Westropp — Ancient Castles of the County of Limerick. 63 



the Earl's called Fort Ren arc! " — Portrinard near Abbeyfeale.^ The 

 spot here indicated suits very well the definite account of the fort and 

 its site in the " Mesca Ulad." If that legend be as reliable in 

 its description of the fort as of the route across Ireland - and the 

 places pointed out to Laeg by the Hound of Ulad " from Knockaney 

 Hill, the spot is well defined. It lay to the south-east of Aine, in 

 eastern Luachair,^ on the eastern slope of a mountain overlooking a 

 glen noisy with wildfowl, beyond which, on another ridge, covered 

 with oak-trees, lay several lesser forts. The rath itself had a " mur " 

 or rampart,* high, both within and without, a souterrain in its garth 

 and several pillar- stones outside its rings ; in short, the typical fort 

 of that district. We are told that the Ultonians forded the Boyne, 

 Brosna, and Maigue, but not that that they forded the Feale. 



The name seems to have perished at Portrinard, unless it be 

 Tooradoo on the north of Knocknasnaa, which overhangs the valley.^ 

 Turagh, near Tower Hill, in eastern Limerick, was " Teauragh'"^ in 

 1655, so the change of name is possible. There are, however, two sites 

 which (apart from the question of fording the Peale) have nearly equal 

 claims.'' Both overhang Portrinard and the river, the one in 

 Knocknasna ^ (a hill some 600 feet high in Limerick), the other at 

 Ballynemuddagh Hill, above the road to Huach (Kerry O.S., 17,18). 



1 A.F.M. 1580 and note, Carew Papers, p. 237 ; MescaUlad (ed. Hennessy), pp. 

 15, 17, 19, 21, 27, 33, 53. Peyton, in his abundant notes on " Slelogre," 1586, does 

 not give any Tara in Portrinard Manor, pp. 170, 171 b, as his Tworyn may be a 

 Tooreen " name in Tulligoline, the legendary site of a battle. The confiscated 

 lands in the Kerry Book of Distribution, p. 126, cover Duach, but do not extend to 

 Ballynemuddagh, 



- However mythical their events may be, the topography of Irish Legends 

 is generally above suspicion. 



This would dispose altogether of Ballahantowragh, which is not even in 

 Luachra, hut far to the west of it. 



* There were two stone forts, now entirely levelled, called Cahergal (the 

 southern being of considerable size) to the west of Duach, but not in eastern 

 Luachair. 



^ "Was it "dubh" because it lay on the shady side, to distinguish it from a 

 "Toora" on the sunny slope over Portrinard, like the forts Cahernagrian and 

 Caherduff near Crumlin in Clare ? 



Tooradoo is on Knocknalaght, a hill 746 feet high. 



^ See 0. S., 15, and compare Down Survey, A. 30 ; Civil Survey, xxx., p. 8, 

 Book of Distribution, p. 115, and Act of Settlement, 1666. 



" Pelham camped at Dowau (parish), but the " at Temair Luachra " and " at 

 Portrinard " equally leave the question open. 



^ Knockuashaunagh," near Portrinard. Book of Distribution, p. 6. Possibly 

 Cnoknesanathe, 1452, Rental of O'Conyll. 



