Boyne Valley Tour

The Celtic Boyne Valley Tour. Friday. September 7.   

This morning would be the first big tour of the trip. The ten hour tour was run by Travelbound. We’ll go through “the Royal County, where the ancient High Kings of Ireland ruled.” This tour will go to sites that are “undiscovered gems.” They are quieter than Newgrange or Knowth. We’ll see passage tombs from the Neolithic Age. “Built five hundred years before the first pyramids!” 

We met at the Molly Malone statue near St. Andrew’s Church at 7:50 a.m. I know the spot. This is were the Literary Pub Crawl had started in 1999. It was a good place for tour groups to meet. Everyone knows where the Molly Malone statue is. There were several tour groups meeting here. There was some confusion as the various tours were sorted out. People wandered around with vouchers in their hand, looking for their contact. A young guy gathered the Boyne Valley Tour people together. We walked a short distance and boarded a bus. There were twenty-five people on the tour.   

We rode the bus for about an hour outside Dublin. We went through County Meath. Our guide was Matthew. He’s a friendly middle aged guy, and definitely an experienced tour guide. 

While we rode on the bus Matthew gave us a short version of Celtic history. In 12,000 BC Ireland was covered by a glacier that was a mile high. The first known signs of human habitation are from 9000 BC. One theory is that people came across a land bridge from Scotland. Once there were 5,500 acres of forest covering much of Ireland. “There is about thirteen percent of that left.”

The Celts arrived from the mainland in 800 B.C. There’s a more recent theory that many Celts came to Ireland from Spain. The Romans conquered most of Brittania, but they didn’t have much incentive to invade Ireland. They called Ireland Hibernia, the land of winter. The Romans didn’t like the weather. Their only motivation would be gold, and when they didn’t find any in Hibernia there was no reason to conquer it. Hibernia was the end of the known world at that time.  

  Matthew explained that the isolation of the time encouraged loyalty to the family. Matthew says that we have to remember that the basic unit was the family. One’s loyalty was to the family and the local clan. “That’s all that you knew...the little world around you. There wasn’t a country or nation to be loyal to. Your loyalty was to the clan.” 

There wasn’t much trade. Most commerce was on the barter system, especially the trading of cattle. The Celts raided for cattle and may have raided the east of Britain. 

Ireland was the last part of Europe to become Christian. The Celts tried to hold onto their ancient gods. They still worshipped the Sun God until St. Patrick arrived in 300 AD. The Celtic Cross was created to attract and persuade the natives. The old ways were not totally eradicated. Local spirits, rites and rituals were adapted to Catholicism. Some symbols still recall the Sun God. Halloween was created here.  

 

We get off the bus and walk up a slight incline on a hill. There’s a statue of St. Patrick to our left. He’s surrounded by a short iron fence. There’s an old church and a cemetery. It’s windy!

It’s an easy walk to a bluff with a sweeping view. We’re on the Hill of Tara! On a clear day you can see a quarter of all Ireland. Eighteen of thirty-two counties! Today isn’t a perfect weather day. There are clouds on the horizon, but we still get a great view. Ireland has been in a drought. The grass and hills look green to a Californian used to the “golden” hills of California. 

 

We come up to a phallic stone that is about five feet high. This is the Stone of Destiny. The Lia Fail. It’s been the “coronation stone” since 500 AD. When the proper candidate to be king put his hand on it, the stone would “scream” or “roar in joy.” This sounds like an unlikely myth, but Matthew points out that the wind that is howling around us can create strange sound effects.

The Coronation Stone was brought to Tara by the Danaan. Cuchulain broke it in half after it didn’t name him or his descendants the kings of Ireland. Legend says that one half was taken to Scotland and wound up on the throne of the British king. It may now be hidden beneath the River Tay. 

We come to a Sidhe mound. They are gateways to the other side. This one had an iron gate and a large lock on it. We won’t be able to get inside the mound. It doesn’t look like there’s much room in there anyway. 

The Danaan and the Milesians fought to control Ireland. The Milesians won and the Danaans fled underground. One story is that they agreed to split Ireland and the Milesians shrewdly chose the half that was above ground. The Sidhe mounds are a gateway to the underworld.  

The area was private property for a long time. This helped preserve the area. People didn’t know about the mounds and they were kept out so they were relatively untouched and protected from vandalism. Other ancient sites have not been so lucky.      

Matthew tells us that in 1903 The British Institute excavated here. They were looking for the Ark of the Covenant! “It’s not as crazy as it sounds,” Matthew tells us. There was a legend that the Ark had been carried off to the ends of the earth. Ireland was considered the end of the known world in ancient times. The British Institute excavated here from 1899 to 1902. Irish nationalism was gaining momentum and there was an outcry over the excavations. They were seen as an exploitation of Irish culture. It was one of the first modern demonstrations of the new Irish nationalism.  

Matthew stands behind what looks like a weathered gravestone. I can’t read what it says except for the 1798 on the top. Then it dawns on me. This is the site of the Battle of the Boyne. It’s here that Ireland was lost again. 

“The Orangemen had the high ground.” They had superior weapons and more experienced troops. It was a close battle that could have gone either way, but the outnumbered Irish lost. The victory is still celebrated in Belfast every year, much to the chagrin of local Catholics.  

The English wanted to leave the Irish bodies out to rot in the elements. This was a vengeful, cruel fate for Catholics waiting for the Resurrection of the Dead. A proper burial was highly desired. There were fears of disease, so the bodies were dumped in a mass burial pit. Matthew shows us where it is.

Daniel O’Connell once spoke to a crowd estimated to be three quarters of a million people. It was a monster rally for Irish independence. He must have had some voice! Matthew shows us a post mark in a rock where something was embedded. It may have been part of the stage.

Matthew points out a tree that is about fifty yards down the hill. He says that we’re not seeing things. There really are ribbons and other items stuck in the tree. It’s a little hard to see, but items are tied to the tree’s branches, including “under garments.”  It’s a “fairy tree,” sometimes called a “spirit tree.” The items left are called “clotties.” People still ask the little people for help, especially for sick children.  

Those that live in rural areas still have respect and some fear of the little people.  The Síthé don’t like to be called fairies. Don’t mess with them. There are many varieties of Síthé. Americans know about leprechauns and banshees, but they don’t know much about the other “little people.”   

The wrath of the Sithé is not to be taken lightly. A huge highway project was planned to go through an area that was known by locals to be a sacred spot of the little people. Trees would be uprooted and a ringfort demolished. There was enough public outcry that the highway was rerouted at the cost of one million Euro.

Matthew says that the origin of the “Kennedy curse” could be traced to a similar incident. Rose Kennedy’s grandfather ignored his neighbor’s protests and cut down a hawthorn tree. His neighbors warned against it, but he went ahead and chopped it down. Some say the Kennedy family’s troubles started here. You don’t mess with the little people. 

Another story is that one company built on a sacred site and chopped down an especially treasured oak tree. What company dared to defy the spirits? It was DeLorean.

Matthew says that May bushes grow near wells. Most of the wells on Tara have dried up.  

We pass a high cross that is behind a fence. Matthew explains that large Celtic crosses were a teaching tool when most people couldn’t read. They were used to instruct the pagan Irish about Christianity.  

I’m drawn to the old Church of Tara and the small cemetery that is near it. I walk around them on my own. Anywhere else it would be a very interesting site in itself.

Back on the bus. We go through the town of Drogheda. It was sacked by Oliver Cromwell. The severed head of St. Oliver Plunkett is in the local St. Peter’s Church.  

It’s a twenty-five minute ride to Trim Castle. It’s the best preserved Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland. Trim Castle has a long history, but it has become more famous recently as the site where much of the movie Braveheart was filmed.     

Braveheart was originally planned to be filmed somewhere else, but the Irish  government offered large tax breaks. Matthew told us that Mel Gibson worked out a deal at the last minute. Movies fire our imagination. Trim Castle’s popularity soared after the movie came out. In the Sixties, the filming of Ryan’s Daughter had transformed the economy of County Kerry. Hosting a big Hollywood production can really boost a local economy. Locals earned three times the local wage for acting as extras. The film put Trim Castle on many tourist’s “must list.” 

We had time to roam the castle grounds. We walked around the castle. Nothing has an aura of history like a castle. This is where fantasy meets reality. Most of the towers had survived the ages. European banded pigeons roosted in the towers. There was a dried up moat.   

A trail went through a little park and led to a parking lot. There was a small bridge that was said to be “the oldest unaltered bridge in use in Ireland.” A guy who was parking negotiated with one of the local Garda. He might not make it back in time to feed the meter. It sounded like the Garda was giving him a little wiggle room.

It was a short and scenic ride to Lough Crew near Oldcastle. We were still in County Meath. Lough Crew is also known as Slieve na Calliagh, which is Gaelic for Hag’s Mountain. Matthew says that the cairns and rings of rocks on the hill can be seen for miles. We can see some of them as the bus comes close to the hill. We stop and pre-order lunch at the Limetree Coffee Shop. It’s next to the Loughcrew Historic Gardens.

We walk up a hill while Matthew gets the key. It’s steep, but it’s not too strenuous a climb. The trails are well worn. It takes us longer than him to get to the top. At the top we get a wide fifty to sixty mile view.  

There is a large mound of stones. This is Cairn T. It’s believed these mounds are“among the oldest free standing buildings in the world.” They may date from 3500 B.C. Entrances to the mounds had been covered up and undiscovered for years. Matthew arrives with a large, ancient looking key. An iron gate keeps the tomb closed. It’s just tight enough to keep a human from slipping through. Matthew struggles a bit with the old lock and key, but he gets the iron gate open.

The interior of the mound can’t hold all of us at once, so we take turns going inside. It was large enough to enter and stand up in, but it was still a small, cramped space. There are swirling Celtic whorls and concentric circles all over the stones near the entrance and inside the mound. Matthew says that twice a year the sun aligns with the entrance and lights up a stone in the back.

The mounds served as a royal cemetery. It’s believed many rulers and soldiers are buried here.  

Matthew points out the Hag’s Chair. It was formed when a giant divine hag dropped stones from her apron. It’s a legend that is hard to picture. It’s also known as the Seat of Judgement.

The cairns were rediscovered in 1863 by Alfred Conwell. He had an artist draw many of the mounds. The carvings have deteriorated in recent years, especially since the 1970s. Wind and weather take its toll. Most of the mounds are made of limestone and sandstone. It’s ironic, but the cairns were better off buried. Archaeologists know some of the stones came from Wicklow. It’s fifty miles to Wicklow! Quartz has been found near entrances. There may have been a facade made of quartz. Chalk balls were found. They fit into depressions in the stone. They also found stone balls that fit into small holes in the mounds.   

The saying of Mass was “officially forbidden” by the English authorities. Mass was held in secret. Remote Loughcrew was a logical spot for services even though it was “visible.” What a scene it must have been. I tried to imagine what it must have been like. Defiant but furtive people celebrated their forbidden religion at a “Mass Stone” that was near an ancient pagan site called the Hag’s Chair.

There was a family from Cleveland among the tour group. The partiarch huffed and puffed up the trail. “I’m 82!” When he reached the top he wasn’t very impressed. “We came up here for a pile of rocks?” 

The rest of the family was more interested. The middle aged son wanted to know what happened to all the armor. They had toured mansions and had seen little armor or weapons. They were told the armor had been put away in storage. I mention that it might be the result of collecting, but he doesn’t go for that.

The wife from the Cleveland group asks Matthew, “Should we go to Newgrange?” Matthew explains that it’s new and modern. “You should see it... Once.” He explains how the summer solstice is replicated in the visitor center. They do a good job, but it is “Almost like Disneyland.”   

We returned to the coffee and souvenir shop, the LIme Tree Cafe. It looked like it had once been a cottage farm house. Our pre-ordered lunches were ready. It was a very pleasant area to eat and rest up for the next archaeological adventure. I made it a point to get the guide book. There were cute pig decorations on the lawn.  

Our next stop will be Uisneach, “The Sacred Centre of Ireland.” We’re back on the bus for a ride through parts of Meath and Kildare counties. We had been to Tara, a place of royal power. Uisneach is a place of spiritual power.

Racing horses is still a big business here. Meath is the home of the Irish Grand National. We pass a “Training Center.” It’s a large race track with no stands. Matthew tells us it cost two and a half million Euro to build.

Matthew talks about Johnny Cash. He came to Ireland many times and wrote the song Forty Shades of Green. 

  Matthew hopes we get Marty as a tour guide. “He’s a real character.” By the luck of the draw we get Simon. He’s a younger guy carrying a long walking stick. He gets second billing, but he is a good story teller. We do see Marty leading another tour group. He does look animated.   

There are no signs, just a trail. Uinsneach is private property and a working farm. We walk by cows who seem to be irritated by our presence. Simon used his walking stick to guide us through the cows. We walked up a muddy road with a slight incline.  

We get up to St. Patrick’s Bed. It’s the summit. Twenty of Ireland’s counties are visible from here. Matthew asks what county we want to see. I ask where Kerry is. Matthew is sorry. It’s one of the few that can’t be seen from here.    

The Festival of Fire that celebrates Bealtaine is a big local event. There has been a modern celebration here since 2009. Simon points out the neighboring hill were the fire is lit. It’s an ancient ritual that was recently revived. There are layers of ash that prove the ritual was held in ancient times. The local joke is that the mayor is too short for the ceremony. He can’t be seen from the other hill. “They should elect someone taller.”

Part of the fire ritual has brave young men leap over the fire. “It’s another Christianized version of a pagan ritual.” The rituals did have some practical use. Cattle were paraded near the fire and the fire and smoke rid the cows of vermin. The ash that is spread makes the fields fertile.

The Ail na Mierean is the Stone of the Divisions. It’s also known as The Cat Stone. It’s twenty feet tall and is thought to weigh thirty tons. It’s believed to be the center or the navel of Ireland. The Umbilicus Hiberniae. This is where the borders of the old five counties of Ireland meet: Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Mide. Simon says that it isn’t the exact geographical center, but, “It is what they believed.” The Danaan goddess Eriu is buried under it. 

They say it looks like a cat chasing a mouse, but I don’t see it. The Cat Stone is mentioned in James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. It’s called the “Mearing Stone.”

This is another meeting place between the Earth and the Otherworld. It’s the place of creation. Fire remains and charred animal skeletons from sacrifices have been found here. It’s the burial place of Lugh and Dagda.  

Lough Lug was dried up. Maybe it’s always dry now. The Danaan High King Lugh of the Long Arm was drowned here by the three vengeful sons of Cermait. Simon tells us that, “He’s buried under a nearby cairn.” 

We sit on rocks around a hawthorn tree. Simon may not be as dynamic as Martin, but he is a great storyteller. I hear the story about DeLorean again. 

Simon gives us a crash course in Irish Mythology. There are four cycles of Irish mythology. The tales can be confusing. “Tolkien borrowed some.”     

Noah couldn’t bring everyone on the Ark. Some relatives, including Noah’s granddaughter Cessair, knew about the coming Deluge and sailed to Ireland. They wound up on Uisneach. There were fifty women and three men. 

This sounds great, but keeping fifty women happy was apparently a challenge. Two of the men died and Fintan mac Bóchra fled. He became a wise old seer.   

There is a legend that the stones used at Stonehenge came from Uisneach. They were magically transported to England by Merlin. 

A well known legend says that St. Patrick converted the local chieftains here.  Christianity may have won, but Simon points out, “There are no churches,” near Uisneach. There are modern wood sculptures of Eiru and Lugh. They look a bit eerie. Maybe it’s because they show that there are still believers. 

There is a souvenir stand and bookshop that look like a couple of storage containers that are pressed into service. Uisneach is still on private land. They don’t want the number of visitors that Newgrange gets, but there are plans for a more modern visitor’s center.     

We’re back on the bus and headed to Dublin. England tried to suppress Gaelic sports. Playing Gaelic football and hurling became acts of defiance and rebellion. The popularity of Gaelic sports surged with the Irish Nationalism movement. Matthew tells us that the Westmeath Gaelic football team has been very successful in recent years. He reminds us that Dublin beat Tyrone in the All Ireland Final.  

“All of the Gaelic Athletic League is amateur. They don’t want to get paid. It’s a great source of pride to be able to play for your local team.” All money earned from the sale of tickets is used for equipment or to keep up the fields and build new ones.   

We get a look at the Northern Canal on the River Shannon. It’s also called the Royal Canal. It wasn’t used for long. When railroads were built the canal became obsolete.   

We enter the outskirts of Dublin and see the Houston Train Station and the Criminal Courts. We pass the Wellington Monument. It’s the largest obelisk in Europe! We get a look at Phoenix Park. Matthew says it’s large enough to support three thousand deer. There are cottages that staff used to live in. They look like a great place to live.   

We enter downtown Dublin along the Liffey. Matthew gives us more running travelogue and tips for our evening. He suggests The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland. It’s near the Harding Hotel. So many pubs, so little time. We pass Christ Church and he points out other spots on the Liffey. The bus drops us near Trinity College. It’s been a great day exploring the prehistory of Ireland!