With the Danes, the struggle in Ireland between invaders and invaded was carried on as much in the lakes and rivers as on terra firma. Of the importance attached to crannogs during this contest many instances might be given, but a few will here suffice. In 984 “the islands of Connaught were destroyed by these marauders.” In 933 the crannog of _Lagore_ in Meath was burnt by them; whilst in 848 they fired and dismantled it. Lagore being the residence of one of the principal chiefs of Meath, frequent notices of it appear in the annals, where it is written _Loch-Gabhar_. “_Gabhur_” is an ancient Irish and British word for a horse, and accordingly the name _Loch-gabhra_, which occurs in the life of St. Aidus, is translated _Stagnum-equi_, the lake of the horse,[180] now euphonized “Lagore.” In 967 Beollán, “king” of this place, died; in 907 Maelogra, also “king” of Lagore, was slain; whilst in 868 the son of Edirscel, “king” of Lagore, fell fighting against the Danes. In 865 Tighernach, “king” of Lagore and “half-king” of Meath, died; and in 856 Cinaedh, chief of the present baronies of Upper and Lower Duleek, in Meath, in alliance with the Danes, “spoiled the islands” of Lagore. This entry is of great importance, as it points to the probability of the site of another crannog or crannogs in close proximity to the celebrated historical stronghold dug out of its peaty covering in 1847, and which as early as A.D. 673, must have been of importance, for in that year a considerable battle took place on the shores of the lake. In 927 and 928 the Danes plundered “the islands of Lough Neagh,” and in 922 the same fate befel “the islands of Lough Rea.” In 847 “the island of _Inis-Muinremhar_,” in Lough Ramor, county Cavan, was “demolished by the inhabitants of Leyney, county Sligo, and Gallen, county Mayo, who were plundering the territories after the manner of the Gentiles.”[181] In 636 a chieftain named Maelduin was burned to death in “the island” of _Inishkeen_, county Louth, on the borders of Monaghan,[182] and in the same year mention is made in the _Annals of the Four Masters_ of “a lake in which a crannog was built, situated in Oriel (but not now known), called _Loch-da-damh_, the lake of the two oxen.”[183] There is an ancient poem in Irish,[184] attributed to St. Columbkille, which commences-- “Alone am I on the mountain.” The Saint is flying from his enemies after the order of banishment from Erin had been issued against him: he subsequently exclaims-- “Though even in a church, the reprobates are slain; Though _in an island, in the middle of a lake_, The fortunate of this life are protected, While in the very front of battle No one can slay me.” A well-known Irish scholar, the Rev. Canon Bourke, gives the following translation of the same passage:--