and there was, according to Aldridge, a passage from the riverbank running into the dún. Today there are megalithic tombs between the Ballinglen River west of Ballyglass Bridge, which is less than a mile west from Ballycastle [23] and the Bellananaminnaun River.
Up Keerglen or Cainner’s Glen on the north side of the river is said to be a townland named Skahaghna-shee or Sceach na Síd (‘the fairy bush’). According to Aldridge, it was known to the owner of the land as Sceach na h-Oinseacha, or ‘the thorn tree of the female fool’, which one may compare with the earlier-mentioned Cruach na h-Oinseacha. Both of these places were on Medb’s* route, and one of these places may be the supposed site of Cainner’s grave. Aldridge mentions that Sceach na h-Oinseacha is the burial place of Cainner. There is an enclosure here and an ancient track to this ring fort or barrow.
The route from Keerglen follows an ancient track to Erris, also known as Bangor Erris or simply Bangor (Beannchar, ‘peaked hill’). This route may well be part of the present Slí an Iarthair or the Western Way. Medb* crossed the Maumakeogh and Benmore mountains into Glenamoy. According to Aldridge, this route was used for pony traffic across the mountains up to the nineteenth century. Apparently the road from Crossmolina and Ballina to Bangor were under forest and swamp and thus impossible for chariots.
South of Benmore, Medb* and her army went north-west to Glencalry, apparently named after Calraide, a warrior who fell there. From here they went west along the Glenmoy River valley. Aldridge writes that they kept to the high ground south of the river. They then crossed the Munhin River, termed the Munkin River in the Discovery map [22]. This river is at the southern end of Carrowmore Lake. From here they went to Rath Morgan, which is two miles north-west from Munhin Bridge. Significant parts of this saga occur at Rath Morgan, sometimes referred to as Dún Morgan. It was here that Flidais disclosed her love for Fergus to Bricriu, the great Ulster satirist, confiding to him that should Fergus come to visit her she would supply him with horses, weapons and armour in preparation for the cattle raid described in the Táin Bó Cúailnge.*
According to Aldridge,
the present owner discovered what must be a souterrain at the north-east side of the rath, opening up flagstones at the base of the earth wall of the fort; but he covered these up again. Under the floor of a stable about thirty yards to the north-east of this there are more flags, either the continuation of a souterrain, or perhaps a grave; without digging it is not possible to prove the connection; but it is very similar to the souterrain at Rath Munhin (Castletown townland, east of Carrowmore Loch).
Rath Morgan is also where Ailill Finn summoned his household and counsellors when he found that he was surrounded by Medb.* Ailill also sent his chief messengers, Engán and Édar, to summon the clans to his aid. Engán came from his fort on the north side of a stream called Muingingaun which flows into the the north-east corner of Lough Carrowmore. The stream derives its name from Engán, though the fort is not included on the Discovery map. According to Aldridge, the rath existed in the early 1960s and was called the Liss by the villagers of Muingingaun. South of Muingingaun there is a gap in the long ridge running between the valleys of Muingingaun and Glenturk More [23], which is called Bearna na Maoile (‘the gap of the hummel cow’ or ‘the gap of the hornless cow’).
The second messenger sent, Édar, probably gave his name to Ederglen [22], a townland one mile north-east of Rath Morgan. Although, as Aldridge writes, ‘Édar is forgotten’, his fort still exists, and that fort presumably is the promontory fort which overlooks the stream flowing into Trawmore Bay. From here Édar could watch his cattle as they grazed down the valley.
As an emissary, Édar journeyed around Broadhaven [22], the Mullet and Lough Carrowmore. Engán’s journey was longer, as he went along the ancient Bronze Age route to Cruachan Aigle, now known as Croagh Patrick, and he also travelled to Clew Bay, Achill and Blacksod Bay. The calling together of the chiefs shows that these clans opposing Medb* were located in north-west Mayo and beyond. At least fifteen clans are named in this area and their names are recorded. This shows a prevailing sense of place and a desire to locate each tribe or clan within a particular district. As an example: the two sons of Curnan Blackfoot lived in the area known as Ros Inbir da Egonn, now known as Es-Ruaidh or Assaroe, the modern Ballyshannon at the mouth of the River Erne [16] in Donegal.
The end of this saga is as follows:
Acus ro ergedar ceithre holl-cuigid Érend and sin, ocus in dubloingeas mar aen riu, ocus ro greis Oilill go mor, ocus Fergus, ocus Medb iat, ocus tucsat anaigthi a naenfecht ar in dunadh, ocus ro shendit a Stuic ocus a Sturgana leo i comfuagna catha, ocus ro thogbadar gairi aidbli uathmara.
And then arose the men of the four great provinces of Ireland, and the dark exiles of [Ulster] along with them; and they were excited greatly by Ailill and Fergus and Medb; and they altogether faced the fortress; and they sounded their Stuic,* and their Sturgana* in proclamation of battle, and they raised tremendous terrific shouts.
[*Stoc, a horn or trumpet, do stoic Catha, ‘battle trumpet’, Sturgan, trumpet or horn.]
[Translated by Eugene O’Curry]
Close to Newport (Baile Uí Fiacháin, ‘the townland of O’Feehan’) [31] is Cillin Daire, a place that contains a number of fairy paths; the local man with knowledge of these ways is Mickey Joe Doherty. Fairy processions generally began as soon as night fell and the tracks they followed as well as fairy palaces were much respected.
According to an account in the Daily Mail on 23 April 1959, the construction of a new road at Toorghlas, Co. Mayo, would mean a fairy palace would have to be destroyed, which led to a strike by twenty-five Land Commission labourers who wanted the domain of the Good People preserved. After negotiations, workers had their way and the direction of the road was changed.
Mentioned above in relation to the Táin Bó Flidais is the birthplace of Flidais at Bangor Erris [23]. The original name is Irrus Domnann or ‘the promontory (fort) of the Domnann’. The Dumnoni were, as O’Rahilly says, ‘a pre-Gaelic tribe’ with whom other places in Connacht are associated. Another of these sites is the promontory fort south of Glencastle Bridge in the valley of Glencastle [22] known as Dún Domhnaill or Dundonnell. It has been suggested that these sites are the remnants of early Atlantic settlements which were not included in Ptolemy’s map of Ireland, which may suggest that they came later. However, if the Dumnoni did arrive from the Atlantic and came into Tramore Bay [22], they presumably sailed along the Glencastle River and built their defensive fort just two miles in from the bay on the north bank of the river south-east from Bunnahowen. Both these forts associated with the Domnann are in a continuous line from Tramore Bay and lead to Magh Domnann (‘the plain of the Domnann’) to the west of Killala Bay in the barony of Tirawley (Tír Amalgada) and thence to Inbher Domnann which, according to Hogan, is the present Killala Bay. They may well appear to have been a coastal people as they also appear in coastal regions on the east coast (see under Dublin).
The warrior most associated with the Fir Domnann is Fer Diad; the Book of Leinster reads: Fer nDiad mac nDamáin meic Dáre, in míled mórchalma d’ fheraib Domnand, or ‘Fer Diad son of Daman son of Daire, the soldier of great deeds of the Fir Domnann’.
The tribe most associated with the Fir Domnann are the Gamanrad or the ‘calf tribe’ (gamhain, ‘calf’), who are credited with importing calves and milch cows. They are also connected to Irrus Domnann [22] and are said to have built the ramparts about Cruachain (see under Roscommon) around 100 BC. They are said to have come from Britain, where they are associated with Devon and south-west Scotland. In Ireland, they came to the coastal areas of Leinster and Connacht. The settlement of the Fir Domnann and the Gamanrad in north-west Mayo may be because of the Gaelic conquest of Connacht. Eochaid Fedlech, King of Tara, banished Tinne mac Conrach, King of Connacht, from Cruachain to the wilds of Mayo and bestowed the kingdom of Connacht at Cruachain to his daughter Medb. The Gamanrad are said to have been one of the three
