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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.

 

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