Meath Ireland

But it was of no avail; he was seized and led in chains to Tara. As Diarmaid refused to surrender Guaire, the Saint and his clergy assembled at Tara, where singing psalms and ringing bells they cursed the place for ever- more, praying that no king or queen should ever again dwell at Tara. The palace was shortly afterwards abandoned, and it probably soon became, what it is to-day, a mere mass of grass-covered earthworks. Professor R. A. S. Macalister in his recently published monograph. Ternary Breg,1 has examined the various sources from whence the accounts of Tara are derived, and has sought to show that the narrative, though based on ancient traditional material, cannot he considered as historical. It was compiled by early native historians (circa a.d. sixth-eighth century) under the idea that the High Kingship as known to them was an institution of primitive times. In point of fact, the supremacy of Tara over the greater part of Ireland does nut date earlier than Cormac mac Airt, who made him- self king at Tara some time in the third century a.d. Previously to this, the kingship of Tara was of a local character, the king being rather a religious than a political functionary. It being apparently as a sanctuary more than as a royal residence that Tara first obtained importance. The early legends would seem to be to a large extent cosmogonic and other myths of the pre- Christian Celtic, and lire-Celtic inhabitants. Nor was Tara altogether abandoned after a.d. 558. It declined in importance when Christianity succeeded to Paganism, but it was not wholly deserted till the fall of the native monarchy.

Tara is associated with the Heroic period of Ireland which falls within the La Tone period or early Iron Age. It is contemporary with the other great palaces and assembly places of Ireland such as Critachain (Rath- croghan), the palace of the Connacht kings ; and Earn/lain Mhacha, founded about 300 b.c., the residence of the kings of Ulster. The topography of Tara is best explained by the accompanying plan. It is a series of mounds and raths.

Limitations of space prevent more than a reference to some of the, more important of those that have been identified with some trustworthiness.

(1) Touch Miodchuarta, also called Long na mBan the ship of the women, has been identified with two long parallel mounds at the north end of the ridge ; its building is traditionally ascribed to Cormac mac Airt. The earthwork measures 759 ft. in length and is 90 ft. wide externally. Two ancient plans of the building, one from the Book of Leinster, the other from the Yellow Book of Lecan, have been reproduced by Petric.1 Both show a rectangular building, divided into five aisles with a single entrance door at the lower end of the central aisle. Accounts in the MSS. describe the hall as having double rows of seats and tallies along each side, (he middle space being occupied with vats of liquor, lamps, and cooking fires. The Ard-Ri sat some C)0 ft. from the southern end on the western side ; the other orders were graduated down the table, each person receiving a piece of meat in proportion to his rank.

(2) Rath na Riogh. This has been identified with the large enclosure on the summit of the ridge : it is tlie most important of tlie monuments of Tara containing within it Teuch Chormaic, Lathrach an Forraid, and Mur Tea.

(3) Teach Clwrmaic (Cormacs House). This and the Lathrach an Forraid, have been identified with two monuments near the centre of Rath Riogh, lying east and west. The map here reproduced identifies the eastern mound with Cormacs House, and the western with the Forrad. Professor R. A. S. Macalister has concluded that this is the reverse of the case, the western mound being Cormacs House. In this latter stands a pillar of granular limestone identified by Petrie as the Lia Fail. According to tradition this stone which was brought to Ireland by the Tuatha. De Danann, had the quality of crying out when the rightful king of Ireland stood upon it. It is not now in its original position ; until 1798 it lay beside the Duma na. nGiall, whence it was removed to be erected over some persons slain in the Rebellion, whose initials with the prayer R. I. I. are now carved on the stone. A late tradition, probably incorrect, connects Fal with the stone now beneath the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey.

(4) Rath na, Seanaid (the rath of the synods). This lias been identified with the ring just north of Rath Riogi. It was much devastated about twenty years ago by persons searching for the Ark of the Covenant.

(5) Pupall Adamnain. The, site of Adamnans Pavilion was inside the Rath na Seanaid.

(6) Cros Adamndin. Adamnans cross is a rough pillar stone of red sandstone about 5 1/2 ft. above the ground ; a figure is carved upon it representing a human form with bent legs crossed at the feet, having what look like horns on its head. Professor Macalister has suggested that this is a representation of the Celtic god of wealth, Cernunnos. In the neighbourhood of this stone were found the two large gold torcues now pre- served in the National Museum, Dublin. These torques are too large to have been worn as neck ornaments ; Professor Macalister has suggested they may have been votive offerings to Cernnnnos and possibly decorated a wooden effigy of the deity.

There were five principal roads to Tara, but they have not been exactly traced, though their general direction is known.

The three principal crosses at Kells, Co. Meath (Bed and breakfasts,Meath, Ireland), deserve notice. The first, situated in the centre of the town, has its top broken off; its present height is about II ft. ; it is carved with figures in panels, and on the base with animals. Among the subjects portrayed are :-the temptation of man ; the baptism of Christ ; Noah in the Ark ; and the Crucifixion. The other two crosses are both in the churchyard, one close to the Round Tower, the other to the south-east of the church. Both are ringed crosses carved with panels containing figures, and ornamentation.

The New Grange tumuli lie some 5 miles west of Drogheda, the three great mounds of Dowth, New- Grange, and Knowth which compose the group being situated about a mile apart, and in sight of one another. The cemetery has been identified with the Brugh na Boinne described in Senchas na Relec (the History of the Cemeteries). New Grange, the largest of the three great tumuli, has been open since about 1699, at which date it was seen and described by the Welsh antiquary, Edward Lhywd. The tumulus is circular ; it measures 280 ft. in diameter and 44 ft. in height. The entrance curves inwards. The chamber is cruciform. The entrance passage is 62 ft. long ; it is made of large stones, 5 to 8 ft. in height, set. on end, and roofed with large flag- stones. The chamber is 19 and a half ft. high, the roof is a funnel-shaped dome formed of large flat stones laid horizontally and narrowing by over-sailing until closed at the top by a single stone. The side recesses off the central chamber, which give the plan its cruciform appearance, are of unequal sizes. On the floor of each is placed a large stone basin. The tumulus appears to have been originally surrounded by a large circle of stones, twelve of which can be traced. The inscribed markings upon the stones of the tumulus, which are its most important feature, are to be seen upon several of the stones in the passage, but principally in the chamber itself, while the entrance stone is decorated all over with a spiral pattern alternating with lozenges. Two remarkably decorated stones may be mentioned ; one, marked a on the plan, is to be found on the opposite side of the tumulus to the entrance ; the other, marked b on the plan, lies to the north-east side of the mound. The first is carved all over in relief with spirals, lozenges, and other patterns, while the second has a fine double spiral surrounded with lozenges. The tumuli of the New Grange group were plundered by the Norsemen in the ninth century ; consequently nothing is known of the manner in which the bodies were disposed in the chamber, or of the arms and ornaments that were doubtless buried with them. New Grange has often been compared with the domed tumulus at Mycenae, known as the Treasury of Atreus ; it is also similar in plan to the tumulus of Gavrinis in Brittany, which likewise contains stones ornamented with spiral designs. While the resemblance between New Grange and the Mycensaean passage tombs is remarkable there arc diffi- culties in deriving the former from the latter. New Grange may have been evolved from the ordinary dolmen or allee couverte.

The origin of New Grange must remain for the present a matter of conjecture ; the question is complicated with that of the origin in Ireland of spiral decoration. Probably the spiral originated locally. If it was introduced into Ireland, it would appear to have. come via Scandinavia rather than directly across Europe. Dowth appears to have been about the same size as New Grange, but there is no trace of any circle of standing stones outside the mound. It was explored by a committee of the Royal Irish Academy in 1847 ; it is not known when the entrance to the tumulus was discovered. The principal structure at Dowth is of the same cruciform character as at New Grange, but it is built in a rougher manner. Off the southern arm there is another passage with a side chamber ; and further on in the same side is a roughly circular structure with two chambers off it. There is also a curved passage with two Beehive cells at the commencement of the passage. This latter erection is probably of much later date than the principal chamber. Various objects were found in the passage and Beehive cells, but, all being of late date, do not assist in estimating the age of the principal chamber. Several of tlie stones in. the passage leading to the main chamber at Dowth, and in the chamber itself, are inscribed with markings of a similar character but of a ruder and less ornamental kind than those at New Grange. In the inner room off the circular chamber arc markings on the upper surface of the lintel stone above the entrance, which were interpreted by the late G. Coffey as a typical example of the ship-figures often found on rock surfaces in Scandinavia. This is of interest as an example of an early connection between Ireland and Scandinavia. The age of the principal chamber at Dowth is difficult to determine : rougher and more primitive-looking than New Grange, it may be considered earlier, and as the prototype from which New Grange was derived: or, as being later than New- Grange, and a degenerated copy of it.

The three principal crosses at Kells, Co. Meath ( Self Catering, Meath, Ireland), deserve notice. The first, situated in the centre of the town, has its top broken off; its present height is about II ft. ; it is carved with figures in panels, and on the base with animals. Among the subjects portrayed are :-the temptation of man ; the baptism of Christ ; Noah in the Ark ; and the Crucifixion. The other two crosses are both in the churchyard, one close to the Round Tower, the other to the south-east of the church. Both are ringed crosses carved with panels containing figures, and ornamentation.

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Posted on April 17th, 2008 under Antique. Tags: Adamnans Pavilion, Christian Celtic, churchyard, Co. Meath, Cormac mac Airt, Cormacs House, Critachain, Dowth, Dublin, High Kingship, Ireland, Kells, La Tone, Lathrach an Forraid, Leinster, Meath, monuments, Mur Tea, Mycensaean, National Museum, Paganism, Petric, Portray, Professor Macalister, Rath na Riogh, Rath Riogh, Rath Riogi, Royal Irish Academy, Scandinavia, stones, Tara, Teach Clwrmaic, Ternary Breg, Teuch Chormaic, The New Grange, Touch Miodchuarta, Treasury of Atreus, Tuatha, Ulster, Yellow Book of Lecan. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.