Dalton — Cromm Cruaich of ^[agh Sleacht. 47 



These data will readily demonstrate that the fighting took place on the Magh 

 Sleaeht side of Bellavally' gap, the summit of the gorge separating Slieve 

 Anieriu from Cuilcagh, close to the shallow which bore the name " lied 

 Ford " ; or, in other words, that the contest was decided in the little townland 

 of Legnaderk- {Lug-n-atha-clheirg = the, mountain hollow of the red ford), 

 which stretches from the descending stream to the base of Benbrack 

 mountain.^ 



I take Cromm Cruaich to mean Crovun of the Rich, and to represent the 

 name which Crom Dubh's figure bore at Magh Sleaeht.* The idol's super- 

 eminent position on the hill-top adequately explains, I think, the name Cenn 

 Cruaich, given to it by the Tripartite, i.e., " Head, or Lord, of the Sacred 

 Eick."^ Jocelyn styled the object Ceancroithi* or Ceancroithe," a form which 

 appears to be resolvable into Cean Cruai(ch)dia — latine Ceancroidlii — and to 

 mean " the hill-head god."* All the indications deducible from textual 

 description, when coordinated with the local featui'es, suggest that Crom 

 looked forward from the conspicuous station on the hill-brow where 

 terminates the axial line of the rath behind. " To the south was its face," says 

 the Tripartite narrative, " namely, to Tara." 



Having shown that Darraugh and Kilnavart answer in every particular 

 to the evidential tokens, I would submit that, I have vindicated the trust- 

 worthhiess of those much-arraigned texts that rescue from oblivion the 

 memory of Crom Cruaich. It behoves me now to see whether, by their aid, 

 the mystery of Crom's personal identity may likewise be penetrated. The 

 documents imply that he must have occupied a station of unquestioned 



' The word is printed in this form on the Ordnance maps, but the local pronunciation 

 corresponds to the spelling Bel-bally. 



- It is marked on the earliest issue of the six-inch Ordnance sheets (No. 6 for Cavan) ; 

 .and the name (Legnaderk) was included in the Census lists down to 1901, though it was 

 omitted in 1911. 



2 Hogan's identification is : — " Aghadark tl. nr. and s. of Ballymagauran " ("Onom. 

 Goed.," p. 530). Aghadark townland [Achad-na-d-twc = the hog's field) runs into 

 Ballinamore at the west end, and is not less than ten miles from Bellavally. 



•• This does not imply that his worship seats elsewhere were not likewise Cruachs. 



^ While conceding to Professor Rhys that Pennocrucium (Penkridge) — a place-name 

 of the British Cornavii — may be an etymological equivalent of Cenn Gntnic/i ("Hib. 

 Lectures," p. 203), I fail to see how it can be accepted for anything more. The word 

 " Cenn " or " Head " is used in a variety of applications ; and it has not been shown 

 that there was ever an idol at this Roman station. 



" Messingham's " Florilegium," p. 26. 



" Oolgan's " Tr. Thaum.," p. 47. 



8 The "Third Life " of Colgan names the idol " Cennerlhe (" Tr. Thaum.," p. 25), pre- 

 sumably a corruption. Dr. J. H. Todd surmises, quite reasonably, ■" that this word is 

 wrongly transcribed, and that it is really the same as Jocelin's Cecmcroithi" (" St. Patrick, 

 Apostle of Lreland," p. 128). 



