School: Abbeytown Convent N.S. (roll number 15043)

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1. Old Forts (continued)

   

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   This is believed to be (about) the identical rath, which according to the Four Masters, was erected by Nemidius of Moylurg. We are told that Nemidius came from Greece with a fleet of men, women and children. In exploring the thickly-wooded and uninhabited country he discovered the plains of Moylurg, the earliest name of the barony of Boyle.
   He was so much pleased with the soil and the situation that he constructed thereon a noble fort or rath, a kind of fortified dwelling, which was very generally adopted by his followers, as there numbers through Moylurg testify. The Annals tell us that after the second great battle with the Formorians the Nemidians ''fled into the interior of the island''.
   Therefore those who were left of these earliest progenitors of Gaedhils came back to Lisserdrea, to the plains of Boyle. We are told that three bands are said to have emigrated with their respective (captans) captains, and it is from this remnant of the second battle of Tory Island the succeeding colonizers of Erin are sprung. The Boyle man, then can claim pre-eminence of place, both on the score of antediluvian and ante-Christian occupation of this territory by the sires from whom the Irish race is sprung.

   The old sagas, the modern poems, and the stories that paraphrase the tales of the days of

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. place-space-environment
      1. legendary and spiritual places (~158)
         1. fairy forts (~5,616)

   Language

   English

   Informant

   Mr P. Drury

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Boyle, Co. Roscommon