St. Dabheoc's Seat and the old pilgrim road

Dublin Core

Title

St. Dabheoc's Seat and the old pilgrim road

Subject

Lough Derg--Landmarks--Pilgrim Road--Dabheoc's Seat

Description

"To the west of St. Brigid's Chair, and about two furlongs from the shore of the lake, but somewhat further from the chair, is situated on the very summit of a mountain a carn-shaped eminence, on the summit of which is St. Dabheoc's Seat..."

Creator

Daniel O'Connor, 1843-1919

Source

Daniel O’Connor, Lough Derg and Its Pilgrimages: With Map and Illustrations, pp. 58-9

Publisher

J. Dollard, Dublin

Date

1879

Contributor

Digitised by archive.org, sponsored by Harvard University

Rights

Public domain

Format

Monograph

Language

English

Type

Pilgrim handbook
Text

Identifier

DD_0029

Coverage

|12|-875433.2848282|7283722.6427942|osm
54.596797,-7.859638

References

http://archive.org/details/loughdergandits00ocogoog

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

"To the west of St. Brigid's Chair, and about two furlongs from the shore of the lake, but somewhat further from the chair, is situated on the very summit of a mountain a carn-shaped eminence, on the summit of which is St. Dabheoc's Seat, which has been already described in this work. Writing on Templecarn churchyard we have already seen that the ancient roadway to Lough Derg passed by this old churchyard. And so it did. This ancient road, called by O'Donovan a via strata is given on the Ordnance Survey Map of the place. At the present day it is very difficult to trace the course of this road, owing to the fact that it has been disused for at least between two or three hundred years ; during this time heath and bog having accumulated over it where it led through the mountains, and, where it wound its course along the western shore of the lake, the waves having more effectively destroyed almost every trace of it. Traces of this roadway may yet be descried over the summit of Portneillinwore hill (which is convenient to Saints' Island), also in a few places along the shore of the lake, particularly at Portcreevy bay, where it quitted the lake and led on through a mountain valley towards Templecarn and Pettigoe. I have been told that at certain parts of this roadway, where the overlying bog has been cutaway, large stepping-stones, arranged in regular order, have been brought to light, which leaves us to conjecture that these were hollow parts of the roads that may have been partly flooded.

I have also learned that where this roadway led through the tortuous defiles of the mountains between Pettigoe and Portcreevy, the pedestal of an ancient way-side cross may yet be seen ; and that the ground immediately surrounding this pedestal is closely paved with stones which are worn smooth; the supposition being that the pilgrims here knelt and offered up a votive prayer either on approaching or quitting the island." (pp. 58-9)

Original Format

Monograph

Citation

Daniel O'Connor, 1843-1919, “St. Dabheoc's Seat and the old pilgrim road,” Digital Derg: A Deep Map, accessed March 28, 2024, https://digitalderg.eu/items/show/29.

Geolocation