and that the memory of its first Christian neophyte was perpetuated in the designation of the Church St. Patrick founded there, viz., Domnach Senchill, now called "Donoughmore in Omayle."

CELL FINE, ECCLESIA FINE.-It is remarkable that all the ancient writers who speak of the Palladian churches, invariably place Cell Fínè the first in order, and describe it in such a manner as to establish its pre-eminence above the others. The writer of the Vita Secunda ("Trias Thaumaturg.," p. 13, cap. xxiv.) records that Palladius "left in that church his books, which he had got from Pope Celestine, and the box containing the relics of the Blessed Peter and Paul and other Saints, and the tablets on which he used to write, which, in the Scottish tongue, are called from his name PALL-ERE,' that is, the burden of Palladius, and are held in veneration." (Vide Dr. Todd's "St. Patrick," p. 294.) St. Aileran, the author of the Vita Quarta, who died December 29th, A. D. 664, says that in his time, "even to the present day," these memorials of Palladius were preserved in Cill Finè. If we adopt the opinion of Dr. Todd ("St. Patrick, p. 296), these relics were still preserved there up to the beginning of the ninth century. How long they were extant after that period is not recorded; but it is easy to conjecture, that if they escaped destruction in the devastations and plunderings of the churches of Ui Muiredaigh in the succeeding centuries, which our Annals testify, they must have finally perished in the raids made by the Danes when they established themselves, early in the tenth century, in the neighbouring stronghold of Dunlavin, which had been

1 Recte Pallaire, or Palaine, a book, satchel (O'Donovan). Quere Epistolarium.

The foreigners of Athcliath were besieged by Donnchadh, King of Ireland, and Murchadh, King of Ailech, and their possessions from Dublin to Ath-Truisden were spoiled and plundered. "Annals of the Four Masters," A. D. 936.

3 Dunlavin. Dun-Liamhna, LiamainLendcain, one of the daughters of Dubhtach Dubhtaire, son of Fergna, King of the Deisi Bregh; she eloped with Fomu the son of Aicher-Cerr (à quo Duma Aicher in Hy Felmeda), son of Eochaid Ondot of the Ernaans of Munster, and her father

4TH SER., VOL. II.

followed her and slew her at Dunlavin, whence its name. (Dinnsenchus, Book of Ballymote). After the year 405, Enna, the son of Nial of the nine hostages, was slain at the battle of Laimhan by Enna Censelach. Domnall and Lorcan of Liamhain, fought at Ballachmoon in 908. The Kings of Leinster had a fortified residence here, the moat of Tornant marks the place, it is a most remarkable monument in appearance and situation. It measures in the outer circumvallation about 500 ft. in circumference. Its height outside is about 8 ft. and 4 inside. The moat or Dun rises 25 ft. above the base line of

3 S

from the earliest times one of the chief regal fortresses of Mid-Leinster. The church of Killeen appears to have survived the destruction of its venerable relics; the ancient books of Palladius were doubtless the objects which chiefly excited the hatred or cupidity of the pagan Danes. Their wanton violence and barbarity were usually directed to the book satchels and their contents, and the adorned shrines of the Saints of Erin. It appears, from some references to Killeen Cormac, that in the eighth and ninth centuries the church and cemetery were spoken of as the Dion-lata Ceneoil Luga, i. e. ad paludes, the Marshes of Cinel Lugair. This appellation will be seen, as we proceed, to have been a most descriptive one, which, even to the present day, is realized in Killeen Cormac. These references are to be found in the Neamshencus, in McFirbis, and also in the Book of Lecan. The references already given in the preceding chapters of the LOCA PATRICIANA to the charters, &c., preserved in the Repertorium Viride of John Alan, Archbishop of Dublin (A. D. 1528– 1534), threw some light on the subsequent history of Killeen Cormac, or Cillen Ui Lugair. In a charter dated 1173, "Cellinnlugair" is mentioned as one of the churches. belonging to the Abbey (Diocese ?) of Glendalach. also mentioned in documents of the dates 1193, 1199. The Bull of Innocent III. (A. D. 1198-1226) enumerates it as belonging to Glendalach. In the diocesan of Pope Nicholas IV. in 1291, its name does not appear, it was then "vasta," or waste. It is not improbable that after these times the fame of Killeen waned before a rival church in the same locality, viz., the church of St. Patrick, at Nar

It is

the outer mound and measures 300 ft. on the summit. It stands on the slope of a hill; from its top there is a most extensive view, reaching from Slieve Mairghe to the "Hill of Lyons," embracing the plains of Meath and Kildare, and on the west the Slieve Bloom mountains. The old Church of Tornant lies to the S. E. of the moat; its walls were removed nearly a century ago, and brought to repair the church in the town of Dunlavin, which is less than a mile distant. Above the church, on the highest point of the hill, are the remains of a Pagan tumulus with white

quartz boulders ranged about it, and near it on the crest of the hill are the remains of another, which was evidently rifled by the Danes, as the covering flags of the passage and roof lie scattered about; they have leaf-like ornamentation, spiral curves, &c., of the same character as at New Grange. These remains, with a number of raths in the neighbourhood, attest the ancient importance of Dunlavin. The church was made into a prebend of the Diocese of Glendalach 1190. It appears to have been a place of great ecclesiastical importance in Mediaval times.

raghmore, Noragh Patrick of the Rep. Vir. As the history of the Apostle St. Patrick became more diffused and known in the 9th century, that of Palladius, alio nomine Patricius, became, either by chance or design, confused and obscured; his church shared the same fate; its name was all but lost, and its history became disguised in almost impenetrable obscurity.

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Of the writers who speak of the Palladian churches, two indicate the material of which they were structed. The Four Masters, at the year 430, expressly state that they were of wood; and Jocelyn gives a similar account of them (cap. xxv. "Tr. Th.," p. 70). "Tresque Ecclesias de robore exstructas fundavit." For this statement he must have had some ancient authority-the same, perhaps, as the Four Masters subsequently used. It is probable that these churches were made of oak planks or hurdles, after the manner of the country. Churches of this material were to be found in Ireland up to the tenth century. Wooden churches of very ancient date are yet extant in Sweden. An ancient wooden church still exists in England. The names of old Irish church sites still point out what was the original mode of structure. Duis teac, the "oaken house," is a living word for an oratory. Kil. clief, in the Co. Down, is a further evidence: Cill-cleite, the "hurdle church." We have at the same time other evidences of stone churches, as at Duleek, Co. Meath: Dom lag, the "stone house:" doim, domus; lag, lapis ("E. Antiq. Down and Connor," p. 217). Churches were also built with mud walls.' While St. Patrick was preaching in Connaught, he built one of that material on Tirawley. and another at the Rath of Cruaichan (vide Todd, p. 425), That the Palladian church at Killeen Cormac was built of timber is very probable, it was not difficult to erect a church of that material, and as the stay of its builder, Palladius, was not of long duration, he probably availed himself of the easiest and most expeditious ineans of raising a church for

As appears by the following passage from the Book of Armagh :-" Et ecce Patricius perrixit ad agrum quod dicitur Foirrgea Filiorum Amolngid ad dividendum

inter filios Amolngid et fecit ibi ecclesiam terrenam de humo quadratan, quia non prope erat. Sylva." Betham's "Irish Antiquarian Researches," App. p. xxxii.

his converts, which was superseded by a more perma nent structure of stone. Dubhtac Mac ua Lugair erected a stone church and cross after his conversion to Christianity. In his second poem (O'Curry, p. 488), he says— "It was by me an oratory was first built, and a stone cross." And where more suitably could this church and cross have been erected than among his own tribe, on the tumulus of his ancestors, and on the site already hallowed by the church of the first Bishop of the "Scots who believed in Christ"? Under its shadow was to be his own place of rest; where also were to repose with him his sons, with other distinguished personages of his tribe and race, and Catan, or Muchatoc of Inisfail, "the holy priest of the family of Patrick"; and where, too, were to rest for a while, until popular veneration declared him a Saint, the mangled remains of Condlaed, the Bishop of Kildare, "who was devoured by wild dogs on the side of Laimhain, in the plain of Leinster."

It is worthy of notice, that when St. Patrick visited this territory, which in the Tripartite is called "Ui Ercain," Brig, the daughter of Fergnad, the son of Cobhtach, gave secret intelligence to the Saint of the snares and ambuscades which awaited him on his journey into Western Liffe. The sons of Laghis, son of Find, either to gain the favour of Crimthan, King of Hy Cinnselagh, or perhaps at his desire, as he was then a persecutor of the Hy Barrche, "because they believed before any one else," prepared these pitfalls to ensure the destruction of St. Patrick. It is probable that Briga was a Palladian Christian, or converted by Isserninus, the Apostle of her family, the Hy Barrche. She lived at Glashely, near Narraghmore, to which church St. Patrick went as he proceeded towards South Leinster. Dubhtach Mac Ua Lugair, a native of this territory, notwithstanding the order of King Leaghaire, received St. Patrick with respect at Tara. Dubhtach was not then a Christian he became a believer, and was soon after bap tized, as, doubtless, he knew much of the doctrines of Christianity from his intercourse with his Christian kinsfolk, so as to earnestly embrace it, even against his best temporal interests, and to become the trusted friend and sympathiser with our national Apostle.

ON A PAGAN CEMETERY, AT DRUMNAKILLY, NEAR OMAGH, COUNTY OF TYRONE.

BY W. F. WAKEMAN.

THE Townland of Drumnakilly, lying at a distance of five miles and a quarter to the east of Omagh, in the county of Tyrone, though now for the greater part fairly cultivated, was, down to about thirty years ago, little more than a wilderness of heath-clad bog. As there was not anciently a church or a Christian cemetery in the district, the name Drumnakilly (according to Dr. Joyce, who has kindly assisted me with his opinion) must be held to mean "The ridge of the wood ;" and this particular ridge, or "druim" is doubtlessly the rather conspicuous elevation situate a little to the west of the residence of Mr. Kyle, a gentleman who in more ways than one has contributed to the success of the explorations, a report of which I have now the honour of laying before a meeting of our Association. This hill rises to a height of about forty feet above the general level of the surrounding fields, and commands a most interesting view of the plains of Omagh on the one side, and of a wild many-tinted range of hills, amongst which Mulloghearn is the most prominent, on the other. Though now under tillage, it was, in Mr. Kyle's memory, overspread by a rather deep bog, the peat resting upon a "bearing" of remarkably fine yellow sand, which varies in thickness from eighteen inches to nine feet. The bog is described as having been five or six feet in depth, and as having retained the roots, and, in some instances the trunks, of trees, chiefly of the fir kind. This was probably the wood referred to in the name of the Townland. few stones occur in the soil, and those are ordinary fieldstones of small size.

But

One day in the month of May of last year, a labouring man in the employment of Mr. Kyle, while engaged in trenching potatoes, discovered the very magnificent urn (Fig. 1) which I shall presently describe. This he brought to Mr. Kyle, who conveyed it to Omagh, where it was deposited for public exhibition in the office of the "Tyrone