42 Proceedings of the Rojjal Irish Academy. 



The Tripartite shows us St. Patrick only during the interval between his 

 approach to Darraugh from the lake side and his erection of the church at 

 Kilnavart. Tirechan shows the Saint only at the moment when he was 

 about to quit Magh Sleacht some five or six miles north-west of Guthard 

 water. There is, therefore, no discrepancy whatever between the two 

 passages. Patrick sent his relative, Methbrain, to Path Sleacht; but, if 

 he did, the commission was given near the confines of Magh Sleacht, at 

 the close of his own mission, which is virtually equivalent to saying, in 

 the words of the Tripartite, that "he left therein Mabran." 



1 take Kilnavart to be the modern form of Cell-na-f heart, meaning the 

 church of the grave or burial monument. There are several such monuments 

 in the neighbourhood ; but the largest and most remarkable cromlech is 

 situated in a field quite close to the church. This monument, no doubt, 

 marks the burial-place of some particularly distinguished personage — druid, 

 or chieftain, or combination of the two — in prehistoric times.' The number 

 of forts on every side proves that Magh Sleacht was then thickly populated. 



The fossa Slecht, or Path of Magh Sleacht, may have been the residence 

 of the Masraighe chieftain ; but, if this chieftain was not likewise the actual 

 guardian of Crom Cruaich's station on Darraugh hill, I consider it more 

 probable that Path Sleacht served to house the dignitary, or fraternity, who 

 had custody of Crom's temple, and presided at his worship. Druids, Magi, 

 or whatever their proper title may have been, there were surely some 

 sacerdotal functionaries at Magh Sleacht, dedicated to the service of Crom 

 Cruaich and his subordinate gods. This body may have consisted of a 

 community, or consortitim,- of the Cathraighe, whom Colgan associates with 

 the primitive Masraighe as an occupying folk-group of Magh Sleacht. As 

 custodians of the elliptical shrine overlooking Guthard, and miuisters of its 

 ritual, they had to be provided with dwellings and sustenance befitting their 

 dignity. ISTot improbably they held in trust all the precincts and approaches 

 of the sacred retreat ; but where are we to search for their own habitation ? 

 The site that will most readily and naturally present itself is the strong rath 

 at Kilnavart — the debris, as I take it to be, of Tirechan's /ossa Slecht. 



The material wants of this .collegium would have been supplied by an 

 ample provision of land in the immediate vicinity, adjacent to, but not 



' The dolmen in question is surrounded by a small ring-fort. The tenant-occupier 

 (Mr. Murray) informed me that the interior was dug up many years since by searchers 

 for treasure-trove, when a stone cist containing ashes and human bones was exposed. 

 A tall pillar-stone stands just outside the fort, and another inside, at the end of the 

 grave. 



2 On the subject of druidical consortia, or collegia, see "La Religion des Gaulois," 

 par A. Bertrand, le9ons xLs and xx. 



