never die out, the men shall be fearless, brave and strong, the women beautiful and kindly.
A further example can be seen at St MacDara’s Island, a monastic site almost two miles south-west of Mace Head. It is best approached from the village of Carna [44]. Here on 16 July, the saint’s patron day, local people came to the island and celebrated mass. After this some put their hands down into the earth in that part of the church where the saint’s skull lay and touched it. This ritual continued until one year when it was stolen by what some locals say was a tourist; however, no proof has ever emerged as to the guilty party. The thief destroyed a custom that lasted, supposedly, for nearly 1,500 years.
There are other less intense traditions associated with this sixth-century saint; passing fishing boats are said to dip their sails three times for luck. The distinctive-looking oratory, according to Estyn Evans in Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland, may have been timber-built. ‘The whole arrangement suggests a translation into stone of a timber building with its roof supported by elbowed crucks. This is the only surviving example of its kind, though miniature copies of similar oratories occur on top of high crosses at Monasterboice and Durrow.’ As the name Dair means ‘oak’, it is fitting that the original oratory was of timber.
The sighting of péists or Otherworld beasts (most notably the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland), was a common enough occurrence in Galway in the twentieth century. These sightings occurred firstly at Loch Fadda [44] close to Clifden, Connemara, and at Loch Ána (‘Ána’s lake’) [36] and at Loch Shanakeever (Loch Sheanadh Chíamhair, ‘the lake of ancient mist’) [37]. The beast was known as the Ech Uisce or ‘water horse’ as its head was similar to that of a horse. According to local reports it was black, had a large white stripe along its back and was about seven to eight feet in length. Georgina Carberry, librarian at Clifden, said that she saw it in 1954. In 1960 the Loch Ness investigation bureau came to Loch Fadda and used dynamite, with government permission, in order, one presumes, to bring the beast out of its lair. Some academics have dismissed the possibility of a monster by saying that the sightings may be merely of a group of otters, which, black and in procession, may appear humped. This ollphéist or monster was mentioned by William Makepeace Thackeray in 1842.
Loch Fadda features a crannóg or ancient lake dwelling; these were usually wooden enclosures. This lake dwelling is known as Beaghcauneen (Beitheach Cháinín, ‘the lake of the birch groves’). Coincidentally, the lake west of Loch Fadda is known as Loch Each, or ‘the lake of the horse’. Two miles south-west of Loch Each by foot (or by horse!) is Loch Naweelaun (Loch na bhFaoileann, ‘the lake of the seagulls’) where sightings of the Ollphéist have also been observed. For the enthusiast there is a megalithic tomb about 300 yards south-west from the east side of the lake.
Inchagoill Island on the northern end of Lough Corrib [45] has an important pillar stone associated with Lug,* the Celtic sun god. Known as the Lugaedon stone, it has been cited by Professor Etienne Rynne as one of the more important pillar stones in Ireland. It can be seen a short distance south-west from the old church called Teampull Phádraig (‘Patrick’s temple’) which, though believed traditionally to go back to the time of the saint, most likely dates from the thirteenth century. The pillar stone has an inscription, ‘LIE LUGUAEDON MACCI MENUEH’, which there have been many attempts at translating over the years. The first attempt was in 1810 by a member of the Tipperary militia who interpreted it as reading: ‘Underneath this stone lie Goill, Ardan and Sionan.’ The names were supposed to be those of three brothers, the eldest of whom was said to be the head of a religious order there and gave his name to the island. A further attempt was made in 1904 and came up with the reading: ‘To speak yonder on the graves of those who are blessed.’ In the early nineties a local boatman taking a group to the island informed Rynne that ‘the stone is a fossilized rudder of St Patrick’s boat’! Further misreadings abound, one of which is as follows: ‘The stone of Lugnaedon, son of Limenueh’, Limenueh being identified as Liemania, the sister of St Patrick, and Lugnaedon as Lugna, Liemania’s son. The ancient collection of manuscripts known as Leabhar Breac states that Lugnat was the foster son of Patrick and son of his sister and that he was also his navigator–thus the seed for the boatman’s story.
Eventually it was acknowledged that the original markings on the Lugnaedon stone were in ogam and later in Gaelic script, presumably from the ogam. So finally, we end up with our old harvest and sun god Lug,* a Celtic deity found throughout Europe and along the coast of North Africa. Thus, we are left with two pre-Christian or pagan deities: namely, Lug or the ‘shining one’ and Aed ‘the fiery one’, both solar deities. The noted antiquarian R.A.S. Macalister suggested that the original ogam inscriptions were cut from the sides of the stone and substituted with what one can see today. According to Rynne, it is generally accepted nowadays that the inscription dates from the sixth century and ‘is probably the oldest extant example of an Irish inscription in Latin characters’. It has also been pointed out that the word gall is an old Irish word for a stone, and that Inchagoill should be translated as ‘The Island of the Stone’, or the ‘Island of Lug’s Stone’.
Lough Corrib was originally known as Loch Orbsen, Orbsen being the proper name of Mannanán mac Lir.* According to legend, when Orbsen’s grave was being dug, the lake burst forth over the land. Keating says:
Mannanán mac Lir ó’n sír sreath, Oirbsean a ainm, iar gcéd gcloth ég adbath.
Manannán son of Lear, from the ‘loch’ he sought the ‘sraith’ [‘sraith’, a level space by a river]. Oirbsean his (own) name, after a hundred conflicts he died the death.
[Translated by David Comyn]
Legend relates that a great fight took place between Orbsen mac Alloid or Manannán mac Lir* and Uillinn, the grandson of Nuadu Argatlám (‘Nuadu of the Silver Hand’, who was a king of Ireland and whose replica, minus his arm, can be seen today in the Anglican cathedral in Armagh).This fight took place on the western shores of Lough Corrib near Moycullen [45], which in Irish is Magh Uillinn or ‘the plain of Uillin’. A standing stone known as Uillin’s stone was said to commemorate this battle but seems to have disappeared by the middle of the twentieth century.
A different origin for the Corrib’s name is given by O’Rahilly who says that it is named after Oirbsiu Már, who was son of Lugaid Conmac, thus providing another connection, beside that on Inchagoill, with Lug.* The Conmaicne were a pre-Gaelic race who worshipped Lug as their sun god.
Kilbennan [39], about ten miles north-east of Lough Corrib, also has an association with Lug,* its pagan name having been Dún Lugaid (‘the fort of Lug’). A monastery was founded there by St Benin, a disciple and successor of St Patrick at Armagh; the land here was given by a local chieftain, Lugaid, who was baptised by Patrick. He followed the tradition of incorporating the local god, the sun god Lug, into his name. The early church of Benin was burnt down in 1114, but there are portions of a round tower still standing there. O’Donovan in the nineteenth century wrote that ‘the present coarb [successor] of St Benin is making every exertion to put a stop to these courses, because he believed that the tower was a pagan fire-temple and that the well was of druidical sanctity, and that St Benin was obliged to transfer them to Christian purposes to please the superstitious natives’. St Benin’s Well (Tobar Chill Bheinín) is about 150 yards north-west from the ruins of the medieval church.
FIGURE 2. The pillar stone on Inchagoill Island, Lough Corrib, associated with the god Lug.
On the last Sunday in July a great pattern was held at ancient Dún Lugaid to commemorate Lug,* a day that was also known as the Feast of Lughnasa and later as Garland Sunday. John O’Donovan visited here in 1838 and found that ‘stations were performed at the well on Domnach Chrom Dubh [the Irish name for Garland Sunday]’. The parish priest at the time, a Father Joyce, wished to put a stop to the practice because of its pagan origins.
A
