Loughcrew

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Loughcrew

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2 Duns

Dun of * Flidhais Brigantes

Dun O' Duir

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Celtic Archaeological Sites and News

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Brugh of * Clancy Shamus Cormac

The Hag's Chair

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Bothan of * Lasair Cormac

The Seven Chambers of Slieve na Caillighe

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* Clancy Shamus Cormac

Tara | Meath

Greetings traveler. My name is Bricriu. I am also a traveler of sorts, not of distance, but of time, destined to be trapped on the spiritual edge of the Otherworld. I know not why I have suffered this fate, but it must be in order that the people who once breathed this air and walked this land will not be forgotten. Gods are capricious in their nature, and I am but a minion to their power it seems. Long I have lingered here watching the seasons ebb and flow. Much have I learned from the words of those who come to Sliabh na Caillighe. I have resigned myself to this fate and do now offer my account of all I have seen and heard to you my fellow traveler. Come walk with me and I will tell you of Slieve na Caillighe.

Slieve na Caillighe, or Loughcrew as it is called today, lies just southeast of Oldcastle, in the west of County Meath, Ireland. This land is a place of final rest for the earliest of people of this island nation. Found here are the many cairns and passage tombs of Slieve na Caillighe and some believe the tombs of the High Kings of Ireland. Of those possibly interred here, there is but one thought to be its greatest King. It is said that on the highest peak in the center of the three summits stands the passage tomb of the legendary Poet King Ollamh Fodhla. Though built some 2300 years before his time, it is said to be his final resting place. It is written in the Annals of the Four Masters that this druid king brought about many enduring legacies for his nation. Notable among them was the triennial conference, the Feis Teamhrach or Great Fair at the Hill of Tara, where once every three years, the kingdom's wisest and most learned citizens gathered to review the nation's laws and to administer justice for it's people. Following the gathering, a boisterous feast lasting some two weeks was held for all to enjoy.

Ollamh Fodhla, called the first law giver of Fodla (Ireland), was celebrated as a poetic philosopher and statesman among his countryman and was a much-loved Ard Rí or High King as witnessed by his people. He was responsible for conducting the ceremonies at Slieve na Caillighe for the purpose of acquiring new laws from the spirit world. He was also responsible for instituting the first senatorial assembly, resembling that of modern day parliaments, with powers of legislative and judicial duty. Finally, this beloved King placed the Fodla Army, the Na Fianna, under the administrative hand of the senatorial body of Fodla. Undoubtably this established King Ollamh Fodhla as the principal architect of a highly civilized nation some eleven centuries before the earliest Christian era. He was High King for forty years, when his eldest son Fionn Sneachta succeeded him after he died of natural cause, in 699 BCE.

In the year 1863 AD, by your way of counting, a School Inspector named Eugene A. Conwell rediscovered these ancient cairns at Slieve na Caillighe and assigned each a letter title to aid in their systematic exploration. The site thought to be King Ollamh Fodhla's tomb was given the letter "T" to distinguish it from the some thirty other cairns and passage tombs within the regional burial complex. Slieve na Caillighe translates from Gaelic as the "Mountain of the Witch." On the north side of Cairn T, forming part of the Kerbstone boundary, is the Hag's Chair, a large monolith said to be the Celtic goddess Caillech Beine Bric's favorite chair, from which she gazes at the heavenly constellations while also watching over the countryside. According to local folklore, the numerous stones and monoliths strewn throughout this area dropped from her apron as she hopped from hill top to hill top.

The Slieve na Cailighe complex has many smaller groupings of standing stones and rings as well as individual stones throughout this three summit area. Barrows dating from the neolithic period dot the hill tops and ridges. A barrow normally consisted of several sub-chambers or niches radiating out from a small central chamber with one low entrance. They were mostly built upon a single slab stone, or on a multiple flat stone foundation. Timber or capstone roofs were added along with earth piled on the top to form a mound. Passage tombs and barrows share many aspects, differing mainly in size. They were believed to have been constructed for the purpose of securing the bones and personal items of the dead and as a means of continued spiritual communication between important tribal ancestors and the living.

Many of the passage tombs throughout Ireland are thought to be aligned in some manner to the seasonal positions of the sun and in rare cases the moon. The neolithic cairn and tomb builders may well have aligned their constructions with seasonal astronomical events as a means of validating the belief that the sun was the center of their agrarian life. Cairn T at Slieve na Caillighe is aligned to the rising sun during the spring and autumn equinoxes. At these precise times the rising sun penetrates the passage of the tomb and highlights the sun symbols inscribed on the equinox stone at the rear of the tomb. The illumination of each sun symbol inscription, one at a time from top to bottom and from left to right, was the key event the priests or elders of those ancient times would have been looking for. A perfect alignment would only occur twice a year at each equinox and at no other time during the year. This would signal to those watching that the beginning of the planting season or the beginning of the winter season had just arrived. It is conceivable that these tombs would have had several functions for the neolithic people. While providing burial places for the tribe's ancestors, the tombs could have also been religious and ceremonial sites, as well as calendars for predicting the coming seasons. This speaks greatly of the acquired knowledge and advanced skills of the neolithic people.

Most of the passage tombs here at Slieve na Caillighe remain largely intact. Unlike the highly restored New Grange Passage Tomb some 40 km to the southeast of Loughcrew, much here at Slieve na Cailighe is left for future archeologists to discover. Of the three summits, Carnbane West, Carnbane East (highest point in Meath County and site of Cairn T), and that of Patrickstown Hill, sadly the Patrickstown site has suffered the greatest damage due to artifact hunters, incompetent excavators and commercial encroachment. The rock art carvings on the stones at numerous Loughcrew sites throughout this region have beautiful designs that are fascinating to see, but are mysterious to us still after some one and a half centuries of scholarly study. The most understandable inscriptions are those most often associated within the passage tombs and on the rear chamber stones with their stylized depictions of the sun.

Of course I would be failing in my role as spiritual herald if I did not mention events of a more recent time. Oliver Plunkett is the most recent saint in Ireland to be canonized by the Catholic Church. Oliver was born on the 1st of November in 1625 AD at his family home in Loughcrew, Ireland. At age twenty two, he left his home for Rome, Italy to study for the priesthood at the Irish College. By 1654 AD he was ordained a priest in the Propaganda College in Rome.

Because of the persecution of Catholics during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-53), Oliver was unable to return home to minister to his people. He taught in Rome until 1669 AD, at which time he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland.

Archbishop Plunkett soon returned home to Loughcrew, Ireland and was able to establish himself as a man of peace. With religious fervor he set about establishing schools, visiting his people, ordaining priests and confirming thousands into the Catholic Faith. A short three years later, religious prosecution increased and the Archbishop was forced into hiding. While suffering from cold and hunger, Archbishop Plunkett wrote many letters to his parishioners, encouraging their faith and remaining always the faithful shepherd. Slowly the persecution eased and he was able for a time to move more freely among his flock.
In 1679 AD, he was arrested and falsely accused of treason. The courts where unable to convict him at trial in Dundalk, Ireland, so they quickly had him moved to London, England. Not given time to organize his case and bring witnesses from Ireland, Archbishop Plunkett found himself near conviction and soon to be hanged at the Tyburn Gallows. The government officials offered him lenience if he would give false witness against his brother bishops. He refused and rebutted all claims of treason set against him. Before his death on the 1st of July 1681 AD, he publicly forgave all those responsible for his false conviction and then calmly accepted his fate. Almost three hundred years later, the Catholic Church canonized him on the 12th of October 1974 AD. His feast day is celebrated each year on the 11th of July.