72 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



No trace of the hospital or castle remains, for East Limerick has a shameful 

 record of vandalism — witness the partial destruction of the fine Cistercian 

 Abbey of Monasteranenagh, and the complete efFacement of Abbey 

 Owney, also the demolition of most of the castles and churches sketched by 

 Thomas Dynely in 1680 (and, indeed, of several standing in 1840), and of 

 the greater circle to the west of Loch Gur. 



The hill is close to the border of Co. Tipperary, which follows no ancient 

 line, cutting through CKu, Owney, and Ara. It is a bold and rather 

 picturesque mass, 585 feet high. It is not, as some have asserted, called 

 after the Lord Protector " on his way to attack Limerick," whither (of 

 course) he never went. Such names generally represent an Irish form, 

 " Crom Choill," " Cromgleann," or " Cromaill " — " sloping wood," " glen," or 

 " cliff." Mr. Eoger Frewen, in whose farm it is included, heard from his 

 grandmother, an Irish speaker, that it was named " Crom-aill," or " sloping 

 cliif "; this tallies with the recorded form " Cromal " in 1299, but not with 

 " Cromyglaon " or " crooked glen " in 1583. It gave its name to the old 

 Limerick family of Cromwell, of Cromwellstown, at the earlier period ; and 

 Isolda Cromwell got dower off it in 1324. The Harolds held it in 1399. 

 Some 200 years later we find the pardon of James MacMorris O'Eahelly, of 

 Cromal, in 1578. In 1583 Kuockgromel, or Cromwell Oknowing, was a 

 poor, low castle, or peel tower, also called " Cromyglaon " and " Gromwall." 

 In 1637 its owner, Francis Fitton, of Ainey (husband of Jane Lacey, of 

 CnockenegromwiUe), was " a distracted lunatic." It was held by William 

 Fitton and Annabell Browne in 1658 ; passed to the FitzGeralds, of whom 

 James was attainted in 1688 ; and the lands were sold to Benjamin Burton in 

 1703.' It was evidently a place of some importance, even in the Bronze Age, 

 as its fine long dolmen attests, with the tumulus and little cairns ; a ring 

 fort lies at its foot. The outcrop of " Cromaill " is called " Cashldn Chruim 

 Dubh," which is an interesting piece of folklore, if somewhat discredited by 

 its evident source — the popular interpretation of the name. Crom Dubh 

 looms rather largely in Co. Limerick, at it, Ballyneety, Groom, and Askeaton ; 

 so someone, aware of this, may have originated the tradition ; the mound, as 

 we shall see, was connected with the Fiana in 1826. 



Crom. — Crom Dubh, who gives his name to " Garland Sunday," the last 

 in July, is a problematic personage, whose tale often meets one from 

 Co. Mayo southwards. At Askeaton, Ballyneety, Loch Gur (where he 

 is described as " a little black man who first brought wheat to Ireland "),° 



' Supra, xxvi (c), p. 187 ; Fiants of Eliz., No. .3364; Peyton's Survey, p. 6 ; Civil 

 Survey, xxxi, p. 3. 



'Limerick Field Club, i, p. 56; North Munster A.rch. Soc, i, p. 215 (J. Greue 



