Beauties and Antiquities of Ireland: Being a Tourist's Guide to Its Most Beautiful Scenery & an Archæologist's Manual for Its Most Interesting RuinsRussell, Thomas O'Neill
History
Beauties and Antiquities of Ireland: Being a Tourist's Guide to Its Most Beautiful Scenery & an Archæologist's Manual for Its Most Interesting Ruins
Russell, Thomas O'Neill
Ireland -- Antiquities; Ireland -- Description and travel
prospect is what some would be tempted to call boundless. On the
south-west the view is obstructed by the hill of Knock Cosgrey, an
eminence slightly higher than Uisneach, and one of the most beautiful
hills in Ireland. It is about four miles south-west of Uisneach. Unlike
Uisneach, however, it is, seen from a distance, both striking and bold. It
has the misfortune to be called by so many different names, or rather, its
name is pronounced in so many different ways, that strangers are often
sadly puzzled what to call it. It is called Kunna Kostha and Kruck Kostha
by the peasantry, and by the gentlefolk generally Knock Ash. But its
proper name is _Cnoc Cosgraigh_, and is so written by the Four Masters,
who are, undoubtedly, the highest authority we possess on place names.
Seen from the road from Moat to Ballymahon, Knock Cosgrey is one of the
most charming sights imaginable. It is nearly a mile from top to base, and
forms a green pyramid of almost perfect symmetry. Its surface is entirely
under grass; for this part of Ireland has been largely turned into
pastures; and sometimes one may drive for six miles and not see a field of
grain. "The bold peasantry" of whom Goldsmith speaks in his "Deserted
Village" have become so few in these parts that miles may be travelled at
mid-day through as fine a country as there is in the world without meeting
a human being. Sheep and cattle, and not men and women, seem the
prevailing living creatures. Knock Cosgrey is not only higher than
Uisneach, but more near the true geographical centre of the island; but it
possesses hardly any historic interest from the fact that its summit was
too narrow to allow the ancient Irish either to build or assemble on it.
Uisneach, with its over a hundred acres of nearly level land on its top,
was therefore chosen, for a hundred thousand men could find space on it.
It became, for that reason, one of the most historic, and in ancient times
one of the most celebrated, hills in Ireland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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