(SEE ALSO CAVAN)
Liathdroim, ‘grey ridge’
The Black Pig’s Dyke (Claí na Muice Duibhe), a ‘linear earthwork’, is sometimes seen as the defensive fortification of Ulster. It gets it name from a legend concerning the Black Pig, which is as follows: A druid had a school in Co. Louth, and he had a magic stick which he used for maintaining discipline. When pupils were unruly, he used it to turn them into animals and then chased them through the country. The father of one of these pupils went to the school and struck the master with the wand and changed him into a pig. This pig was chased westward and as he went he made a great trench with his snout, and a blacksmith is said to have shoved a red-hot iron into his mouth and the pig went up in smoke.
Two lakes in Leitrim are steeped in mythology, Lough Allen [26] and Lough Garadice [26, 27A]. To the east of Lough Allen lies Slieve Anierin or Sliabh an Iarainn (‘iron mountain’). Here, Goibniu* the smith (goba) had one of his many forges, and it is close to here that he reputedly forged the weapons for the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh which was fought between the Tuatha Dé Danann* and the Fomorians* near Lough Arrow (see under Sligo).
The smith played a hugely prominent role in ancient Irish life, underlined by Kuno Meyer in one of his books on ‘Irish Triads’ as follows: ‘There are three renovators in the world – the womb of a woman, a cow’s udder and a smith’s ness.’ This ness was the moulding clay of which the furnace was made from time to time. The word ness was applied to both the shaped furnace and to a bag of moulding clay for making it.
The ore for the Goibniu’s* forge was taken from Sliabh an Iarainn and brought to the townland of Doire na Tuan (‘the ancient oak wood’). Derrynatuan [26] is near the source of the Shannon, and it was here that the ore was smelted, and according to the noted antiquarian John O’Donovan, ‘there has been a forge ever since’. In April 2014, I went in search for this forge and met someone who suggested that I speak to Ted McHugh, a local farmer, who then directed me to what is locally described as the remains of a mill. If this building was once a forge, where the entrance has collapsed and been replaced by concrete blocks. However, it is more likely the remains of an unclassified mill, possibly horizontal in form. The remains of the forge, I was informed, were in the area and close by but very much overgrown, and I could not find it. These remains bear testament to a possible site of the original smith’s forge. The Shannon is within a stone’s throw of the general area and, though here only a stream, would be enough for the Gabha* to take his metal workings.
Derrynatuan is in Cavan, and that is why it is important to consider the two counties together, for both share adjacent places connected to the Goibniu* or Gabha. Derrynatuan is to the north-west and broad end of Glangavlin or Gleann Gaibhleann or ‘the glen of the grey (cow) of the Gabha’. The smith kept the mythic cow here in the glen, where she was famous for her milk yield; according to legend, if she slept in a field, the ‘grass would become luxurious’. Legend also says that the tsumami of milk from her udder formed the mountain pass at Bellavally Gap or Béal a’Bhealaigh (‘the Mouth of the Pass’) [26], three miles east from Glangavlin.
Many verses have been written in praise of Gleann Gaibhleann, and the following is from a late medieval poem written by the fifteenth-century poet Tadhg Óg Ó hUiginn where he addresses the Shannon:
Dúthcha dhuit bheith againne
dá bhféachtha dona fáthaibh:
Gleann Gaibhle as é t’athairsi,
an Bhréifne is í do mháthair.
By nature thou art ours, if sound reasons be regarded: Glen Gavlin is thy father and Brefney is thy mother.
[Translated by Osborn Bergin]
The Gabha* also had ale which preserved the Tuatha Dé Danann* from old age and disease; he was also invoked for a good yield of butter, which was possibly connected to his famous cow. The smith had several names signifying his different roles; as the Gobán Saor he enters folklore and legend as the man who built the round towers and as an all-around artificer, while as the Gabha he is the mighty smith and one who officiates at rites, such as the rite of coming of age and weddings. As the Goibniu,* he is the god of the smiths and holds the Otherworld feast in which no one ages and which presumably never ends.
The River Shannon takes its name from the goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann,* namely Sinann. The legend of the Shannon’s origin is preserved in a sixteen-stanza poem by the medieval poet Cuan O’Lothchain. The first verse is as follows:
Saer ainm Sinna saighuidh uaim
nadad Loind a lom luaid
ni h-inand a gním sa gléo
dia mbai Sinand co saer beo.
The noble of Sinainn seek ye from me;
Its bare recital would not be pleasant,
Not alike now are its actions and noise,
As when Sinann herself was free and alive.
[Translated by Edward Gwynn]
The source of the Shannon is at a place known as the Shannon Pot [26], the fame of which can be traced back to Finn mac Cumhail* who gained wisdom from the salmon that dwelt there. Legend says that the goddess Síonann, the daughter of Lodan, a son of Manannán mac Lir,* the sea god, came to the Shannon Pot in search of the great Salmon of Wisdom. The salmon was angered at the sight of Síonann and caused the pool to overflow and drown her. Thus, the Shannon Pot, Log na Sionna, was created and bears the name of the goddess to this day. The drowning of a goddess in a river and thus giving her name to it is a common motif in mythologies – for example, Boand, the white cow goddess, drowning in the Boyne.
If one wished to be pernickety, one could claim that the source of the Shannon lies in the western banks of the Cuilcagh Mountains astride Cavan and Fermanagh. But, regardless of argument, the Shannon Pot is one of our sacred pools together with Loughnashade (Loch na séad, or ‘the lake of the jewels’) and the artificial pool known as the ‘King’s Stables’, both of which are at Emain Macha or Navan Fort in Co. Armagh.
MAYO
Magh Eo, ‘plain of the yews’
Around Rathfran Bay, to the south-west of Killala Bay [24], there are a number of megalithic tombs dating from the Neolithic, about 4,000 years ago, which consist of large capstones resting on upright stones. They are generally referred to as ‘cromlechs’, a term that has the same meaning as the Breton word ‘dolmen’.
One distinguished structure lies about four miles from Killala at Mullaghnacross crossroads. It has been termed Baal Tien, or ‘The House of Baal’, though one would think that Baal Teine, or ‘the fire of Baal’, would be more accurate. It was seen by nineteenth-century scholars as a sort of low temple. It has a simple pronaos – the space in front of the body of a temple enclosed by the portico and projecting side walls – formed by four upright stones on each side, which led to an altar. The altar was placed over a deep pit, at each end of which a great stone was fixed to support a large table stone. This table or altar stone has been displaced. It has been suggested that the pit may have been used to receive the blood of victims sacrificed on the altar. Similar pits were used by the Greeks and the Romans when sacrificing to Sol, the sun god. In Italy at the Temple of Serapis at Puzzuoli there is a deep square pit which was used for receiving the blood of those sacrificed. A powerful example of ‘The House of Baal’ is the Temple of Baal at Palmyra in Syria. I was fortunate to walk around this temple but unfortunate not to gain admittance in order to see the fire altars. Many of these precious
