contained may be seen in the National Museum of Ireland.
There were two Battles of Magh Tuiredh. The first, between the Tuatha Dé Danann* and the Fir Bolg,* was fought near Cong in Co. Galway, and the second, discussed below, near Lough Arrow. In the first battle, the last King of the Fir Bolgs, Eochaid mac Eirce, fell. He and his tribe were routed by the mythical Tuatha Dé Danann. Eochaid mac Eirce was buried at Trá Eóchaille at Beltra Strand in Ballysadare Bay west of Ballysadare [25]. A verse of a poem written by Tanaidhé O’Mulconry (who died in 1136) describing the death of Eochaid mac Eirce is as follows:
Tucsat Tuath de Danann dil
laigne leó ina lámaib,
dibsein ro marbad Eochaid
la sil Nemid nertbrethaigh.
The brave Tuatha Dé Danann brought
pointed spears in their hands with them.
Of these was killed king Eochaid,
by the victorious race of Nemid.
[Translated by Eugene O’Curry]
Eochaid was pursued by the sons of Nemed from Magh Tuiredh to Trá Eochaille, a distance of fifteen miles, and there a fierce battle ensued. Both Eochaid and the three sons of Nemed died here. The sons of Nemed were buried at the west end of the strand at a place known as Leca Meic Nemedh or ‘the gravestones of the sons of Nemed’. King Eochaid was buried where he fell, and a large cairn was erected to him. This cairn was, according to O’Curry, ‘one of the wonders of Ireland’. In the nineteenth century, it was known as the Cairn of Traigh Eothaile, Eothaile being a softer pronunciation of Traigh Eochaille. His cairn was raised over him by the Nemedians. The modern word for Traigh Eochaille is Beltra or in Irish Béal Trá, ‘mouth of the beach’.
Trá Eochaille or Eochaid’s Strand was three miles west of Ballysadare, and at low tide it was about a square mile in extent; today it is known as Trawohelly, an anglicised version of Traigh Eothaile. It is just east of Tanrego, a townland less than four miles west of Ballysadare. The historical importance of Trá Eochaille diminished when in 1858 a rampart was constructed which cut out the sea. Up until then, roads from the north, south-east and west crossed this strand, which is now marshland covered in sedge and rushes. As a result, the monuments to King Eochaid and the sons of Nemed were destroyed. The larger stones were used to build the rampart, and according to a writer in 1928, ‘only a couple of little heaps of small stones at present mark these ancient sepulchres’. One wonders if these small stones are visible today.
Ballysadare (Baile Easa Dara, ‘homestead of the waterfall of the oak’) [25] mentioned above in relation to Moytura has an older meaning, namely, ‘the home of Dara by the waterfall’. Dara was a Fomorian druid who was slain by the Tuatha Dé Danann* chief, Lug of the Long Hand. The Fomorians* are said to have landed in Ballysadare Bay. They were seen as pirates, and as the Vikings had a name for piracy, both groups often became confused in the popular mind.
The god of the Fomorians* was Balor, and Balor was the god of the Phoenicians who were a trading people; this leads one to speculate that the Phoenicians and the Fomorians were one people. Many statues of Balor stand today in the Lebanon at Tortosa in territory anciently connected with the Phoenicians.
The plain south of the River Duff and north of Ben Gulban and extending to the sea was known as Magh Cétne na bFomorach [16], possibly ‘the first plain of the Fomorians’. When the Fomorians* were in power, the Nemedians had to bring their taxes of cattle, corn and children to Magh Cétne. A poem by Eochaidh O’Floinn who died in 1004 includes a reference to this:
To hard Magh Ceitne of weapons,
To Ess Ruadh of wonderful salmon,
They deliver it to them every Samhain eve.
[Translated by R.A.S. Macalister]
Henry Morris the early twentieth-century antiquarian says that the Fomorians* settled on Dernish Island facing Magh Cétne. Dernish Island extends to 115 acres and at its centre rises to over 100 feet. So, it was to here that the taxes were paid from Magh Cétne, and the Nemedians also paid their taxes to the Fomorians at Magh Itha, which was an older name for the plain of Magh Itha or Magh Ene or Magh Céthne. This place is so old that it has been identified as the Magnata of Ptolemy. This would seem to suggest that Tor Conaing (‘Conaign’s tower’) was located in Dernish and not on Tory Island. Ptolemy’s names refer to the second century, and at that time this stone-built tower presumably would have still been standing.
The foundations of the Fomorian tower on Dernish Island were dug up in 1910 by the owner of the land, a Peter Mulligan. According to Henry Morris, it was still possible to see the trace of the circle in 1925. The tower was on the highest part of the island which in the early twentieth century was still called Cnoc a’ Dúin, ‘the Hill of the Dún or fortress’. Up until the middle of the nineteenth century there existed the remains of a stone fort which has been compared to the stone fort at Dún Aengus on Inis Mór on the Aran Islands off Co. Galway. The trace of the circle measured thirty-three yards in diameter, and Peter Mulligan found the remains of a fulacht fiadh or ancient cooking place which contained pieces of blackened stone. Mulligan was the first farmer to grow a crop on the spot, and presumably used the stout stones of the remaining tower to build field enclosures.
Around the site of the tower are immense stone fences, and Morris suggests that the Nemedians built a stone wall near the tower to ‘attack the defenders on equal terms’. As the Nemedians had to give a quarter of their firstborn children and their corn and cattle as a tax to the Fomorians,* it is no wonder that they rose up and attacked their oppressors.
Dernish has associations with the Spanish Armada; a little rock to the west of the island is named Carrig na Spainneach (‘the Spaniard’s Rock’), commemorating the spot where one of the ships of the Spanish Armada went down. On the north-west of the island is a place named Crochan na gCorp (‘the hillock of the corpses’) where a number of the Spanish were buried. And going back in time 1,000 years we find a well dedicated to St Patrick in a little wood on the south-west side of the island.
About twenty miles south-east of Dernish is Loch na Súil, now named Lough Nasool [25] or ‘lake of the eye’. This lake is associated with Balor, the god of the Fomorians,* and recalls another appellation for Balor – Balor of the Evil Eye. Balor was the name all subsequent chiefs took, and because of this a confusion can exist between the mythological and the early historical telling of tales. Balor is said to have lost an eye in the Battle of Moytura and tears flowed from it, flooding the valley and forming Loch na Súil. This small lake is all that remains of this watery cataract. In 1933, the waters of the lake disappeared overnight through an opening in its bed known as Balor’s Eye; the phenomenon reoccurred in 1964 and again in 2006.
Overlooking Ballysadare Bay from the north side is the famous cairn of Medb* known as Knocknarea (Cnoc na Riadh, ‘the hill of the races or journey’) [25]. This is one of two passage tombs associated with the legendary queen; another is at Knockma, Co. Galway. It is a stunning setting for this Iron Age leader, a massive passage tomb built up over the years by the custom of bringing a stone and placing it on the top of the cairn. According to Dr Stefan Berg from the Knocknarea Archaeological Project, another six passage tombs have been found at Knocknarea. The term Miosgán Medbha has been used to describe this cairn, mios being the Irish for table or altar, and as the top of the cairn is flat, ‘Medb’s Altar’ would seem quite a good description. It is possible that Neolithic rites involving sun worship took place here, where one has a splendid view of the setting sun and the night sky, which were so much part of early man’s religious experience.
