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On the west, Lough Neagh stretches away in the distance to where Sliav Gallion and the grey-blue hills of Derry and Tyrone are dimly visible. Ram's Island, with its clump of trees reflected in the water, seems to float upon the placid surface of the lake; while here and there a flying sail betrays the Lough Neagh fishermen. In the centre of a picturesque landscape, that lies between us and the shore of the lough, we notice Chapel Hill—an eminence crowned by the Parish Church and Parochial House. The sheltered homesteads of the farmers seem to be within easy reach of one another; while at some little distance towards the north we see the village of Glenavy half-hidden amongst the trees. Towards the south, and the rich plains of Down are stretching out before us. Here and there are towns and villages nestling amongst the woods and by the streams. In the distance far south our view is bounded by the Mourne Mountains, that keep eternal sentinel along the Irish Sea. On the north, the fertile tract of country lying around Crumlin, Antrim, and Templepatrick meets our view, and on a clear day the hills of Mid-Antrim are outlined upon the horizon. The eastern side of the hill presents a contrast to the other three. Here one sees the bleak mountainous district of the Rock;and Stoneyford, threaded by the lonely roads that lead from Glenavy to the busy city of Belfast. Truly, it was a site well-chosen—this ancient stronghold of the Kings of Uladh. The traveller to-day, as he gazes on the quiet country-side, with its fields of golden corn and verdant pasture-lands forgets that these fair plains were many a time and oft the scene of furious battles.
For six centuries, therefore, the King of Emania was Sovereign of all Ulster and sometimes also High-King of Leland. But in the century before St. Patrick evil days came upon it. The three Collas made war upon the Ulster King, plundered his territory, and burned the palace, around which centred the romantic tales of the Red Branch Knights. The Ulidians were driven eastwards over Glenree, or the Newry River. They took their name with them into their circumscribed territory. From this time onward the term Ulidia, or Uladh, is applied to the tract of country lying to the east of Lough Neagh and the Newry River. Sometimes the Plain of Muirtheimhne, or North Louth, was included; but indeed the boundaries of territories in those days were continually fluctuating, according to the power of each new sovereign to annex the territory of his neighbours. The King of Uladh, then, who was crowned and proclaimed on the Crew Hill, had subject to him the Kings of Dalaradia, of Dalriada, of Dalmunia, of Dufferin, of the Ards, of Lecale, of Iveagh, and of several minor provinces.
About the 8th century, the area since known as Breifne was conquered and settled by the Uí Briúin who were a branch of the royal family of Connacht. The Uí Briúin, of whom the O'Ruaircs (O'Rourkes) were hereditary chieftains, established themselves first in modern county Leitrim and then into what is now county Cavan. By the 9th century the O'Ruaircs had established themselves as kings of Breifne. In the 10th and 11th centuries the O'Ruairc kings of Breifne vied for the title of king of Connacht, four different O'Ruaircs cited with that honor. During the 12th century the reign of Tiernan mor O'Ruairc, the Conmacine kingdom of Breifne was said to comprise most of the modern counties of Leitrim and Cavan, and parts of Longford, Meath, Fermanagh, and Sligo in north-central Ireland.
One or two events cannot be passed over. The first is the Battle of the Crew Hill, in 1003 A.D., in which the Ulidians were defeated by their old enemies, the Kinel-Owen. From the account of the Four Masters, we see what enormous forces were engaged : " In this battle were slain Eochy, son of Ardghair, King of Uladh, and Duftinne, his brother; the two sons of Eochy, Cuduiligh and Donal; Garvey, lord of Iveagh; Gillapadruig, son of Tumelty; Kumiskey, son of Flahrey Dowling, son of Aedh; Calhal, son of Etroch; Conene, son of Murtagh; and the most part of the Ulidians in like manner; and the battle extended as far as Duneight and Druimbo. Donogh O'Linchey, lord of Dal-Araidhe and royal heir of Uladh, was slain on the following day by the Kinel-Owen. Aedh, son of Donal Ó Neill, lord of Aileach and heir-apparent to the sovereignty of Ireland, fell in the heat of the conflict, in the fifteenth yeare of his reign and the twentieth yeare of his age." Two years later another important event occurred--the visit of Brian Boru to the Crew Hill. It was nine years before the Battle of Clontarf.
Malachy, of the Southern Hy-Niall, had been deposed from the High-Kingship, and Brian acknowledged in his place by almost the whole of Ireland. The Kinel-Owen and the Kinel-Conall still sympathised with Malachy and his adherents. The King of the Kinel-Owen had fallen in the Battle of Crew Hill, and Brian thought the time opportune to march northward and secure the submission of the Ulster chieftains. The expedition arrived at the Crew Hill in 1005 A.D., and the Ulidians tendered their allegiance. The Wars of the Gael with the Gall describes the provisions supplied to the army of Brian while he was encamped there: "They supplied him there with twelve hundred beeves, twelve hundred hogs, and twelve hundred wethers; and Brian bestowed twelve hundred horses upon them, besides gold and silver and clothing. For no purveyor of any of their towns departed from Brian without receiving a horse or some other gift." But although Brian was well received by the Ulidians, he had to depart from Ulster again without receiving the submission of the Kinel-Owen or Kinel-Conall.
Another century passed by, and the fortunes of the Kingdom of Uladh were on the wane. Against the Crew Hill the enemies of the Ulidians seemed relentless in their attacks. In 1099 Donal O'Lochlainn led an army of the Northern Hy-Niall across Toome into Ulidia. He reached the Crew Hill and found the Ulidian forces ready for battle. In the engagement that followed the Kinel-Owen were victorious. The victory gave them an opportunity of inflicting a lasting humiliation on their old enemies. They cut down the Sacred Tree of the Crew Hill, and compelled the Ulidians to give hostages. Twelve years later the Ulidians had recovered so far as to be able to retaliate for the insult offered to their national honour. In 1111 A.D. they led an army into the territories of the Hy-Niall, and cut down the sacred trees of Tullaghogue (Os), under which from time immemorial the Kings of the Kinel-Owen were inaugurated. The Kinel-Owen had their revenge.
The Kinel-Owen came in 1148 under Murtagh Mac Loughlin and dethroned Cuuladh O'Donlevy, King of Uladh, and set up Donacha, a prince of the same family, in his place. Tighernan O'Rorke and Donogh O'Carroll came with an army to the assistance of the ill-fated monarch. They established him again on his throne; but no sooner were they gone than Cu-uladh was expelled by the Ulidians themselves, It was this same Tighernan O'Rorke, Prince of Breffney, who four years later was doing the penitential exercises on Lough Derg, when his wife Devorgilla eloped with the infamous Dermot MacMurrough. It may be remarked in passing that Devorgilla soon afterwards retired to the Abbey of Mellifont, where she spent the rest of her days in works of penance and charity. O'Carroll, who accompanied O'Rorke to Craobh-Tulcha, was the King of Oriel that endowed the famous Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont. After this we hear no more of the Crew Hill in Irish history. It would appear that the place (Cp sob CuLOt) lay towards the north of the modern county of Down, somewhere in Castlereagh.
Tiny Station island (Lough Derg) means the red lake, on the site of a great penitential pilgrimage. Surrounded by legends that a cave there is the entrance to Purgatory and the voices of the dead can be heard speaking from its depths. Its association with penance comes from the tradtion that St. Patrick once spent 40 days of Lent in prayer and fasting on the island, hence the island's nickname St. Patrick's Purgatory. Lough Derg was known throughout the Middle Ages and from 1100 to 1500, noblemen came to do penance for their sins, for the atrocities of war. The penitent spent 15 days on the island for any of the 1, 449 prescribed spiritual exercizes. In 1632, during the Reformation, the pilgrimages were banned by the Puritans and the statues and relics smashed. The cave itself has been sealed since 1780.
Further support relating to Crew also comes from the annals. In A.D. 1148 the king of the Cenél Eógain of Tyrone, Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn (later to beome the High King of Ireland) was pursuing a policy of treating the once independent Ulaid kings as vassal lords. He expelled from the overkingship of the Ulaid the Dál Fiatach king Cú Uladh (`hound of the Ulaid') son of Donn Sléibe. His own supporters, the kings of Bréifne (north-east Connaught, especially Co. Cavan) and of Airgialla, were so worried by this that, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, they 'brought an army into Ulaid, as far as Cráeb Telcha; and they plundered the country and placed Cú Uladh in his kingdom again.' There is a strong indication that this re-inauguration took place at Cráeb Telcha, as we would expect if we are right in our interpretation of the place. Indeed the Crew stone may well support our identification of Crew Hill as the site of the Cráeb, for as Byrne (1973, 27) has put it, `A slab or flagstone was an essential item of the inaugural furniture' (as for instance at Tara).
The association of cist-graves of that date with `standing' stones is not unknown (Ó Ríordáin, 1979,143), and it may be that the Crew stone marked one of these graves. Christian stone-lined graves are quite common in Co. Antrim, but there is no indication, either archaeological or historical, of a church site. We are left then unable to interpret this cemetery on Crew Hill or to indicate its status with respect to the postulated site of Cráeb Telcha. Just south-east of the Crew stone, still on top of Crew Hill, is a fine earthen ringfort with two strong banks and a single deep ditch between them. There appears not to have been an original entrance causeway across the ditch, a rare occurrence which we found also at Lissue (LHSJ, vol. 6). O'Laverty (1880, 295) supposed it to have been a royal residence, and we would indeed be inclined to interpret it as the defended habitation of a person of some importance, perhaps the keeper of the sacred site or even the king of the Ulaid when he was visiting the Cráeb.