Two axe-heads, which are believed to be more than 4,000 years old, have been sent to the National Museum of Ireland by an anonymous letter writer.
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June 19, 2024
The death has taken place of Jack Roberts, a name synonymous with some of the most important archaeoastronomical discoveries at Irish megalithic monuments in the modern era.
Jack passed away after a short illness today. He lived at Gort, Co. Galway.
More: mythicalireland.com/blogs/news/death-of-author-and-archaeoastronomy-discoverer-jack-roberts
Some of these ancient mounds date back to 3000 BC, but many are buried under motorways
Manchán Magan
As our faith in fairies has receded in recent years, the fate of Ireland’s 32,000 remaining fairy forts has become increasingly perilous. Many of these circular earth mounds are over 1,000 years old, the remains of stone or wooden forts which housed an extended family in early medieval times. Others are remnants of underground passage tombs dating back to around 3000 BC.
In 2010 the environmentalist and author Tony Lowes first wrote about farmers destroying the forts on their land in the name of modernity and progress. A man on the Dingle Peninsula levelled a large part of the 3,000-year-old Dún Mór fort while the government was in negotiations with him to purchase it, and a farmer near Mallow in Cork destroyed the half of an extensive ringfort that lay on his own land, then tore down the other half when his neighbour was at a family funeral. There was also the story of a Cork dairy farmer who demolished two ringforts on his land, and whose family had previously destroyed three others.
The title of Lowes’ article in Village magazine was The Men Who Eat Ringforts, in recognition of the fact that these farmers (and developers and engineers) are invariably male. The title has been adopted for a volume of book art, Men Who Eat Ringforts, published by the conceptual artists Sean Lynch and Michele Horrigan of Askeaton Contemporary Arts. It’s a large-format book designed by Daly+Lyon, with thought-provoking essays by Sinéad Mercier and Michael Holly exploring the determined desecration of our ancient past.
While the archaeologists have been busy finding new monuments of interest, the State has been busy facilitating their systematic removal
Mon, Dec 9, 2019, 05:00
Mark Clinton
According to the legal definition, there are five alternative criteria under which a monument qualifies as a national monument. Defying alphabetical order, “historical interest” is the first listed criterion. In 2003 the Carrickmines Castle site was recognised as a national monument before the Supreme Court. And now we are launching the history of the settlement and fortification, its long-term occupants the Walshes, their cousins in Shanganagh, Kilgobbin, Balally, etc, and, among many other players, that of the besieger of Carrickmines in March 1642, Sir Simon Harcourt. It is a colourful story, with a big finale. Truly, a site worthy of its national monument status.
And yet, the site, the national monument, is no more, save for some sad remnants, scattered about a busy roundabout. Ah yes, the Carrickmines junction. A junction not connecting with any national routes or, indeed, with a road of any significance. A junction whose planning origins remain unknown despite the best efforts of the Flood-Mahon tribunal. One of a daisy-chain of junctions along a motorway originally designed to carry national traffic unimpeded around Dublin city. A junction that effectively destroyed the integrity of the national monument. How did this happen?
The National Monuments Act, passed in 1930, brought legal protection to our ancient built heritage. On a number of subsequent occasions the Act was amended and strengthened to remove weaknesses and loopholes. Particular credit should go to former ministers Michael D Higgins and Síle de Valera for their significant contributions to the protective legislation.
“The bodies of an estimated 60 people from the Bronze Age have been found during an archaeological dig on land in Templeogue where former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave lived.
The land, which is earmarked for housing development, is also believed to have evidence of Iron Age occupation and a ring fort and is being looked on as a very significant historical find.
Last week Independent.ie reported how the excavations being carried out on the land were a mystery to locals since work began last October.
South Dublin County Council would not comment on the dig, and local councillors could not get answers to their questions on the project.
But sources have now revealed that the site, on the Scholarstown Road close to Knocklyon, is of major significance.
“It is believed this was a Bronze Age burial site, and that people from the Iron Age used the site as a shrine or place of some sort of place of gathering,” the source said.
Evidence of a ring fort was also uncovered by archaeologists, the source added.
The Bronze Age in Ireland lasted from about 2000BC to 500BC. The Iron Age followed, lasting until around 400AD.Former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave lived in a humble bungalow called Beech Park on the 16 acres of prime residential zoned land until his death in 2017 at the age of 97 .... ”
An Post’s Ninth Definitive Stamp Series, A History of Ireland in 100 Objects, a selection, began life as an original series by Fintan O’Toole of The Irish Times. Over time, the stamp series will feature many of the objects from the fully illustrated hardback book of the series, A History of Ireland in 100 Objects. Starting with the issue of the first 12 stamps and continuing over five years to when the final stamps are issued, you’ll discover more and more about our island’s long history from c.5000BC to the early 21st century.
Scientists were astounded when tests showed the fragment, from a butchered brown bear, confirmed that humans were active in Ireland 2,500 years earlier than previously suspected.
The fragment was stored in a cardboard box in the National Museum for over 100 years but had only been subjected to detailed forensic tests over the past two years.
The incredible discovery by Dr Marion Dowd and Dr Ruth Carden will now re-write Ireland’s settlement history with the bone indicating that humans were hunting in Ireland in 10,500BC – some 2,500 years earlier that previously thought.
Amazingly, the bear bone was discovered in Clare back in 1903 but was left for over a century in a storage box in the National Museum without being forensically tested.
Dr Dowd of IT Sligo and Dr Carden of the National Museum decided to examine the bear bone and subject it to radiocarbon dating.
An ancient bog body has been discovered at a midland bog where a similar find was made two years ago.
The remains were found by a Bord na Móna worker at Rossan Bog on the Meath/Westmeath border on Saturday morning.
A Bord na Móna spokesman said: “The remains of a bog body were found in Rossan Bog two miles from Kinnegad on the Meath and Westmeath border.”
The spokesman said the employee discovered the remains prior to beginning work and immediately put Bord na Móna’s protocol in place.
This is a write-up of a talk given by Dr Rowan McLaughlin regarding how the 4000+ developer produced RC dates since 2001 in Ireland basically rewrite whole swathes of how we perceive the prehistory of Ireland.
rmchapple.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/review-rewriting-pre-history-of-ulster.html
[snippet from 1/3 of way in]
Over the last decade-and-a-half or so has seen a vast increase in the volume of archaeological data that has been produced. Much of this is the result of economic circumstances, where development-led excavations have been carried out in advance of construction. Many of these were carried out during the Celtic Tiger years, in advance of major infrastructural works such as roads, pipelines, quarries, and residential developments. In a perfect world, the excavations get written up and get stored in archives as ‘grey literature’ ... some even get published. McLaughlin estimates that over the last ten years alone some one million pages of new data for the island of Ireland have been written down. Rowan’s approach to the ‘data mountain’ has been centred on extracting an understanding of chronology from this mass of data, a task he describes as ‘the golden cord to lead out of the labyrinth’. An examination of all the available radiocarbon dates for Irish prehistory that were available in around 2001, shows that there were 1396 known from both published and grey literature sources. Plotting all of these out gives an indication of what prehistory is ‘like’ at this point. As may be expected, there are relatively few sites dating to the earliest periods and more sites from more recent times and a slow but gradual increase in between. This has led to a view of the prehistory of Ireland where there was an initial colonisation during the Mesolithic (c.10k cal BP) and that this was a relatively stable hunter-gatherer way of life until the introduction of agriculture (c.6k cal BP). After this point we see a population explosion that goes hand in hand with increasing social and religious complexities. From this point on we can witness communities evolving and adapting these beliefs and practices, until it reaches its final developed flourishing of civilization in more recent times. As he says: ‘The problem with that view is that it is entirely wrong. It’s not what the archaeological data actually indicate.’ He sees that this discovery has been the big achievement of development led/commercial archaeology in Ireland since the millennium. He then turned to another histogram of 4928 dates from prehistoric Ireland that have become available in the time since 2001.Instead of a gradual increase, there are peaks and troughs in activity. At some times it appears that there were significant episodes of large-scale archaeological deposition, and this contrasts with periods of seemingly little activity. To understand the reality of what we’re seeing here, there are a number of ideas that must be kept in mind. Firstly, all the dates must be calibrated as we cannot directly compare this archaeological data with environmental evidence from various regions. The other issue is the degree of bias in how these data points were collected. Obviously, the first bias is where excavations take place – either dictated by individuals’ research interests, or where development is planned. Further biases exist in the systematic approach that archaeologists use in the collection of this data. For example, there are certain types of features that are more likely to be dated over others – what McLaughlin describes as features that are ‘more juicy looking’ and, thus, more likely to be dated. Indeed, certain types of sites are almost completely ignored and this is an ongoing issue.
Cashel Man has had the weight of the world on his shoulders, quite literally, for 4,000 years.
Compressed by the peat that has preserved his remains, he looks like a squashed, dark leather holdall.
Apart, that is, from one forlorn arm that stretches out and upward and tells us something of the deliberate and extremely violent death that he suffered 500 years before Tutankhamen was born.
Cashel Man is now being studied at the National Museum of Ireland’s research base in Collins Barracks, Dublin. He was discovered in 2011 by a bog worker in Cashel bog in County Laois.
When the remains are brought out of the freezer, it is hard to tell that this was ever a human being.
New tests on the remains of a preserved body found in a Co Laois bog have revealed that it is the oldest bog body ever discovered in the world.
The body was found by a Bord na Móna worker milling peat in 2011.
It was initially believed that the remains were those of a young female which were around 2,500 years old.
However, a series of recent tests have revealed that it is the body of a male, which dates back as far as 2000 BC.
More here:
irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0916/1224304193570.html
HOLY WELLS, bridges, milestones, vernacular buildings, lime kilns and other industrial sites that post-date 1700 will be “left without any protection” following moves to “delist” them, the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland has claimed.
In what it described as a “very worrying proposal”, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is seeking to exclude all post-1700 archaeological and historical structures and sites from the national Record of Monuments and Places (RMP).
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This quarter’s ‘Archaeology Ireland’ has a three page feature on Stone Circles, by Muiris O’Sullivan and Liam Downey.
“The architecture and orientation of stone circles were inherently symbolic, reflecting in a fundamental way a sense of spirituality and belief in the otherworld...”
So there you are.
Londonderry Sentinel
By Olga Bradshaw – 21st January 2009
MEMBERS of Newbuildings and District Archaeological and Historical Society are eagerly awaiting the results of a new survey scheduled to take place this week, to discover what lies beneath a rath which has been discovered in the village.
The Rath is located off Gortinure Road, and excitement is mounting as to what it might reveal.
The idea to excavate the site is the latest ‘baby’ for members of the village ‘Dig Committee’ – an off-shoot of the Archaeological and Historial Society, whose members include Richard Brennan, Roy Orr, John Mitchell and Roger McCorkell.
The foursome have organised an investigative three-day licenced dig of the site, which was identified on Ordinance Survey maps with a symbol for a ‘souterrain’ – a French word meaning underground.
The ordinary passer-by could be forgiven for missing the site as on the surface there is no evidence of what lies beneath, essentially it is just a flat grass field.
But, as Roger explains, all is not what it seems on the surface: “In June 2005 with the guidance of Belfast Archaeologist Firm, Gahan and Long, we carried out the dig in search of the souterrain. This is an ancient underground tunnel dating back to about 800 AD. The tunnels would have been built by local people as a place of refuge in a time when Vikings would have sailed up the River Foyle and have carried out raids on any dwellings they came across.
The dig and ‘live’ opening of the souterrain was to have been filmed by a BBC production team for a future screening of their historical programme ‘Earth Works’.
“They filmed the first day but when we failed to find the top of the tunnels they wouldn’t bring back the rest of their equipment as there would have been nothing to film. However, what we did find and was unknown to us previously was evidence of a huge Rath or ring fort,” he said.
Despite the find of the Rath it was not until 2007 that the Dig Committee decided to organise another dig – but this time they are being more scientific about it.
“We applied to the Lottery Awards for All fund and were delighted to have been awarded a total of £9,575 to cover the cost of an archaeological Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey followed by another dig.”
They are hoping that the GPR survey will identify the tops of the tunnels as well as any other unknown underground features.
“This time when we carry out the dig we will know exactly using Ground Positioning Satellite maps where to dig. We are hoping that a number a tunnels will be identified as we have talked to a number of men who had ploughed the land over the last 50 years and had pointed out more than one place where the wheel of their tractor have created and gone into a deep hole.
“The holes were covered over to let them finish the ploughing and the position was then lost. We are also hoping to discover the full extent of the Rath and maybe come across remains of dwellings or even ancient artifacts,” said Roger.
by Sarah Stack (Irish Examiner 11 August 2007)
‘Bronze age Irish men were as fond of their beer as their 21st century counterparts, it was claimed yesterday.
Two Galway archaeologists have put forward a theory that one of the most common ancient monuments around Ireland may have been used for brewing ale.
They believe fulacht fiadh -horseshoe shaped, grass-covered mounds which were conventionally thought of as ancient cooking spots- could have been the country’s earliest breweries.
To prove their belief that an extensive brewing tradition existed in Ireland as far back as 2500BC, Billy Quinn and Declan Moore recreated the process. After just three hours of hard work, and three days of waiting for their brew to ferment, the men enjoyed a pint of the fruits of their labour.
Three hundred litres of water was transformed into a “very palatable” 110 litres of frothy ale.
“It tasted really good,” said Mr Quinn.
“We were very surprised. Even a professional brewer we had working with us compared it favourably to his own. It tasted like a traditional ale, but was sweeter because there were no hops in it.”
Mr Quinn said it was while nursing a hangover one morning, and discussing the natural predisposition of men to seek means to alter their minds, that he came to the startling conclusion that fulacht fiadh could have been the country’s earliest breweries.
The two set out to investigate their theory in a journey which took them across Europe in search of further evidence.
On their return they used an old wooden trough filled with water and added heated stones. After achieving an optimum temperature of 60C to 70C they began to add milled barley, and about 45 minutes later simply bailed the final product into fermentation vessels. They added natural wild flavourings and yeast after cooling the vessels in a bath of cold water for several hours.
Tomorrow they plan to start work on a fourth batch they hope will taste as good as their first.
The archaeologists, who reveal their experiment in full in next month’s Archaeology Ireland, point out that while their theory is based on circumstantial and experimental evidence, they believe that although fulacht fiadh were probably multifunctional, a primary use was for brewing beer.
Contrary to press reports in August, the National Museum of Ireland did not rule out that Ireland could have been Atlantis (Full text). The previous reports were apparently the result of quoting out of context.
There is a new website for the theory now, AtlantisInIreland.com, which includes a blog and an invitation to a real time debate.
Daniel McConnell
The Irish Times
17 June 2004
Opponents of newly-published legislation, which will give the Government power to proceed with road projects which interfere with national monuments after archaeological works are carried out, have threatened to challenge the legislation in the courts.
Protesters gathered outside the Dáil yesterday to voice their opposition to the National Monuments Bill, which, when passed, will clear the way for the motorway at Carrickmines in Dublin to be completed.
The protesters claim the legislation will legalise badly-designed roads, and not protect national monuments.
They also claim the Bill is in breach of the Valletta Convention, to which Ireland is a signatory and which stresses that national heritage sites are afforded European recognition.
An Taisce last night called into question the wisdom of introducing legislation with far-reaching repercussions without a Green Paper or any other democratic consultation.
Speaking on behalf of An Taisce, Dr Mark Clinton said: “If Minister Cullen’s intervention is ultimately going to destroy the heritage of the nation, surely he should encourage a proper debate so the public can decide whether they want to maintain our heritage or destroy it.”
Mr Vincent Salafia, leader of the Anger Strike against the National Monuments Bill, accused the Government of placing Ireland’s heritage in serious danger.
He also warned that any legislation passed would be met by legal action. “We are determined to meet this head on. The legislation will without question be met by a legal challenge.
“Had this Government acted properly and efficiently two years ago, the road would now be built, the castle would be saved and everyone would be happy.”
He said the Bill was nothing more than a quick fix.
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said the Bill would place the future of Irish tourism in jeopardy.
“Tourism is an essential part of Ireland’s economy, with millions travelling here every year to get a flavour of Ireland’s golden age, and this piece of legislation sends out the wrong message to an already dissatisfied public.”
The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr Cullen, said yesterday that people have a right if they choose to go to the courts.
However, he stressed that the Bill aimed to protect heritage, deliver infrastructure and safeguard the taxpayer. It would enable the completion of the South Eastern Motorway.
Newly-elected Sinn Féin MEP Ms Mary Lou McDonald said Sinn Féin supported the opposition to the Bill.
Irish Independent
17.06.04
IMPORTANT archaeological sites, including Ireland’s oldest Viking settlement, will be threatened if the Government’s proposed amendment to the National Monuments Bill is passed, heritage activists said yesterday.
Campaigners for Waterford’s Viking remains, Trim Castle and Clondalkin’s round tower and other sites staged a united protest at Dail Eireann against the emergency legislation.
They were joined by Green Party leader Trevor Sargent and Sinn Fein MEP Mary Lou McDonald.
The campaigners have called on members of all political parties to oppose the bill, which is due to be debated in the Dail today.
Spokesman for the Save Tara Skreen Valley Group, Vincent Salafia, said that if the amendment is passed into law, it “will open the floodgates for any heritage site to be interfered with by the Government”.
Mr Salafia added that it was “another arrogant attempt by Mr Cullen to force through an ill-conceived piece of legislation”. Campaigners also
claim it breaches the European Convention on the Protection of Archaeological Heritage.
Grainne Cunningham
Irish Examiner
17/06/04
By Jim Morahan
HERITAGE groups yesterday accused Environment Minister Martin Cullen of
failing to protect national monuments.
They protested outside the Dáil yesterday at Mr Cullen’s attempt to plug heritage loopholes in the wake of the M50/Carrickmines Castle debacle.
Mr Cullen claims his newly published bill to amend the 1994 National Monuments Act not only addresses the legal battle surrounding the medieval ruins in South Dublin, which has delayed completion of the road, but also provides markers for the development of road infrastructure when confronted by archaeological finds.
Members of the Save Tara/Skryne Valley Campaign, who are opposing controversial developments planned for Co Meath, called on the opposition parties to oppose the Bill.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent and Labour environment spokesperson Eamon Gilmore have pledged to support their fight.
The group claimed the bill was designed to legalise badly designed roads and would reduce protections for national monuments.
Heritage legal expert Vincent Salafia said the 1994 Act was designed to prevent “another Wood Quay” the destruction of the Dublin Viking settlement in the late 1970s.
Now they faced “three Wood Quays”; at Carrickmines, Waterford’s Viking
remains in the path of the Waterford bypass, and Trim Castle, Co Meath, where a hotel is planned.
“Like e-voting, this bill is another arrogant attempt by Minister Cullen to force through an ill-conceived and badly researched piece of legislation” he added.
Independent Meath and Trim councillor Phil Cantwell said the question of heritage was a big issue for the people.
Dr Muireann Ni Bhrolchain of the Co Meath group called on the academic community and the public to take a stand.
“It is time to draw the line in the sand before we disgrace ourselves completely in the eyes of the civilised world,” she said.
Irish Times
Marie O’Halloran
18.06.04
A Bill to allow for the completion of the M50 motorway at Carrickmines will legalise “official vandalism” of national monuments, the Labour Party’s environment spokesman has claimed.
Mr Eamon Gilmore said the Bill goes “way beyond the completion of the M50” and would allow the Minister for the Environment to “demolish, sell or export any national monument”.
He said it allowed the Minister to order that “an archaeological obstacle to a particular development be bulldozed”.
Mr Gilmore alleged the Bill would have “more significance” for the road development at Tara and Skryne in Co Meath. He added that it would have “major implications for archaeology and heritage” of the “entire Celtic world”.
But the Minister, Mr Cullen, accused him of being “grossly unfair” and of “raising the temperature”.
It was “without foundation” to say the Government was in any way interested in bulldozing monuments, he said.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said as he introduced the National Monuments (Amendment) Bill.
The legislation allows for the M50 motorway to be completed, following a High Court judgment cancelling an order by the Minister to allow it to be finished at Carrickmines.
Mr Cullen said the director of the National Museum would be consulted in dealing with the archaeological finds. Mr Gilmore stated, however, that the director would only have 14 days to respond. He said it was “absolutely nonsensical” that he could make a case to save a major find within that time.
The Minister said: “we must be able to state that all archaeological finds must be protected and that we may have to undertake substantial archaeological assessments in those areas”.
Before construction started, “modern geophysical assessments can be undertaken, but that does not determine absolutely what may or may not be found when work begins”.
He thought that in such a situation everyone would want “to ensure that there was a mechanism to stop the potential for anyone to bulldoze and construct”.
Mr Cullen said a magnificent job had been done at Carrickmines. However, he added: “I went out expecting to find a castle. There is no castle.”
Fine Gael’s Ms Olivia Mitchell said the Minister “has had to deal not only with the Carrickmines issues but the possibility of similar cases arising”.
She believed the legislation would “provide some clarity as to how these issues can be addressed”. The delay at Carrickmines had had an “incalculable” effect on business at the Sandyford industrial estate, she said.
Some tenants had moved out because traffic delays had made it impossible to trade. “It could take over an hour to move a couple of hundred yards.”
Mr Finian McGrath (Independent, Dublin North-Central) said that while he supported and respected “the protection of our culture and archaeological sites, when I see the estimated costs of 6 million with regard to Carrickmines, I must cry ‘stop’.”
Mr Cullen informed Mr McGrath that the department was spending more than 20 million a year on archaeology for Carrickmines alone.
The Green party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said that the job of infrastructural development needed to be separated from the archaeology
role. The Minister could not be the referee if he had a vested interest in both, he said.
The debate was adjourned until next Tuesday.
Monuments Bill ‘legal vandalism’ claims Labour
Irish Independent
18.06.04
OFFICIAL vandalism of national monuments would be made legal by the National Monuments (Amendment) Bill – to effectively give power to the Minister for the Environment to have the M50 around Dublin completed – it was claimed in the Dail yesterday.
Labour TD Eamon Gilmore said: “It will allow the minister, as his discretion, to demolish, sell or export any national monument.”
The completion of the south eastern motorway has been delayed by a High Court decision which quashed the approval order for building the road at Carrickmines Castle on what the court described as a “technical glitch”.
Labour, the Green Party and Sinn Fein objected to the Bill in that it had been signalled as a “simple Bill to allow for the completion of the M50 at Carrickmines”. They claimed the Bill was about much more than that. Fine Gael backed the Bill.
While all parties agreed the road urgently needed to be completed, they protested that enough time was not being allowed for discussion.
Environment Minister Martin Cullen denied either he was in any way interested “in bulldozing any monuments”.
He said he would have a major national monuments Bill hopefully before the end of the year, but the Bill introduced yesterday was to cater for the Carrickmines delay.
He pointed out there were other major infrastructural projects under way about which there was no methodology for any archaeological mitigation arising from the court decision. The Bill was necessary for now to protect all those sites.
Tanaiste Mary Harney said the Bill was necessary because of the court decision on Carrickmines.
“Million of taxpayers’ money is being wasted because we cannot proceed with this,” she said. Fine Gael deputy Olivia Mitchell said the Bill would deal with the issues thrown up by an archaeological discovery.
The debate continues next week.
Geraldine Collins, Dail Correspondent
With the steamy hot weather over with for the time being and the rainy season upon us once more, I found myself indoors, taking strange turns on YouTube and I finally arrived here.
Passage graves were “aerial bombardment shelters for the Telepaths”, while souterrains were blast shelters for the lower orders. All the other members of Ben McBrady’s secret ancient order of Ancient Druids are dead, so only Ben McBrady can pass on the real history of Ireland.
Apologies if this has been posted before... but I had never seen this treasure before. 50 minutes of your time... Unmissable!
Old traditions, crumbling with time..
I suspect that this news comes in defence of folklore which in turn preserves the archaeological monuments by superstition or ‘piseogs’ to use the rather lovely Irish word.........
Superstitions may seem strange and baseless, but somehow they have clung on for thousands of years. Are they a sign of respect for the past and if so just how much longer might they last?
WHEN I WAS growing up, there was a ring fort at the end of our road. We were warned not to play there. It was accepted that fairy forts contained some mystique or potential for harm. Our parents were probably told the same by their parents, and so on through the generations. But has belief in science and technology replaced faith in superstitions?
Perhaps not. Dara Molloy, a former Roman Catholic priest based on Inis Mór, is in demand to perform Celtic rituals and blessings. When we spoke last week, he was at a wedding ceremony in which he used blessings dating from what he terms “Celtic Christianity”. It involves the tying of knots and sprinkling of water from a nearby well. These practices predate the Roman Catholic Church, he says, and are more in keeping with old Irish customs and beliefs. “We held on to a lot of traditions but they were pushed to the margins of the church,” he says. “People still visit holy wells, climb Croagh Patrick or go to Lough Derg, but many other Irish customs and traditions didn’t carry on and some local priests were instrumental in encouraging them to be abandoned.”
Molloy says when he first moved to the Aran Islands 25 years ago, he was struck by the reverence the locals had for ancient sites and monuments. “Neighbours of mine on Inis Mór who were born and raised on the island had never been up to the hill fort of Dún Aengus,” he says. “One of the reasons given was that their parents wouldn’t let them. They said the place was lived in by the sióga or other world folk. Nowadays some young locals want to have their weddings up there because they believe the energy of the sióga is there. The belief hasn’t been lost. It is just used differently. I have witnessed young adults who want to go to Dún Aengus and sleep there overnight to get the feeling that is up there.”
That feeling may relate to the fact the site has been used by locals for centuries as a place of gathering or safety.
Piseogs [superstitions] are still heeded on the islands too, says Molloy. That is why a red-haired woman who turns up at a door on New Year’s Eve is unlikely to be shown indoors. “It would be a bad omen for the coming years,” he says.
Colm Moloney, managing director of Headland Archaeology, says much has been lost in recent years in relation to Irish folklore. “My own childhood revolved around my dad, who spent a lot of his time walking his greyhounds (and his children) around the landscape of east Cork. Every hill, river, nook and cranny had a story attached to it and he told them so well it was captivating,” he says. “Modern Ireland does not readily facilitate this kind of activity. Landowners have a problem with people wandering across their land and kids have so much to distract them, it is near impossible to get them outside.”
Moloney says much of our folklore is in danger in the hands of the current generation. “The Irish psyche has changed. The respect that was there for the past is losing ground. Our knowledge and links to the past through oral traditions were what made us unique.”
There have been reports recently that a farmer destroyed a ring fort in Co Cork. This would not have occurred a decade ago, he says. Folklore often existed to protect the built heritage and vice versa.
“Every country boy knew the traditions associated with ring forts,” he says. “If you touched the fairy forts something very bad would happen to you. This tradition and similar kinds of piseog resulted in the preservation of archaeological monuments across the country, probably for thousands of years.
“This is a frightening development, where 30 sq m of farmland is of greater value than a monument that may have stood on that spot for 1,200 years.”
EMILY ROSS
irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0104/1224286698278.html
The Fairy Music
THE evil influence of the fairy glance does not kill, but it throws the object into a death-like trance, in which the real body is carried off to some fairy mansion, while a log of wood, or some ugly, deformed creature is left in its place, clothed with the shadow of the stolen form.
Young women, remarkable for beauty, young men, and handsome children, are the chief victims of the fairy stroke. The girls are wedded to fairy chiefs, and the young men to fairy queens; and if the mortal children do not turn out well, they are sent back, and others carried off in their place.
It is sometimes possible, by the spells of a powerful fairy-man, to bring back a living being from Fairy-land. But they are never quite the same after. They have always a spirit-look, especially if they have listened to the fairy music. For the fairy music is soft and low and plaintive, with a fatal charm for mortal ears.
Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland By Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde
A huge collection of folklore and folk-magic from Oscar Wildes’ mother.
View online at Google Books, Sacred-texts Com, or download this collection for your iPhone or iPod.
New Publication:
Before people in Ireland started writing in manuscripts made of vellum they wrote on other materials, primarily stone, in a writing system called ogham. Our earliest ogham inscriptions on stone are dated on linguistic grounds to between the 4th and the 7th century AD. Over 400 known examples of ogham stones and fragments of various shapes and sizes have survived, each with their own unique biography or story. The publication explores the writing form; where it can be found; and how we can #PassItOn to future generations.
Irish rock art is the subject of a new, richly illustrated booklet published by the Heritage Council. Written by archaeologist, Clare Busher O’Sullivan, ‘Rock Art’ explores the art form; where it can be found; what it means; and how it can be protected.
[T]he National Folklore Collection UCD, [is] an institute recognised as one of Europe’s largest archives of oral tradition and cultural history. Visitors to the Collection are invited to explore a large selection of books, manuscripts, audio recordings, videos and photographs, drawings and paintings dealing with Irish life, folk history and culture.
The folklore of Ireland’s ancient monuments
site index
“Megalithomania is the story of one man’s journey across 10 years (and counting) around the stones of Ireland. Tom Fourwinds’ site is a catalogue of over 2200 sites, containing more than 10,000 photographs of Irish sites, and is a testament to his stamina and zeal.”
Alan S.
heritageaction.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/web-focus-on-megalithomania/
Map viewer for Ireland – there are historical maps too.
Newgrange with Knowth and Dowth are the major sites of the Boyne Valley World Heritage Site. Images and information on Newgrange itself with visitor and tour information.
A Road on the Long Ridge – In search of an Ancient Highway on the Eiscar Riada by Hermann Geissel.
This is a free pdf book based on the TG4 program about a journey on the Eiscar Riada or Sli Mor from Dublin to Galway.
It is a great read and he also proposes that Early Christain sites were constructed beside the road for access etc.
It could also be argued that perhaps some of these were based on early prehistoric sites and therefore sites were located near the road.
It also has a section on Croghan Hill and it mentions the alignment of the Hill of Uisneach – Croghan Hill on Winter Solstice Sunrise.
Article from November/December 2005:
“Ireland’s road network is experiencing an astonishing development, with sometimes controversial implications for the country’s rich and largely unexplored rural heritage. Dàire O’Rourke, senior archaeologist at the National Roads Authority, says a new code means everyone will benefit.”
News and discussion about the book Atlantis from a Geographer’s Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land, by Ulf Erlingsson. A short video presents some of the intriguing details from the book.
The author considers that Plato’s Atlantis was a utopia, but shows that with a probability of over 99.98%, Plato based the description of Atlantis’ geography on Ireland.
An exploration of Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth, Tara, Loughcrew and other ancient sites of Ireland in the context of art, astronomy, mythology and archaeology.
Spirals, lozenges and concentric circles in one of the world’s hubs of megalithic art. Knowth, Dowth, Newgrange and Fourknocks sun-lit in their full glory!
