Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [472]
Although little remains other than humps and mounds of earth on the hill, its historic and folkloristic significance is immense. However, history and preservation have run headlong into the demands of sprawl and convenience in the Tara Valley, with controversy around the construction of a new motorway. A battle between government and campaigners over the proposed route has been raging for years and work had to be halted on the first day of digging in 2007 when an ancient site that could rival Stonehenge was uncovered. Despite pleas from eminent historians and archaeologists around the world, the government looks set to ignore calls for a new route that would completely avoid the area and plough ahead with its controversial plans for the M3. For an update on the current situation visit www.tarawatch.org.
History
The Celts believed that Tara was the sacred dwelling place of the gods and the gateway to the otherworld. The passage grave was thought to be the final resting place of the Tuatha dé Danann, the mythical fairyfolk – they were real enough, but instead of pixies and brownies, they were earlier Stone Age arrivals on the island.
As the Celtic political landscape began to evolve, the druids’ power was usurped by warlike chieftains who took kingly titles; there was no sense of a united Ireland, so at any given time there were countless rí tuaithe (regional kings) controlling many small areas. The king who ruled Tara, though, was generally considered the big shot, the high king, even though his direct rule didn’t extend too far beyond the provincial border. The most lauded of all the high kings was Cormac MacArt, who ruled during the 3rd century.
The most important event in Tara’s calendar was the three-day harvest feis (festival) that took place at Samhain, a precursor to modern Halloween. During the festival, the high king pulled out all the stops: grievances would be heard, laws passed, and disputes settled amid an orgy of eating, drinking and partying.
When the early Christians hit town in the 5th century, they targeted Tara straight away. Although the legend has it that Patrick lit the paschal fire on the Hill of Slane, some people believe that Patrick’s incendiary act took place on Tara’s sacred hump. The arrival of Christianity marked the beginning of the end for Celtic pagan civilisation, and the high kings began to desert Tara, even though the kings of Leinster continued to be based here until the 11th century.
In August 1843, Tara saw one of the greatest crowds ever to gather in Ireland. Daniel O’Connell, the ‘Liberator’ and the leader of the opposition to union with Great Britain, held one of his monster rallies at Tara, and up to 750,000 people came to hear him speak.
Information
A former Protestant church (with a window by the well-known artist Evie Hone) is home to the Tara Visitor Centre ( 046-902 5903; www.heritageireland.ie; adult/child €3/1; 10am-6pm mid-May–mid-Sep, last admission 5pm), where a 20-minute audiovisual presentation about the site is shown. Entrance to Tara is free and the site itself is always open. There are good explanatory panels by the entrance.
Sights
RATH OF THE SYNODS
The names applied to Tara’s various humps and mounds were adopted from ancient texts, and mythology and religion intertwine with the historical facts. The Protestant church grounds and graveyard spill onto the remains of the Rath of the Synods, a triple-ringed fort where some of St Patrick’s early synods (meetings) supposedly took place.