Historical and Topographical Notes on the Route of Tàin Bó Cúailnge Between Tulsk, Co
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The Táin March 2017 Historical and Topographical Notes on the Route of Tàin Bó Cúailnge between Tulsk, Co. Roscommon to Omeath, Co. Louth By Paul Gosling DAY 1: Rathcroghan to Lissonuffy The bulk on the first day’s march is on by-roads but necessitates the negotiation of a 0.5km segment of the N5 at Rathcroghan and a 1.5km stretch of the N61 northwards out of Tulsk. This part of the route has been plotted on the basis of placenames in ‘Sligi na Tána’, so so-called itinerary ofTBC which commences as follows: ‘On the Monday after the autumn festival of Samhain they set out. They travelled south-east from Crúachan Aí, by Mucc Cruinb, past Terloch Teóra Crích, past Túaim Móna, past Cúil Silinne, …. ’(TBC1, Lines 114-130). A) ‘Crúachan Aí’ is Rathcroghan mound from where The Táin March is set to begin; B) ‘Mucc Cruinb, past Terloch Teóra Crích’: the locations of these places appear to be lost; C) ‘Túaim Móna’: this is preserved in the name Toomona, a townland c.2km west of Tulsk. D) The route brings us past Tobar Ogulla (formerly the fountain of Clebach), a holy spring-well where St. Patrick met and baptised the daughters of King Laoghaire. E) The story itself informs us that at the end of the first day’s march the army made their first camp at ‘Cúil Silinne’, a toponym which still survives as Kilcooley, a parish midway between Tulsk and Strokestown. In a marginal note in the Lebor na hUidre version of TBC, ‘Cúil Silinne’ is glossed as ‘the site of Loch Cairrcín today’ (TBC1, line 137). Hogan’s Onomasticon Goedelicum (1910) identifies ‘Loch Cairrcín’ as Ardakillin Lough, 9.5km south-east of Rathcroghan. This lake has a rich archaeology (multiple crannogs) and is historically referenced as a ‘seat’ of the O’Conors in medieval times. F) The march concludes at Lissonuffy, a medieval church site, formerly a monastery of Augustinian Canons at the western foot of Slieve Bawn. The remains comprise a church, cross-slab, bullaun and possible early eccl. enclosure. DAYS 2-6: Lissonuffy – Sl. Bawn – Termonbarry – Cloondara - Longford The following days marches involve a combination of by-roads forest paths, and a short segment of National routeway east of Termonbarry. A) Writing in 1938, Henry Morris recorded the following information: ‘a woman in Co. Roscommon showed me where the old road ran between Scramoge Gap and the Shannon, over which Meave marched her army. “How do you know it was there?” I asked. “Because my father dug up the flags with which it was paved” she replied’ (Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 68, p.120). B) In Lebor na hUidre, the next three placenames on the itinerary list after ‘Cúil Silinne’ are ‘Fid, Bolga and Coltain’ but none of these have been satisfactorily located. In the Book of Leinster, Fid is rendered as ‘Dubfid’ and Bolga as ‘Badbna’. The latter is possibly as truncated name for Slieve Bawn which is known in the medieval sources as Sliabh Badna or Bádna. In his Onomasticon (p. 446,) Hogan is of the opinion that ‘Medb marched over Slieve Bawne, over Coltain, al. Moin Colna (bog bet. Sl. Bawne and the Shannon), over Áth Coltna on the Shannon, and so over the Shannon to Glúine Gabair in c. Longf., which is at or nr Cloon Dara’. C) In the Book of Leinster version of TBC, the next name after ‘Coltain’ on the itinerary list is ‘Sinaind’ – the River Shannon. Given the prominence of this river in Ireland’s geography and lore, it is strange that the only mention of it in TBC occurs in the itinerary list (TBC2, line 282). On the maps accompanying Thomas Kinsella’s translation of TBC (Oxford University Press, 1970), Gene Haley depicts the army as crossing the Shannon at Termonbarry. He tentatively suggests that the original ford may have been at Fisherstown c.2km upstream from Termonbarry Bridge. However, a close reading of Edmund Hogan’s Onomasticon Goedelicum suggests that the crossing point was at or just south of Termonbarry for Hogan equates ‘Glúne Gabair’ (the next placename after ‘Sinaind’) as ‘at or near Cloon Dara’. D) Having forded the Shannon, the text of TBC1 informs us that the army ‘came on then to Mag Trego and there they encamped and prepared food for themselves’. This was their second camp. ‘Mag Trego’ was a medieval territory in the vicinity of Longford Town roughly coterminous with the civil parishes of Clongesh and part of Templemichael which lie north of the town. E) The route from Cloondara to Longford is unclear. The present N5 road originated c.1800 as a carriage road: A ‘Map of the Kingdom of Ireland divided into Provinces, Counties and Baronies’ by John Rocque, dated 1794 shown no bridge at Termonbarry and no road from there to Longford. The Down Survey maps (1656-58) show an older route looping northwards from Cloondara via Ballykenny and Caldragh to approach Longford town from the north. This the route which the March will follow. F) Very little information is available regarding the route taken by Queen Medb’s forces from Longford to Granard. The route chosen for The Táin March has been dictated by our decision to avoid main roads and the need to have a day end-point in a village somewhere between Longford and Granard. We have chosen Ballinalee. DAYS 7-8: Longford – Ballinalee – Granard - Ballymanus Very little information is available regarding the routetaken by Queen Medb’s forces between Longford and Ballymanus. A) Having left ‘Mag Trego’ (Longford town), the text of TBC1 informs us that ‘after the army had been led astray across bogs and streams they went and spent the night in Granard in northern Tethba’. The March will avoid the main road from Ballinalee to Granard, and follow by-roads via Coolagherty, Milltown and Killeen to Granard. B) Shortly after they left Granard, they went astray once again. The natural route to Cooley would have been eastwards via the R194 to Ballyjamesduff, in Co. Cavan but Fergus Mac Róich deliberately turned Medb’s forces southwards. As the texts of TBC1 relates: ‘He went far astray to the south to give the Ulstermen time to complete the mustering of their army. This he did out of affection for his own kin’. As a result, they eventually ended up in Kells, Co. Meath. The itinerary list or ‘Sligi na Tána’ in TBC 2 lists 18 obscure placenames between ‘Mag Trega’ (Longford town) and ‘Cúil Siblinne’ (Kells) suggesting that the army wandered through much of Co. Westmeath. C) The southward diversion almost certainly took them through Finnea – Fiodhan Átha (the Wood of the Ford). Though it is not mentioned in TBC, Finnea is an historic strategic location commanding the narrow corridor between Lough Sheelin and Lough Kinale. D) We have chosen Ballymanus as the end-point for the day as it is only 4km from Rathmea, in Co. Meath where tradition holds that Medb camped (see Day 4). DAYS 9-10: Ballymanus – Crossakeel – Kells – Faughan Hill - Teltown The route from Ballymanus to Kells hangs on three pieces of information, one from the text of TBC, the other two from local lore. The day’s walk is entirely via by-roads from Ballymanus, in Westmeath, southwards of SlievenaCalliagh (Loughcrew– the hilltop cemetery of megalithic Passage Tombs) to Kells, in Co. Meath. A) According to local lore, Queen Medb is reputed to have camped on the Westmeath/Meath border at Rathmea so our route runs north and east from Ballymanus to view this location. The Field Names of County Meath records the following piece of lore regarding this townland: ‘Rathmea near Oldcastle has a fort … the townland name is said to mean Meadhbh’s Fort. This fort is reputed to be on the route of Queen Meadhbh’s journey to Ulster. She is said to have camped at this location’ (Joan Mullen, The Field Names of County Meath, The Meath Field Names Project, 2013, p.310). B) Fergus eventually confessed to Queen Medb that he had led them astray. Having wandered through ‘every strange district’, the text of TBC1 informs us that the army then ‘went on to IrardCuilenn, today called CrossaCáil’. This is the village of Crossakeel. C) From Crossakeel, we follow a series of by-roads north-eastwards to Castlekeeran to visit St. Ciaran’s Well, another natural spring with a wealth of lore and ritual activity centred on the 15th August (the Festival of Lughnasa). According to The Meath Chronicle for 20th August 1982, ‘when the men of Connaught were on their way to try and capture the “brown bull of Cooley” they are reputed to have camped for the night at St. Keeran’s Well, Carnacross’. D) The text of TBC1 records that Queen Medb’s army ‘spent the night then in Cúil Sibrille, that is, Cennannas [= Kells]. Heavy snow fell on them, reaching the girdles of the men and the wheels of the chariots’. This was the fourth camp on their journey eastwards. E) The maps in Kinsella’s translation of TBC (Oxford University Press 1970) show Queen Medb’s army taking a south-easterly course from Kells to Faughan Hill, a local prominence featured in the itinerary list of TBC as ‘Ochuind’. F) From Faughan, Queen Medb’s forces appear to have wheeled sharply north-eastwards and crossed the River Blackwater about 1km upstream from the road bridge at Donaghpatrick. We will be using the bridge but the river-crossing is known as Martry Ford or ‘Meave’s Ford’. Traces of the approach roads to the ford survive on both banks and Henry Morris provides us with a colourful vignette regarding it: ‘the local seanachaidhe tells you that Meave was carried across it on her husband’s back’ (Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol.