Cnoc Meadha known as Medb's hill (also Cnoc Meádha Siuil referring to its location on the plain of
Maigh Seóla, and variously spelled Knockmagha, Knockma, or Knock Ma) is a hill west of
Tuam
Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...
, in the parish of
Caherlistrane County Galway
County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...
, in Ireland.
It is said in legend to be the residence of
Finnbheara, the king of the
Connacht
Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
fairies. Of four large
cairn
A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
s on the hill, one was thought to be the burial-place of Finnbheara and the other of Queen
Medb
Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méabh(a) () and Méibh (), and often anglicised as Maeve ( ), is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Her husband in the core stories of the cycle is Ailill mac Máta, although she had ...
, whose name may be transformed in the name Cnoc Meadha. Knockma Hill is topped with prehistoric cairns.
wrote of the place:
In
Evans-Wentz's classic ''The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries'', his informant Mr John Glynn, the town clerk of Tuam, mentions that:
References
{{reflist
Irish folklore
Mountains and hills of County Galway