THE PRIEST'S LEAP: AN
INTRIGUING PLACENAME
(This article
was originally published in Bonane: A Centenary Celebration (1992)
and is reproduced here with the kind permission of its author
Gerard Lyne)
The origin of the placename "The Priest's Leap" is quite
intriguing. According to tradition in the locality it derives
from an episode in which a priest pursued by soldiers escaped
through having his horse make a miraculous leap from a mountain
cliff in the townland of Cummeenshrule into the county Cork. The
pursuit of the priest began in the townland of Killabunane where
a rock, which miraculously melted under the pursuing hounds, is
pointed out to this day. The rock, deeply pitted with what look
like pawmarks, is situated close beside the main road from Kenmare.
It is known locally as "Carraig na Gadharaigh" (i.e.,
Carraig na nGadhar or the Rock of the Dogs?). The present writer
remembers his father often pointing it out to him as a child when
driving past the spot. Marks of the priest's knees and hands and
of the horse's hooves appear on another rock a few miles from
Bantry where he is said to have landed after his miraculous leap.
Another version of the same story speaks of the priest leaping
from the opposite side of Kenmare Bay, but this version would
seem to be an aberration.
Antiquity
of the tradition
The tradition
is certainly one of some antiquity. Proof of this is to be found
in the Desmond Survey map of Glanerought barony, compiled around
1600, on which is clearly marked "The Priest's Lepp".
Various identities have been assigned to the priest in question.
The earliest recorded account of the legend of which the present
writer is aware derives from the antiquarian, Caesar Otway, who
refers to it in his sketches of the south of Ireland published
in 1827. Otway found that the identity of the priest was
not so
exactly ascertained, either as to time or individual
Some
assure
you it was Father [sic] Dominick Collins who had been out raising
the
country for the defence
of O'Sullivan Beare's castle of Dunboy
Collins,
who was not a priest but a Jesuit lay brother, was indeed present
in the district at the time of the siege of Dunboy in 1602. He
was captured in the course of the siege and later put to death.
He was beatified in Rome on 27 September 1992. Another tradition
claims that the priest in question was the Jesuit Fr. James Archer,
who we know was involved at Dunboy. From the reference in the
Desmond Survey map, however, the episode would seem to predate
the siege. In fact, both the above identifications seem likely
to derive from literary allusion rather than authentic folk tradition.
Leaping
in Irish Mythology
To understand
the story we have to see it against the general background of
Irish mythology. The first thing to note is that there exists
among the heroic figures of this mythology - especially in the
Munster area - a well-established tradition of leaping. To take
but one example, the Cailleach Bhéarra or Hag of Beara
(a goddess whose cult is strongly associated with this locality)
used to leap from the summit of Knockatee in Tuosist to Hungry
Hill in Bearehaven. Other great leapers include Suibhne Geilt
(Mad Sweeny), the goddess Mór Mumhan and Gormfhlaith, wife
of Brian Boru. Saints and holy men were also credited with great
leaps - e.g. St. Mo Ling, whose very name in Old Irish incorporates
a reference to leaping. Similar feats were attributed to secular
heroes of relatively modern times. An example of this is the placename
"Leim a'Treantaigh" (Trant's Leap) on Ventry Harbour,
where a member of the Trant family, who had a castle here, is
credited in local tradition with making a great leap over the
water in pursuit of cattle raiders. The episode in question dates
from around the end of the sixteenth century, near enough to the
period of the Priest's Leap in Bonane.
The foregoing
evidence signifies what folklorists call "a recycling of
motifs", whereby, in the case under consideration, feats
formerly attributed to mythological heroes are transferred to
saints, secular heroes and (in Bonane's case) a priest. We need
not doubt that a priest actually did narrowly escape pursuing
soldiers at The Lep. In the eyes of the people his escape would
have seemed miraculous. From this it would have been but a short
step to ascribe to him the conventional folk motif of the great
leap - hence the legend and the placename.
T. D. Sullivan's
Verses
Many, of
course, may prefer to accept the tradition literally. Whatever
the truth, it has given rise to a most distinctive and intriguing
placename, which further enhances Bonane's rich heritage. The
poet and Parnellite M. P., T. D. Sullivan of Bantry was inspired
to write verses on the subject. It may be appropriate to conclude
with a few of his lines:
Look up! Look up! a soldier shouts: oh, what a sight is there,
Behold the priest on a horseback still speeding through the air!
They looked, and lo, the words were true and trembling with fright,
They saw the vision pierce the blue and vanish from their sight!
Acknowledgments
and sources
I wish
to thank Dr. Breandán Ó Cíobháin,
an authority on Irish placenames, and my colleague Mr. Feargus
Mac Giolla Easpuig of the National Library of Ireland, for advice
and assistance in compiling the foregoing note. Mrs. Sheila O'Sullivan
of Wainsfort Road, Dublin, formerly of Baurearagh, provided local
information, and also drew my attention to the verses by T, D.
Sullivan. The writer first became aware of the tradition through
his grandmother, the late Ellen Lyne (née Moynihan), who
was a native of Bonane. The work referred to by Caesar Otway is
cited elsewhere in this journal.