This .was a kind of causewlay made of wickerwork, sometimes of 'boughs ·Of b·ees. Besides being laid across a small river such kishes ur kishagh::; were often thrown acro~s iuar~hcs or bogs. The memory of this primitiv1e 'compromise between a ford and a bridge is preser~ed in Casey Glebe. lit ·may be worth recalling that the Four' 1Masters under date 1483 tell us that the O'Donnell chief of that time :constructed a Ceasaigh Droicltct acnoss the Blackwater in Tyrone for his army, and when they had crossed he let the CeaSlaigh Dro~chet float down the stream. Ca·rry .and Clochan are both used t~o indicate a place in a river made fordable by stepping-stones, natut.4ally a favourite way of making a river forC.able [or human .beings, thouglh of no use for animals. The older Irish n1ame ~or the place where I live is Clochan Lia.tlh, the Grey Stepping Stones. There is a short stream draining two fairly large lakes. The stepping stones were }1aid at a spot easily approachable from both sides. Gradually a small village grew up in the v1cinity, and 1a fair which had been held formerly imore to the west iwas transferred to thiis more .accessible spot. Gradually the name of the place in which the ~air was held originally supplanted the ioJder name, An Clocban Lia.th. Again on the road through G1entogher behween Quigley's Point and Carndonagh a bridge now spans a 1mountain torrent where formerly a line of colossal stepping stones ran across the ~ord. The stones are used no longer, most of them have actually disappeared but the name remains. r>oocha:ry derives its name from the black stepping stones just above the reaich of tidal water:s of the Gweebarra. A fair was at one time held here 1and the f,ew houses which compose the hamlet clearly owe their lorigi.n to the ford wher1e the r1iver could be conveniently crossed. And if I 1may be pairdoned for a slight digression, further down the same river is Ballycurry, apparent ·evidence of an ancient cora or weir on the Giweebarra. Cf. Kincora heside Kill.aloe. On the flat patch beyond Ballycurry there is a ford at Ballynacarrick where a fair is ,held still on the twentieth of each month, a splendid example of the persistence of old customs. It is not wifillout interest to ~ote that in that part of the Law Tract in the book of Ballymote that regulartes the stipend of various kinds of craftsmen it is stated thiat the builder of a clochan is to be paid two cows for his labour. In County Donegal 'there are few rivers whos·e fords are of any historical importance. In fact if we count the small tributaries with the main stream there are only four, the Erne, the Eske, the Finn and ihe .Swilly; and we shall deal with them in that order. T1he four mile stretch of stream from Lough Erne to Ballyshannon has been of importance from early times, from the Ford of Caol Uisge now Caol oa hEime where Lough Erne narr.ows -itself near Castlecaldwell to the Fiord of Baillyshannon which has disappea1red, as have the equally famous Falls, sacrificed in our day to the exacting god of progress. 304
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