Magh Rein in Leitrim, who was the poet’s brother, after which he went back to Durlas Guaire. In order to help them in their endeavour, Guaire sent for his brother Marbhan from his hermitage at Glenn-an Scail (‘the glen of the shadows’), now known as Gleananscaul [46], about two miles north of Oranmore. Marbhan arrived at Durlas Guaire and here they discussed the best way to recover the lost tale. Many saints went to the burial place of Fergus mac Roich, a prominent person in the tale, and through prayer persuaded God to raise him from the dead, and thus the tale was retrieved.
Guaire had a daughter named Créde who was in love with Dinertach of the Uí Fhidgente of east Limerick, who had come to support Guaire in his fight against Diarmait of the Uí Néill in the battle of Carn Conaill. A poem she composed, known as the ‘Song of Crédne, Daughter of Guaire’, was transcribed by Gilla Riabach mac Tuathail ui Chlérig who lived in the first half of the sixteenth century. Whether Dinertach was slain or survived this battle is not clear, but the poem tells us that he suffered seventeen wounds, which prompted Créde to keen the following:
It é saigdi goine súain
cech trát[h]a ind-oidc[h]I adhúair:
sercoi lie gnása íar ndé
fir a tóib tíri Roighne.
Rográd alathíre
romsíacht sech a comdíne:
rucc mo lí, ní lór do dath,
nímlécci do tindabrad.
Im-sa náidi rob-sa náir,
ní bind fri dula do dái:
óttalod I n-inderb n-aois,
romgab mo thédi toghaois.
Tathum cech maith la Guairi
lie rig nAidne n-adfúaire:
tocair mo menma óm thúathaib
isin iath I n Irlúachair.
Canair a n-íath Aidne áin
im thaobu Cilli Colmáin:
án breó des luimnech lechtach
dienad comainm Dínertach.
Cráidid mo chridhe cóinech,
a Chríst cáidh a forróidhedh:
it é soigde gona súain
cech trátha a n-oidchi adhúair.
These are the arrows that murder sleep at every hour in the bitter cold night: pangs of love throughout the day for the company of the man from the side of the land of Roigne.
Great love of a man of another land has come to me beyond all his mates: it has taken my bloom, no colour is left, it does not let me rest.
When I was a child, I was bashful, I was not used to go to a tryst; since I have come to an untried age, my wantonness has beguiled me.
I have every good with Guaire, the king of cold Aidne; but my mind has fallen away from my people to the meadow at Irluachair.
There is singing in the meadow of glorious Aidne around the sides of Cell Cholmain: glorious flame, lovely mantled, now sunk into the grave, the name of whom is Dinertach.
It wrings my pitiable heart, O chaste Christ, what has been sent to me: these are arrows that murder sleep at every hour in the bitter cold night.
[Translated by Kuno Meyer]
Gort, mentioned above, four miles from Lough Cutra [52], and between Lough Cutra and Derrybrien, is where the first resting place of Diarmuid* and Gráinne* was, namely Doire dhá Bhóth (‘the oak wood of the two bothys’), which was also known as Coill idir dhá mhaide (‘the hiding between the two woods’. The place-name makes clear that they did not stay in the same bothy – or small hut or cottage – because of Diarmuid’s loyalty to Finn.* However, this arrangement did not last long, and they proceeded to have a family. In this area between Lough Cutra and Derrybrien there are ten townlands beginning with doire, which means oak wood, so this area must have been one large oak forest. Running through it is the Derrywee River, known in Irish as Abhainn Dá Loilíoch, or the ‘river of the two milch cows’.
FIGURE 3. The Turoe Stone.
Four miles north-north-east of Loughrea is a decorated stone known as the Turoe Stone, which originally stood outside the rath of Feerwore in the townland of Turoe but now stands nearby on the lawn of Turoe House [46]. The nearby rath of Feerwore is an Early Iron Age habitation and was investigated by Joseph Raftery in 1938, the first Iron Age habitation to be excavated in modern times. According to Raftery the work on the site did not make any ‘clearer the date or purpose of the Turoe stone’.
The community in which the stone stood was a settled agricultural one which concentrated on stock-raising and a small amount of tillage. The underlying limestone would have enriched the soil and the grass, which was the mainstay of the cattle. These conclusions were prompted by the number of animal bones recovered at the site. Raftery says that the animal most adapted to the locality was the ox of the Celtic shorthorn variety. Sheep and pigs were also present, but in smaller numbers. Recovery of the bones of red deer and wolf together with a flint arrowhead shows that hunting was a likely activity and possibly on occasion a necessity for survival. That grain was grown was surmised by the existence of one fragment of a rotary quern. Iron was smelted on the site, and the objects were likely wrought by a travelling smith. An iron fibula or brooch found on the site suggests the first century BC as the latest date, according to Raftery, for the ‘beginning of the settlement at Turoe’.
The Turoe Stone would seem to demonstrate a spiritual aspect to the community. And it is here that the prevailing mythology should be investigated. The stone with its three smaller standing stones may have nothing to do with the fort and may have existed prior to its establishment. It may also have constituted a pre-Christian sacred centre, and the fort may have been set up in order to care for and manage any ceremonies that occurred there. It is usual for communities to develop close to sacred centres. As the stone was only ten yards outside the banks of the fort, the inhabitants would have been very close to the stones and very protective of them. It is also possible that the fort may have been inhabited only at certain times of the year during specific rites. Similar forts can be found at Magh Slecht in Co. Cavan, where Crom Dubh* was worshipped. Raftery mentions that the site may have been used as a sacred grave, which would make the presence of the stones more understandable. However, the desire to be buried within the precincts of a holy place generally comes after the site is no longer used as a ritual centre. For example, the burial of bodies within chuches throughout the length and breadth of the country almost always occurs when the church is in ruins.
Feerwore is most likely derived from fear mór (‘great man’), a local term for those standing stones considered to represent the phallus. Cloghafarmore (Cloch an Fear Mór, ‘the stone of the great man’) is another example found at Knockbridge [36], west of Dundalk, Co. Louth; the great warrior Cú Chulainn died fighting while tied to this stone. The phallus symbolised the generative power of nature. In ancient Greece an image of the phallus was carried in procession during the Dionysian festivals. It was a central part in many religious systems and thus was widely venerated.
The
