Westropp — The ^^ Mound of the Fiana" at Cromwell Hill. 69 



The district may be described as entirely "pre-Milesian "' — a clumsyterm, 

 but of fairly definite meaning. A group of tribes, some branches of the 

 Erainn, or Ernai, held it from before the feeblest glimmer of " pale tradition," 

 and with them, rather than with the later conquerors, the Kings of Munster, 

 may the remains be connected. 



Extent of Luachaie. 



It is only in the last ten years that we have fr(3ed ourselves from the 

 doubtful, " received " identifications of places in Co. Limerick (made by the 

 school of 1840), which for seventy years prevented any advance. They 

 laid down that " Luachair " was confined to the region near Castle Island 

 in Kerry. Their only reason seems to be that the clumsy, inaccurate maps 

 of the reigns of Elizabeth and James marked "Sleloghor" at that place. 

 O'Donovan placed Temair Erann and Temair Luachra near Castle Island 

 only because there was a ford " Bealahontowragh," and Oenach Chuli, or 

 Clochair, at Oenach Cairbre, near Monasteranenagh, and Sliab Claire at 

 Duntrileaguo ; these identifications are generally maintained by conservative 

 antiquaries, so we must study the reasons to the contrary, at least in the case 

 of Luachair and Temair, which alone affect the subject of this paper. 



Luachair, the Four Masters record, in 1598, extended to Gleann Coirbre, 

 or Glin, on the Shannon. It included Killeedy ia western Co. Limerick, says 

 "The Life of St. Ita," alluding to the period circa a.d. 560. The Dind 

 Shenchas tells how Eiblinn, Guaire's daughter, who resided on Sliab Eiblinne, 

 or Slievephelim, on the east border of Co. Limerick,- " fled from Ir Luachair." 

 The same work shows that Tul tuinne, at the northern end of the same 

 mountains, on Loch Derg, beyond Killaloe, was in Luachair. 



" The Battle of Magh Leana " supports the statement that Sliab Eiblinne 

 was in Ir Luachair by describing Conn's raid after Eoghan Mog Nuadat as 

 extending " from Cnamh choill to Luachair, from Sliabh Eibhlinne to Sliabh 

 Caoin," or Slievereagh, while the fugitive, hid till then at Glenlara (pre- 

 sumably that place on Slievereagh), fled on to Mangerton and Beare Island. 

 Indeed, if the Dind Shenchas be trustworthy, Luachair even extended across 

 north Co. Tipperary to Ikerrin, where the Suir rises, to Slieve Bloom, at the 



'I use it here as a synonym for the dark races, Ernai, Ciarrhaige, &c., in contrast 

 with the fair Dergthene, evidently recent settlers. Most of the Co. Limerick tribes 

 appear in the list of "Aiteoh Tuatha " from the "Book of Glendaloch " before the 

 attempted affiliation of such to the Dergthene (Revue Celt., xx, p. 336). 



2 Revue Celtique, xvi, p. 152. 



[8*] 



