350 



(which by some chance has got inserted into the vellum MS. classed 

 H. 2, 17, in Trinity College Library), the three great Aenachs of Ire- 

 land are stated to have been Aenach Croghan, in Connaught ; Aenach 

 Taillten, in Meath ; and Aenach Colmain, or the fair of the Curragh. 

 The green of Croghan, in Roscommon, was frequented by the people of 

 the trans-Shannon district ; that of Taillten, or Teltown, in Meath, in 

 which Tara, the ancient seat of the Irish monarchy, is situated, was the 

 principal place of assembly for Leath Chuinn, Conn's half, or the north- 

 ern part of Ireland; and the Curragh served for the southern half, 

 called Leath Mogha, and probably for the whole country. I may ob- 

 serve that the games of Taillten, or Teltown, continued to be celebrated 

 every first of August, down to the end of the twelfth century. Even 

 from that period hurling, wrestling, and other manly sports were an- 

 nually carried on there up to a recent date ; and the Hill of Lloyd races 

 may possibly be a relic of the ancient practice. In addition to these prin- 

 cipal places, each sub-territory had also its special arena. The men of 

 Northern Ulster assembled at Emania, now the Navan Eort, near Ar- 

 magh. The tribes about the now county of Limerick congregated to 

 Aenach Clochair, now Monaster-an-enaigh, near Croom. The inhabi- 

 tants of Hy-Kinsellagh, or Southern Leinster, met at Loch Garman, or 

 Wexford ; and the place where they enjoyed their games is still called 

 the Eathy, or Faitche, i. e. " fair green" of Wexford. The green of 

 Cashel is also celebrated in history, as well as that of Aenach Urmumhan, 

 or the Aenach of Ormond; from which wovd Aenach, or An-Aeanach, the 

 name of Nenagh is derived. 



The dates at which all these places were founded — except the Cur- 

 ragh — are given, and range from some centuries before the Christian 

 era to A. D. 400 ; but no reference to the exact period when the Curragh 

 was established as the Olympian theatre of the Irish is to be found in our 

 MS. remains. Dr. O'Donovan, who devoted much attention to the 

 elucidation of its history, • was only enabled to conclude that it was a 

 plain from the most remote age. However, it seems to have been used 

 as a national arena in the century before Christ, when Art, son of 

 Mesdelmond, fixed his residence on Dun Ailind, or Knock Allen, on 

 its eastern border, to which an old road, still traceable, led through 

 the Curragh. The ancient tract, called the " Dinnsenchus," originally 

 compiled in the sixth century, of which we have a copy in the " Book of 

 Leinster," contains a poem on the erection of Dun Ailind, or Knock 

 Allen, in which occur the lines, 



" Aillend aenach diar nogaib 



RaithAirt cona Riyh rodaibh." 

 "Ailind, place of assembly for our youths — 



Kath of Art, with its royal roads." 



There is no doubt, I think, that the celebrity here claimed for Ailind, 

 as a place of assembly, or Nundince, is borrowed from the character of 

 the Curragh which stretched before it, as Knock Allen is too steep to 

 have ever served as a place for the celebration of the games appropriate 

 to an Aenach. 



