UCSC Extension Multimedia and Web Design Certificate - Final Project

Project Plan: Erin Dreams

Elsa DieLöwin

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Erin Dreams
Sligo
Taillte Hill
River Boyne
Slane
Newgrange
Scale 20 miles
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Taillte Hill and Newgrange

Si Bheag Si Mor
{text as below}

Journal text

August 7, 1998

 Having come down the N4, we went through Kells, then onto smaller roads looking for Taillte Hill. From one tiny road onto another, we followed it to a dead end. The map said the hill was there and what we saw were farmhouse driveways. We backed up about 70 feet to the sign that was sort of pointing north, across the road. With some trepidation, we followed a driveway inward, and there was a hill covered with grass and a few clover flowers. Taillte hill was a bit larger across than Rath na Ri at Tara and about 4 feet high above the surrounding fields. It looked like a bulldozer or large plow had driven across it west to east on the south side making a gouge, but it was a single gouge and covered with grass. There were a couple of bare dirt footpaths climbing up to it, one of which I followed after having walked all the way around. It seemed large enough for a modest encampment, but not also for the storied athletic games as well. Perhaps the king had sat on top of the hill while the games were played on the fields slightly below.

 Satisfied with my grassy romp, we continued toward Slane. We stopped near Slane castle to take pictures of it and of the bridge across the Boyne. After checking into our B&B at 10 minutes before 6 p.m., we went into town and had dinner at a pub called the Poet's Rest. I was quite tired from the hiking, climbing and long drive. Krys ordered a steak for me as I was too tired to decide, and it revived me considerably. After such a long and active day, we were glad to get to bed early.

August 8, 1998

 Rising early, we were out to Brugh na Boine on the button of 9:30 am, and got onto the 9:45 tour of Knowth and the 11:15 of Newgrange. Dowth was not open to tours. Knowth is thought to be older and more complex than Newgrange because it has been in nearly continuous use for such a long time. The grassy mounds at Knowth were similar to the prisoners' mound at Tara.

 Ah, but Newgrange is magnificent. The huge grassy mound is surrounded most of the way around with glistening white rock brought from the Wicklow mountains 60 miles to the south. There are huge stones around the bottom, carved with spirals, chevrons and curls. No one knows now what they meant to the folks who carved them.

 The weight of the rock and the narrow passage in were less oppressive and claustrophobic than I had feared. The niches were beautiful. The tour guide said that the chamber had been used ceremonially, perhaps to purify of rejuvenate the dead. The remains found in the area indicated that burnt bones were brought in, left for a time, and then removed again.

 We finished the tours at about 12:15 and took a brief walk through the museum area where there are quite a few artifacts. We left without being directed through a gift shop.

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Taillte Fair
from The Story of the Irish Race,
by Seumus MacManus (written 1921)
The Devin-Adair Co. , 1981, page 59

 The yearly Fair of Taillte (now Telltown) in Meath, was mainly for athletic contests--and for this was long famous throughout Eirinn, Alba, and Britain. In the course of time, too, Taillte acquired new fame as a marriage mart. Boys and girls, in thousands, were brought there by their parents, who matched them, and bargained about their tinnscra (dowry)--in a place set apart for the purpose, whose Gaelic name, signifying marriage-hollow, still commemorates this purpose. The games of Taillte were Ireland's Olympics, and, we may be sure, caused as keen competition and high excitement as ever did the Grecian. These Tailltin games took place during the first week of August--and the first of August, to this day, is commonly called Lughnasad--the games of the De danann Lugh, who first instituted this gathering in memory of his foster-mother, Taillte. Another great assemblage for games and sports was held by the Ulstermen during the first three days of Samain--on the plain of Muirmne (in Louth).

 The last Fair of Taillte was celebrated in the year in which the first English invaders came to Ireland--in 1169. It was held by order of the High-King, Roderic O'Connor--and is recorded by the Four Masters, who state that the horses and chariots, alone, carrying people to this Fair, extended from Taillte to near Kells, a distance of six miles.

Tumuli on the Boyne
from The Story of the Irish Race,
by Seumus MacManus (written 1921)
The Devin-Adair Co. , 1981, page 301-302

 The tumuli or enormous burial mounds found in the Boyne section of eastern Ireland show the race in a much more advanced stage of civilization. These tumuli, as proved by the decorative designs carved upon their walls, were erected at least before the Christian era--and maybe centuries before it. They are great stone roofed royal sepulchres, buried under vast regularly shaped, artificial mounds. Every one of the tumuli so far explored has shown urn burial. These urns of the tumuli are a marked advance upon those of the cromlechs. Some of them are beautifully formed and delicately ornamented. Many urns may be found in the same tumulus. Sometimes they are set with one large one in the centre and other small ones circling around it. The walls of the sepulchral chamber, in the interior of these mounds, are oftentimes decorated with carvings, made with chisel or punch, and scraper. The patterns are the circle, semi-circle, half-moon, concentric circle, spiral, zig-zag, stars, and leaves. The double-divergent spiral or trumpet pattern, which was introduced into Celtic ornament just prior to the Christian era, has not yet appeared in the tumuli.

 The greatest, most beautiful, of these wonderful royal tombs are those at Knowth, Dowth, and New Grange, on the Boyne.