detail as may be accounted for by its far inferior size. The tumuli on the Boyne were royal sepulchres, each comprising many chambers connected by passages, whilst the Cuffborough tumulus was most probably the burial place of a petty chieftain of the district. Mr. Petrie in his recent able work has proved beyond a doubt that the tumuli on the Boyne were erected as the burial places of the Irish monarchs of the Tuatha De Danann race: in proof of which he quotes, in the original Irish, a passage from the "Dinnsenchus" (contained in the Book of Ballymote, fol. 190) descriptive of that royal cemetery, of which the following is his translation:
'Of the monuments of Brugh (Brugh-na-Boinne) here, viz., the bed of the daughter of Forann, the Monument of the Dagda, the Mound of the Morrigan, the Monument of (the monster) Mata; . . . . the Barc of Crimthann Nianar[1], in which he was interred; the grave of Fedelmidh the Lawgiver[2]; the Cairn-ail (stone carn) of Conn of the Hundred Battles[3]; the Cumot (commensurate grave) of Cairbre Lifeachair[4]; the Fulacht of Fiacha Sraiphtine[5].'—Petrie s Eccl. Architecture of Ireland, &c., pp. 100, 101.
From the above passage we are enabled to assign the tumuli on the Boyne to a date from about B.C. 100 to A.D. 200; from its similarity of type the tumulus at Cuffborough must be considered of the same period. This tumulus presents an example of the disuse of cremation. Whether or not the remains originally deposited in New Grange, and the other tumuli on the Boyne, were subjected to the action of fire, has not, that I am aware of, been certainly determined. If we may credit Ledwich, no remains of ashes or marks of cremation were observable there in his time: and he mentions having seen it stated in the MS. additions to the Louthiana, made by Mr. Wright, and then in possession of a Mr. Allen of Darlington, that on first entering the dome of New Grange two skeletons were found[6]. However this may have been, the modern condition of the royal tumuli on the Boyne cannot be depended on with the same certainty as that of the small tumulus under notice; for whilst the latter from its very insignificance escaped violation, and remained undisturbed until accident at the present day caused its discovery, the former, being the well known burial place of the Irish kings, were at a very early period broken open in search of plunder; the annals of Ulster, as quoted by Mr. Petrie, relate this act of spoliation as follows:
'A.D. 862. The cave of Achadh Aldai, and of Cnodhba (Knowth), and the cave of the sepulchre of Boadan over Dubhad (Dowth), and the cave of the wife of Gobhan, were searched by the Danes, quod antea non perfectum
- ↑ Crimthann Nianar became monarch of Ireland, A.M. 4021, and reigned 16 years.—Keating's History of Ireland. Table of Kings.
- ↑ Fedelmidh the Lawgiver became monarch of Ireland, A.D. 113, and reigned 3 years.—Ibid.
- ↑ Conn of the Hundred Battles became monarch of Ireland, A.D. 122, and reigned 7 years.—Ibid.
- ↑ Cairbre Lifeachair became monarch of Ireland, A.D. 254, and reigned 27 years.—Ibid.
- ↑ Fiacha Sraiphtine became monarch of Ireland, A.D. 282, and reigned 30 years.—Ibid.
- ↑ Ledwich's Antiquities, 2nd ed. p. 44. New Grange was first opened in modern times in the year 1699. Ibid.
