351 



The places of public assembly, as I have remarked, were generally 

 confined to the inhabitants of the respective districts; but it would 

 seem that the Curragh was frequented by people from all parts of Ire- 

 land. Thus Conary Mor and his companions who belonged to the 

 northern division, are represented as having attended its games. We 

 have it on very ancient authority that two centuries later the promis- 

 cuous band of Finn was in the habit of participating in the sports. 

 The "Book of Munster," as preserved in the "Book of Lecan," states 

 that Eiacha Eidh-gheinte, ancestor of the 0' Donovans, and other chief 

 families of Munster, and who lived in the fourth century, obtained the 

 surname " Fidh-gheinte" which is supposed to mean " wood maker," 

 " quia fecit equum ligneum in Circino Colmain, in Campo Liphi." The 

 explanation may appear fanciful, and suspiciously suggestive of Epeus 

 and the Trojan horse ; but it nevertheless implies that the writer knew 

 the men of Munster were admissible to the sports of the Curragh. 

 Again, at the year 825, the Annals record the destruction of Aenach 

 Colmain, i. e. the Assembly of the Curragh, by Muiredhach, King of 

 Leinster, against the South Leinstermen, on which occasion many were 

 slain. South Leinster was at that time, and had been for 600 years 

 previously, a distinct kingdom, and had its own place of assembly at 

 Loch Garman, or "Wexford. Its people are stated to have celebrated 

 the Curragh games also on other occasions without interruption ; and 

 the contention in 825 may have been owing to their having dispensed 

 with the usual inauguration by the local sovereign, as the disturbance 

 of a fair, without weighty reasons, was severely punished under the 

 Brehon Laws. In the year 954, also, Congalach, Monarch of Ireland, 

 is recorded to have proceeded into Leinster, and held the "fair of the 

 Liffey," or Curragh, for three days ; and, although the Leinstermen 

 did not interfere with the celebration, Congalach, at their instigation, 

 was intercepted by the Danes of Dublin, on his return home, and slain 

 at Aikn-tighe- Giughrain, which was very likely the ancient name of 

 Inchicore, near Dublin. Hence it would appear that all comers were 

 free to make use of the Curragh for the purposes to which it was 

 adapted. 



It is not necessary to the object of this paper to refer to the many 

 occasions on which the Curragh of Kildare was the theatre of more 

 hostile assemblies. Situated almost on the boundary of the warlike 

 kingdoms of Meath, Leinster, and Offaly, it formed a convenient 

 battle ground for rival armies. Neither shall I detain the Academy in 

 attempting to define the character or origin of the tumuli with which 

 its long ridge is dotted, and which, not being ramparted, are supposed 

 to have been used, not for purposes of residence, but as places of inter- 

 ment. 



The fame of the Curragh as a Druidic establishment does not rest 

 on a very strong foundation. Moore, in his " History of Ireland," vol. i., 

 p. 28, has given currency to the notion. " One of the old English 

 traditions respecting Stonehenge," he says, "is, that the stones were 

 transported thither from Ireland, having been brought to the latter 



