Crom Cruach

The references in a dinsenchas ("place-lore") poem in the 12th century to sacrifice in exchange for milk and grain suggest that Crom had a function as a fertility god.

Cruach (or crúach) is a noun meaning "pile, heap, mound, stack", generally of grain, hay, peat or other gathered goods, booty, and so on, including slaughtered fighters.

[4] According to an Irish dinsenchas ("place-lore") poem in the 12th century Book of Leinster, Crom Cruach's cult image, consisting of a gold figure surrounded by twelve stone figures, stood on Magh Slécht ("the plain of prostration") (pronounced Moy Shlokht)[5] in County Cavan, and was propitiated with first-born sacrifice in exchange for good yields of milk and grain.

[7] This incident figures prominently in medieval legends about St. Patrick, although it does not appear in his own writings, nor in the two 7th century biographies by Muirchu and Tírechán.

Bury,[9] infers that there is a missing passage in Tírechán about Crom Cruaich; L. Bieler, who edited the two biographies,[8] is non-committal on the point.

[5] The 14th century Book of McGovern, written in Magh Slécht, contains a poem which states that Crom was situated at Kilnavert beside the road and that the local women used to tremble in fear as they passed by.