Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and UsesFergusson, James
History
Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and Uses
Fergusson, James
Megalithic monuments
There are no other traditions, so far as I know, attached to anything
in this glen, except those that relate to St. Columba, who, it is
understood, long resided here, attempting to convert the inhabitants
to Christianity. Whether he was successful or not is not clear. He
certainly left Ireland in disgust, and settled in the first island
whence the shores of his detested native land could not be seen. The
only other tradition that seems to bear on the subject relates to
St. Patrick, who, being unable to convert the "Demons" about Croagh
Patrick, in Mayo, drove them into the sea; but, instead of perishing,
as they ought to have done, when he threw his bell after them, they
reappeared, and settled on this promontory.[258] The meaning of this
fable seems to be, that some tribe--not Celtic, for the Celts accepted
Christianity whenever and wherever it was preached to them, but, it may
be of Iberian origin--refusing to accept the doctrine, was expelled
by force from their seats in Mayo, and sought refuge with kindred
tribes in this remote corner of the island, and here remained till
St. Columba took up his abode among them. If we might assume that
the Columbkille group belongs to a time immediately preceding their
conversion, and that the other five groups in Malin More extended back
to a date two, three, it may be four centuries before St. Columba's
time, and that they belonged to an Iberian or Celtiberian race, we
should have an hypothesis which at least would account for all their
peculiarities. Though in sight of Carrowmore, on the southern side of
Sligo Bay, it is certain that these monuments have no affinity with
them or with the works of any of the Northern circle-building nations.
Spanish or French they must be; and we can hardly hesitate between the
two. In Elizabeth's time, and as far back as history reaches, we have
Spaniards settled in Galway, and on the western coast of Ireland. Such
colonisation, if lasting, is not the work of any sudden impulse or of
a long past time; and the probability is that Iberians, before they
learned to talk Latin, were settled here from a very early age. It
is also probable from what we know of them and their monuments in the
Peninsula, that they would refuse for a longer period than the Celts to
be converted, and that they should use dolmens for their sepulchres in
preference either to tumuli or circles.
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