3 1 4 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Culloville, where it meets that of Armagh. Thence some traces indicate 

 that it ran east toward the Dorsey and the western spurs of Slieve Gullion, 

 close to the meariug between the Cos. Armagh and Louth; and if it con- 

 tinued eastward, as it probably once did, would have met the Dane's Cast at 

 Meigh, in the Xewry Valley. Now, if it had been the line of demarcation of 

 Oriel, it would have turned south instead of north at Coolderry, and followed 

 the boundary of Louth to Drogheda. But its actual line cuts ofif Louth from 

 the rest of Oriel. We are, therefore, obliged to dismiss this hypothesis as 

 also untenable. Let us proceed to inquire into what portions Ireland was 

 divided in early times. Our ancient records state that the first partition 

 was effected by making the Esker Kiada (that continuous ridge of gravel 

 banks or eskers which crosses the central plain of Ireland from Galway to 

 Dublin) a boundary line between the northern and southern half of Ireland : 

 Liath Moha, and Liath Conn. Subsequently, a further division into five 

 provinces was made, namely : Leinster, East and West Munster, Connaught, 

 and Ulster. In the second century a sixth province was added by Tuathal 

 Teachtmar, the then king of Ireland, who died, after a reign of thirty years, 

 in A.D. 160. Portions of Ulster, Connaught, and Leinster were cut off by 

 him, and allotted as a mensal territory for the King, which thenceforward 

 constituted the " Middle " Province, or Province of " Meath." Ulster had 

 previously extended to Drogheda, and included in its southern bounds 

 the present Co. Louth, and those portions of Meath and Cavan which 

 lie north of the rivers Boyne and the Cavan Blackwater. This original 

 frontier may be roughly defined as having stretched from the south-western 

 extremity of Co. Donegal to the mouth of the Boyne. From this territory 

 all Louth was detached by Tuathal, and portions of Cavan and Leitrim, 

 and included in the new province. Henceforth, therefore, the southern 

 frontier of Ulster followed the marches of the Cos. Armagh and Monaghan as 

 far as Wattle Bridge on the Upper Erne. Its further continuation through 

 the present Cos. Cavan, Longford, and Leitrim has, I think, never been 

 accurately identified by modern antiquaries or authors, who only indicate it 

 in general terms. We know, however, that though portions of Connaught 

 were taken for Meath, yet that the north-western terminal continued to be 

 the river Drowes. Having observed that the Valley of the Black Pig or 

 Worm Dyke is almost conterminous so far as Wattle Bridge with the 

 eastern moiety of the boundary of ancient Ulster, its further extension 

 along the western boundary suggested itself to me. I accordingly asked the 

 Eev. Canon Naylor, Incumbent of the parish of Finner (Bundoran), whether 

 any such earthwork existed near the river Bundrowes ; and he at once replied 

 in the affirmative, and subsequently wrote me particulars which assured me 



