TARA
The archaeological complex of the Hill of Tara covers the townlands of Castletown Tara, Jordanstown, Castleboy, Fodeen, and Belpere. The complex comprises at least seventy monuments, ranging from a Neolithic passage tomb to Iron Age ceremonial earthworks, located on a commanding northwest / southeast oriented ridge which rises to a maximum height of c. 130m above sea level. The precise function of Tara is difficult to determine and it is not clear to what extent this and other royal sites were the in use as secular, permanent occupation or if they served a soley ceremonial purpose (Raftery 1991, 61).
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| Extract of Ordnance Survey 1st edition map (Sheet 31) showing the principal monuments on the hilltop at Tara. (Map reproduced by courtesy of the Board of Trinity College Dublin) |
The best known monuments include Ráith na Ríg, Ráith Lóegaire, Tech Midchúarta (the 'Banqueting Hall'), Ráith na Senad (the 'Rath of the Synods'), Clóenfherta (the 'Sloping Trenches'), Ráith Gráinne, Ráith Maeve (MEO37:008), Tech Cormaic, the Forrad, the Lia Fáil standing stone, and Duma na nGiall (the Mound of the Hostages), many of which are mentioned in ancient texts, poetry and oral lore. Outside the immediate environs of the hill itself, there are several additional related monuments such as the linear earthwork in Castletown Tara and Riverstown (ME031:040) and barrows such as that at Belpere (ME037:035).
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| Extract of RMP map (Ordnance Survey Sheets 31 & 37) showing the constraint area around the archaeological complex at Tara. |
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| Aerial View of Raith na Rig from the north |
Not all the monuments on the Hill of Tara are contemporary, and there have been recent attempts to describe the probable chronology and development of the hilltop monuments and their relationship to one another. Newman (1997) suggests eight broad phases for the monuments of the hill. Traces of a wooden palisade enclosure were discovered under Duma na nGiall (the Mound of the Hostages passage tomb); these may represent the earliest monument on the hill (radiocarbon dated to 3030-2190 BC). The Mound of the Hostages itself is built over a layer of burning that may represent the destruction of the palisade immediately before the building of the tomb. The artefacts associated with the Mound of the Hostages are typical of passage tomb material. The Lia Fáil (the standing stone now located within the Forrad) may have been located beside the passage entrance, similar to the location of the standing stone at the western tomb at Knowth in the Boyne Valley.
| The Lia Fail or Stone of Destiny, located on the central mound of the Forrad. According to legend the stone cried out when the proper king was inaugurated. |
According to Newman (1997), the third phase of building at Tara is represented by the Tech Midchúarta (the Banqueting Hall), the linear earthwork that may have been a formal avenue or approach to the hill, although oral tradition suggests it was roofed.
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| Aerial view of the Tech Midchuarta and Raith na Rig, from the north |
The Early Bronze Age saw the incorporation of a cemetery into the mound of Duma na nGiall and the building of some of the barrows that are dotted over the hilltop, probably including the Forrad (Newman 1997). These barrows continued into the fifth phase of building at Tara, and the gold objects also belong to this phase. Ráith na Ríg was built in the Late Bronze Age in phase six, together with some elements of Ráith na Senad, which was further expanded during the next building phase. Phase seven also saw the construction of Ráith Lóegaire, Ringlestown Rath, Rathmiles, and Rath Lugh, outlying monuments that demonstrate a new relationship with monuments outside the immediate confines of the hill itself. The eighth and final phase is represented by the conversion of Ráith na Ríg into a defensive rather than ritual enclosure and the construction of Tech Cormaic, the ringfort now attached to the Forrad (Newman 1997).
[The above text is based largely on an extract from Volume 4C of the Environmental Impact Statement, 2002: Appendix E, Archaeological Report, Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd]
