370 Colicctayiea.
it, and buried it under the cairn. ^^ i^^e first story is probably to be connected with the tales of the raids of the three brothers of Loop Head against the plunderers of their flocks/^ as all the three opposing chiefs came from a few miles away. The cairn is almost certainly Cam mic Tail, the inauguration place of the Corca-Modruadh tribes. i*
The Norman invasion has left in County Clare no traditions known to me. It hardly affected Clare in the time of King Donaldmore, while his two sons, and especially Donchadh Cair- breach, had more or less friendly relations with the foreigners. He was remembered as the builder of Limerick Cathedral, and a slab near the west door, with an encircled cross between four fantastic animals, was (at least in later tradition) ^^ believed to mark his grave. None of his numerous Clare foundations, — Killone, Canon's Island, Inchicronan, Clare "Abbey, and Cor- comroe, — was attributed to him, and the last named was definitely assigned to his grandson Conor. Donchadh Cairbreach was also forgotten as the founder of Ennis " Abbey."
Croohoore na Siudame. — Conchobar Ruadh succeeded Don- chadh in 1242. He was an able prince who forced the Normans to recognize him, and, aided by his gifted son Tadhg Caoluisge na Briain, expelled them from all their settlements in Clare. He fell in quelling a rebellion in 1269 at a place called Siudainc near Corcomroe Abbey,^^ and was buried in the chancel of that monastery, where his effigy still remains. He is locally remem-
^^ Ordnance Sui'uey Letters (Co. Clare), vol. i. , p. 309. Serpents and the Black Pig are frequently associated with famous meeting places of pagan times. See De Vismes Kane, Proceedings of A'oyal Irish Academy, vol. xxvii., p. 301.
^^Cf. supra, p. 104.
^■■Cf. Life of St. Maccreciiis and Antials of the Four Masters.
^^ It is not mentioned by Dyneley in his description of the Cathedral, in Harris' IVare's Bishops, or in any authority known older than i860, such as the Historical Memoirs of the O'Briens. Lenilian describes it in Lime7-ick : its histoiy etc. (1866), adding that lions are the arms of the O'Briens, but not hinting that the slab was connected with Donaldmore. The late Dean O'Brien had it moved to the steps of the monument of the Earls of Thomond, resting it in a handsome base.
^* Not behind Ballyvaughan, as marked on the Ordnance Survey maps, but near the Castles of Muckinish.
