propound on any topic ; 



nor did he appear to be cognisant of the importance of Kilnavart in pagan and 

 Patrician history. The particulars which I quote from him are in exactest 

 agreement with the results of my own subsequent inquiries around BaUy- 

 magauran and Kilnavart. But, having been much impressed by Father 

 Brady's complete detachment from bias, and by his scrupulous regard for 

 accuracy of statement, I prefer to give information of such great evidential 

 value in his precise words, in order to strengthen the guarantees of its 

 reliability. 



The chapel which St. Patrick founded near the holy well was the 

 Domnach Maighe Sleacht of the Tripartite record ; and, if tradition does not 



' I pass over this topic to eschew prolixity; for, having reflected on all the evidence, 

 I find myself in disagreement with Professor Bury's suggestions ("Life of St. Patrick," 

 p. 125), and I should feel constrained to controvert them. 



^ " Trip. Life," edited by W. Stokes, vol. i, p. 93. 



3 Letter of Very Eev. Terence Brady, p.p., dated 19th January, 1920. 



