Ireland & the back arse of nowhere #8: Hill of Tara

I have talked about Hill of Tara before, sort of... It was mostly focussed on the fairy tree that you can find around here. But there is loads more to see and know about Hill of Tara, so please let me show you around a little. Because I find this place pretty special but it isn't that well known outside of Ireland...

Step into a time machine with me that will bring you back to a time when the pyramids didn't exist yet. It is around 3000 BC, the air is clean, and you are standing on top of an amazing hill that overlooks a large part of Ireland (or at least it feels that way). On top of this hill, there is a passage tomb (now ancient, then brand new). It is only 3 metres high and about 15 metres in diameter. Twice a year, the rising sun will shine straight into the passageway. The druids tell you that on those days, the dead buried in there will be reborn with the light.

The tomb is called the Mound of the Hostages and the human remains (ashes and bones) of 300+ people have been found here. So it seems that the rebirth plan didn't work that well...

Mound of the Hostages on the right-hand side

Mound of the Hostages, waiting for the reborn people to crawl back out

There isn't much more to see here right now, and we better move to the fourth century AD, to the time of the High Kings of Ireland. We end up in one of the many parallel universes connected to the many different stories around this period in the past.

Tara now seems to have turned into an area of huge importance. It became the seat of the High Kings. (It explains why people might call it sacred in the 21st century). Many Kings have ruled from here and many will follow. It is the beginning of winter (samhain) and the Irish kings have gathered on the Hill of Tara. The current High King of Tara is King Niall. A big festival is going on. Everywhere you look you see celebrations. Warriors are training, druids walk around. It looks like the King is living here in the house of the old King Cormac mac Airt. In front of that, the Royal Seat (An Forradh) is located.

Hostages from the different conquered places are now kept inside the tomb that we saw in the past. It is an idea by King Niall and that idea gave the tomb the name Mound of the Hostages. In front of the now prison, a standing stone is erected that wasn't there before. It is brought here by the Tuatha de Danann, a mythical race of semi-divine people with God-like powers.

This stone, the Lia Fáil (or stone of destiny), is said to be magical. A druid explains that in the past, when the rightful High King of Ireland placed his feet on the stone, the stone would roar and everyone in Ireland would be able to hear it. However, after Cúchulainn split it with his sword in anger of a failed roar, it didn't roar anymore. Except for once, some 200 years ago, under King Conn Cétchathach.

The Lia Fáil has moved to its current site (An Forradh, the seat of the King) in 1798 to honour the 400 rebels who died in the Battle of Tara during the Irish Revolution. People suspect that this stone isn't the original stone and many different stories go around what happened to the stone. Or it was taken to Scotland around 6th century AD, or it is somewhere hidden inside the Hill of Tara.

Lia Fáil, or is it?

Panoramic photo from the An Forradh (Royal Seat) circle

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Me standing in the An Forradh (Royal Seat) circle, near Lia Fáil

In present days, the clearest view of Hill of Tara is from the air. As you can see below, the images just show seemingly random ditches. I added an aerial photo so you can see the two connected circles, one being the house of the king and the other his seat. The larger circle around it is called the Fort of the Kings. It is thought that this was the position of the original fort, having 2 walls with a ditch in between. The tomb just looks a bit like a pimple from the air. And the rectangular area in the top of the photo is where a great banqueting hall is thought to have been located.

Hill of Tara from the sky, Source

Let's make a tiny jump in time now. We travel to the eve of Easter Sunday of the year 433 AD and again run into a group of druids. They are somehow clearly nervous. A bonfire was lit on the nearby Hill of Slane which goes against all the laws. The first fire is always supposed to start on the Hill of Tara! It was Saint Patrick that started the bonfire and the chief druid of Tara said that if that flame was not extinguished that night, Christianity would never be extinguished in Ireland.

The next morning the fire was still burning. That day, Easter Sunday, Saint Patrick came to Tara to convert the King and his followers to Christianity.

A statue of Saint Patrick and in the back the spot where the great banqueting hall is supposed to have been

It is time to travel back to the present. I hope you will now look at a grassy field with ditches differently. Nowadays, along the outer boundary wall, a fairy tree grows. This tree is too young to have a significant meaning for the Hill of Tara, but it adds to the Celtic myths surrounding this area. It is just supposed to be there.

Fairy tree

When you walk around Tara now, the views are still amazing. It still has the magical and powerful feel that it once had. And even in more recent years, after abandoning of the hill, significant things have happened here. During the Irish Revolution of 1798 Irish rebels build a camp here to fight the British. They were defeated and like I told you before, that was the reason the stone was moved.

Saint Patrick Church and visitor centre

The story that surprised me most was what happened in 1843 when Daniel O'Connell staged a demonstration at the Hill of Tara at which around 750.000 people were present (a huge amount for that day without Facebook events and for the number of people living in Ireland). The Irish people gathered there to request the repeal of the Act of Union (stating that Ireland was a part of Great Britain). Why am I not surprised it is again about Britain? ;)

So yeah, DO pay Hill of Tara a visit. Wear good shoes because it can be super slippery in the ditches when the grass is wet (I have seen many people slip and fall). The church isn't very interesting, but it is now the visitor centre. Behind the church, you will find a little old graveyard. Just follow the trail and you will get to the field.

Graves near the church

Also in this series:

Europe series:

My California series: