vodig castle (No. 8 on map). The village is called Ballyvodock, and on the little island, not far from this (No. 9 on the map), we have another village, Clashavodig. On the map given by Dr. O'Conor (Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores.') Ptolemy places the Vodia' tribe in the south of Ireland, but nearer the Blackwater river (Dabrona Flu). The map of Britannia Romana, given in Camden's Britannia,' by Gibson, places the 'Vodiæ' at what is now Cork Harbour. More inward, beyond the Iberi, dwelt the Ovdia, who are termed also the Vodiæ, and the Udiæ, some resemblance of which name remains very express and clear in the territories of Idou and Idouth; and of the Coriondi in the County of Cork, which borders upon them. These people inhabited the counties of Cork, Tipperary, Limerick, and Waterford.' Is it not just possible that in the above names' Vodig' and 'Vodock,' we have a relic of Ptolemy's tribes, the Vodiæ ? A short distance to the north, behind the Goban Saor's Castle (No. 8 on map), runs one of the traditional Druid roads. It is called there the Bohur-na-bo-finne,-the road of the white cow. The Rev. R. Smiddy, in his interesting essay on the Druids, Churches and Towers of Ireland, p. 70, mentions this mystical animal, the death-stone or altar of which is near, at a place called Castlemary, and in the Deer-park there traces of an ancient road are shown. This road crossed over the hills, to a place called Rathcourcey (No. 10 on map), and tradition carries it across the River Owennacurra, about one mile and a half from Brown Island. Some twenty-five years ago, dredging operations, to render the river navigable up to Ballynacorra, at this place, brought up some very rudely cut oak piles, confirming the tradition of the existence of some kind of causeway at some time having been there. I recollect being told of this circumstance soon after by a gentleman, since dead, from whom I got my first lessons in archæology. He said, 'the oak was cut with a sharp stone or flint.' I visited the site, and there is a strange artificial look about it still. It is in fact the nearest spot to the sea, at that side, where the estuary was fordable. enchanted cow walked through Ballyvodig, and on to Foaty Island, and drank at Lough-na-bo, a small lake in front of Mr. Smith Barry's mansion (No. 11 on map). The road runs over the hills to Glanmire, near Cork, and, according to tradition, off to the County of Limerick.

This

"In the Journal of the Association for 1853, Vol. II., Part II., p. 313, Mr. W. Hackett, in his second paper on Folk-Lore, gives this curious tradition:-'In Imokilly, on the strand of Ballycroneen (No. 13 on map), three cows, on a May-eve, about an hour after mid-day, emerged from the sea. One was white, another red, and the third black. After deliberating a while, they walked abreast until they had gone about a mile from the sea; there the three cows parted,-the white cow going to the northwest, towards the County of Limerick-the red cow going to the west, by a road running all around the coast of Ireland, and the black cow going to the north-east, towards Lismore, in the county of Waterford. The roads are pointed out in many places, and are known as 'Bohur-na-BoFinne,' Bohur-na-Bo-Ruadh,' and 'Boher-na-Bo-Duibhè.'

"It is much to be regretted, that we have no map yet made that would show the skill of the old Gaedhelic road-makers. We have heard a deal talked about the good of a railway round the coast. Perhaps this is as interesting a subject to the Irish, as the Roman roads are to the English.

"From exploration I find that wherever the oyster exists, near the bed will be the remains of a kitchen-midden. At the river edge of a

very steep hill (No. 6 on map), near the village of Rathcoursey (No. 10 on map), the upper part of a shell mound is to be seen, showing by the action of the river on the cliff the probable age. The oyster now is cultivated at that place. Nearer to Cork, the Cork and Passage Railway, about 100 yards from Rochestown Station (No. 12 on map), passes over a shell-mound. This, I found, was situated on' what had been a small island, now by the help of the railway embankment reclaimed. At Oyster Haven, a creek west of Cork Harbour, near Kinsale, I also found the remnant of a kitchenmidden. In all of any size I found charcoal, some rubbed stones, and a few bones: one of a horse (Equus Caballus), the ox (Bos-longifrons), and dog (Canis); and if time permitted more extended exploration, probably might have found many others. I may also mention one at Temple Breedy, No. 14 on map, a very prominently placed structure, at the entrance to Cork Harbour. In the church-yard are found quantities of cockle and perriwinkle shells. There is a tradition, that about 400 years ago a famine was in the country, and that then the people used to subsist on the fish. But it seems strange, that people in a famishing state would take the trouble to bring the shells such a distance, and up to the top of a steep hill. Around this, for some miles, is a rocky coast. Now, cockles delight in mud banks, all of which are some distance off. The shells at the top of these mounds have decomposed, and vegetation having grown on them, it effectually protects the remainder."

The following papers were contributed :—

PATRON DAYS AND HOLY WELLS IN OSSORY.

BY JOHN HOGAN.

THE colored races of America have not receded before the advances of the white men of Europe with greater celerity than the national observances of Ireland have been obliterated by the unsparing hand of social progress, and the stern utilitarianism of modern times. Almost Almost every adult still remembers the cherished customs and time-honoured institutions of his early days; many of them hallowed in his estimation by the reverence in which they had been previously held by past generations, and some of them inseparably associated with the reminiscences of his youth. The "Patron Day," to some the occasion of pious exercises, to others the cause of very different observance. shed its halo over every season of the year. The " Maypole

4TH SER., VOL. II.

2 L

day, when festoons and garlands, flowers and foliages were lighted up by the morning rays of the first summer's sun. The "St. John's Fire," in the radiance of which village maids and rustic swains, with hearts light and affections fresh, reciprocated the gladdening aspect in which nature decks the midsummer day. Next came the mystical mummeries of "Hallow Eve," and then the traditional absurdities of "Twelfth Night," and the many other anniversaries of minor note, the memory of which is still preserved amid the recollections of many life-long careers, and in some districts are still fondly cherished as dear mementoes of the past. But in the cycle of our national anniversaries the "Patron Day" was in popular estimation the most distinguished, and its return the most gladly welcomed. Constituting as it did a surviving vestige of the religious institutions of ancient Ireland, it became interwoven with the sentimental traditions of the people, and its celebration was, in consequence, honoured with a degree of romantic piety and national enthusiasm peculiar to the high religious tone of the Celtic temperament. The following observations on the origin and abuse of Patron days in Ireland, by the Rev. Joseph Saynds, Rector of Fiddown, in the beginning of the present century, may be here transcribed as an appropriate introduction to the sequence of this essay.'

"The first institution of Patron Days in Ireland was an anniversary commemoration of those days on which their parish churches had been dedicated to the respective Saints whose tutelary guardianship the people annually implored as their mediators and advocates with the Almighty, which custom also prevailed in England, where such annual meetings are denominated wakes, and in both countries used to be celebrated for one or more days after the next Sunday, or Saint's day to whom the parish church had been dedicated. These institutions seem to have been very ancient in Ireland.

"It would appear that the clergy and laity of each parish annually assembled at their respective churches on

1 "Essay."-See "Parochial Survey of M. R. I. A., Dublin, 1814.-Parish of Ireland," By William Shaw Mason, Fiddown.

those solemn occasions not only to implore the future tutelage of their patron Saint, but also to offer prayers and distribute alms for their departed friends; from whose venerated tombs they cleared the rank weeds, and decorated them with the gayest flowers of the season, renewing, at the same time, the mournful funeral dirge, in which was recounted every worthy action of the deceased, and his relatives as on the day of interment; hence it was necessary to erect temporary lodgings or booths in the neighbourhood of the churches, and procure provisions for the poor, which were distributed to them in charity by the pious of every denomination; as also to find refreshment for strangers, whose devotion frequently brought them from very remote places on those occasions.

"Such was doubtless the first institution of Patron days, and such it continued for ages until the Reformation;

yet the people, ever tenacious of the religion of their fathers, assembled as usual, on each anniversary day, but they were now become like a flock without a shepherd, and exercises of devotion at such meetings gradually gave place to profane amusements; the pious and devout hav-' ing in a great measure forsaken those degenerate assemblies, a total relaxation of discipline and good order prevailed among the ungoverned multitude; drunkenness and riot became in time familiar, and those days originally devoted to the honour of God seemed now wholly set apart to celebrate the orgies of the prince of darkness." The "Patron days" were originally all holidays, either of obligation or devotion; but in modern times, when these days do not occur either on a Sunday or holiday, the observances of the "Patron" are transferred to the Sunday next following, or that within the octave of the festival.

After the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland, no general alterations were made in the pre-existing ecclesiastical topography of the country, which dates at all events. as early as the Synod of Rath-Breasail, except in the immediate vicinity of the manorial seats of the AngloIrish barons, where we generally find traces of compara tively modern arrangements in the foundation of new churches-in some place for secular priests, oftener for regular clergy, and not unfrequently for collegiate purposes;

and the parishes respectively attached to these establishments are found to have been often formed out of portions of pre-existing parishes. Previous to the period of which we are now writing, there was no such church or parish as St. Mary's in Kilkenny, and the parish now known by that name may confidently be asserted to be but a moiety of the ancient parish of St. Rioch. Sometimes the newlyformed ecclesiastical districts are found to include more than one pre-existing parish. St. John's of Kilkenny comprises four ancient parishes, not only the sites of the respective churches of which, but even the ancient parochial boundaries, are still ascertainable. These observations. are more or less applicable to the parishes of Gowran,

see

1 "Parish of St. Rioch."--On this subject,

"Transactions of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society." New Series, vol. II. p. 475, et seq.

2 "Ancient parishes."-The first of these parishes was that with which the Earl Marschal endowed the new conventual church of St. John. It is described in the Charter as "The whole of the parish beyond the bridge of Kilkenny looking towards the east and adjoining the same bridge." What the name of that parish was has not since transpired. Ledwich says it was St. Mell's, but it could not have been; for St. Mell's parish was never in the possession of St. John's Abbey, nor could that parish be described as adjoining St. John's Bridge, and extending thence towards the east. St. Mell's never approached nearer than the site of the present Fever Hospital, and that is due north of St. John's Bridge. By whatever name the ancient parish here may have been known, there is no doubt that Maudlin-street churchyard was the site of its church. Down to the present century that graveyard was called "St. Stephen's churchyard." But whether the church there had been called by the title of St. Stephen before its parish had been given to St. John's, I fear there are no materials to establish.

The second parish included in St. John's comprised the townlands of Purcell's Inch, Leyrath, and Legate's rath east. The church of this parish was Aughmalogue, i. e. Achadh-Moling, the field of St. Moling or Molingus. The ruins and site of this church are well known on the brow of the railway nar Anghmalogue Bridge, one mile from Kilkenny.

The third parish included the townlands

of Garrynacreen, Hebron, Brownstown, and Green Ridge. The church of this parish is well-known in the field opposite the Pococke School as Garrynacreen church. Garryna-Creen means the Garden of Creen. Whether this Creen was a saint or otherwise there exists no memorial to show, more than the existence of Killcreen, or the Church of Creen, near Kilkenny, now used as an out-office to Kilcreen House.

The fourth and largest of those suburban parishes comprised the townlands of Newtown, Glendine, Readstown, and Lochmerans. The site of the church of this parish is well known as "Baunfadha churchyard." Baunfadha probably means the long baur or enclosure. To what saint this church was dedicated is not known.

In the centre of these four parishes, and completely insulated between them and the River Nore, is situated the parish of St. Mell, which, though smaller in extent than any of the other four, is still a distinct parish, At what period the parishes of Aughmalogue, Garrynacreen, and Baunfadha were first annexed to that of St. John's there is no record preserved. But that they had been originally independent parishes appears evident from the arrangement of their respective churches; and that they formed uo part of the original parish of St. John's is certain from the words of the Charter already quoted, and which describes that parish as adjoining the bridge of Kilkenny, and extending thence towards the east. The district of Baunfadha is three miles due north of that bridge, and therefore could not have formed part of the parish with which the Earl Marschal endowed his newly founded church of St. John.