Westkopp — The "31ound of the Fiana " at Cromwell Hill. H 



phelim ; CHu, the divine harper, of the Galtees ; Febra, Cain, and Aine ; 

 Donn Firinne, son of the god Midir; Mis, Dana, and the local monarch, 

 Bodbh Dearg, of Sliexenaman. Nearly every hill and mountain on our 

 horizon is crowned by a circle, mound, or cairn, often connected with 

 tradition of a deity.' 



At the south edge of the summit is the highest " cairn," a rock knob, on 

 which rests a small cairn, or rather mound, 21 feet to 25 feet across, formed 

 of large slabs laid on their sides and embedded in earth ; it is about 5 feet 

 high, but, from its position, is the most conspicuous monument of the hill. 

 On the south-east spur is another regular knoll with the trace of another 

 heap of earth and smaller stones, 15 feet across and barely 3 feet high. 

 Between these cairns, in the " dip " of the hill, is a small limestone pillar, 

 5 feet 10 inches high by 10 inches by 9 inches, now used for a gate-post, but 

 (like the little pillars on the Eagle Mount, near Bruree,- and Knockastoolery, 

 near the cliffs of Moher, in Co. Clare) probably set up in early times. 



SIOEAN 



OOL^'tN 



(After pUnbj nrp.j. Lynch) 



\9\9 



Fig. 1. 



SideAn na Feine. 

 On the eastern edge of the plateau, down the slope, we see a large, long, 

 shapely mound like an overturned boat (PI. II, fig. 1). FitzGerald's "History,"^ 

 in 1826, says of it: — " There is a large mound, like an inverted basin, composed 

 of earth and stones, on Cromwell's Hill, in the barony of Small County, which 

 is called Sighcann (Sigheann or Side^n) na Fiona, ' after ' the wild warriors of 

 the Fianna Eirionn." The Fiana are not prominent in local tradition here, 



' Note the curious rededication of a mound, " Colliculum aiigelorum, " near a mound, 

 " Sithean beg," and therefore probably "Sithean mor," before the Sid folk yielded to 

 the angels (Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba," ch. xliv). 



' Supra, xxxiii, pp. 490-1. 



^ FitzGerald and MacGregor's " History of Limerick," i, 406. 



