9© [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



reverence for lakes and wells and trees in this country. 

 Eugene A. Con well's description of the discovery of the tomb 

 of Ollamh Fodhla demonstrates that this locality was once the 

 scene of an important Pagan station, and the site of numerous 

 Pagan monuments that still remain as silent witnesses of the 

 remote past. In the manuscript materials collected for the 

 illustration of local history during the progress of the Ord- 

 nance survey, the late Dr. O'Donovan has shown that "every 

 place in Ireland bearing the name of Creeve had originally a 

 sacred tree of widely extending branches for the purpose of 

 inauguration, or to commemorate the death of some famous 

 person." We have, then, in Lough Creeve, an example of the 

 survival and combination of the two forms of primitive faith — 

 the respect lor water and the reverence for trees, with which 

 our holy wells are so intimately connected. As Mr. Conway 

 observes — " It is a very remarkable coincidence that up to a 

 recent period, and indeed not yet quite given up, a large 

 gathering of the people, or ' patron,' extending westwards from 

 St. Kieran's Church and Well, was held in this plain during 

 the first week of August, the period of the year for the 

 celebration of the famous fair of Taillten ; and this is the more 

 remarkable inasmuch as the festival of St. Kieran, which would 

 be the day naturally and usually set apart for the celebration of 

 the ' patron,' in honour of the patron saint of the parish, occurs 

 on the 14th of June, the recorded day of St. Kieran's death." 

 This demonstrates that the ceremonies at one time celebrated 

 in honour of Pagans survived until the Christian era, and the 

 early Christian missionaries consecrated for divine purposes the 

 Pagan places of assembly and worship, and the homage paid 

 the original personage was transferred to the saint who became 

 the patron of the place ; or, in other words, the modern 

 patrons or " patterns " held at holy wells are the survival of the 

 still more ancient gatherings of the Pagan Irish ; and that the 

 Pagan reverence for water, rivers, and wells was transferred to 

 the holy wells which were consecrated by the early saints, 

 sometimes the direct survivals of Pagan fountains, and some- 

 times as wells created or adapted for the purposes of baptism. 



