<< Our Photo Pages >> Hill of Tara - Passage Grave in Ireland (Republic of) in Co. Meath
Submitted by Anthony_Weir on Thursday, 29 July 2010 Page Views: 34941
Site WatchSite Name: Hill of Tara Alternative Name: Teamhair na Rí, Dumha na nGiall, The Mound of the HostagesCountry: Ireland (Republic of) County: Co. Meath Type: Passage Grave
Nearest Town: Navan Nearest Village: Kilmessan
Map Ref: N9201659707
Discovery Map Number: D42
Latitude: 53.579364N Longitude: 6.611514W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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wcdarling visited on 19th Nov 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Had a marvelous day on a guided bus tour out to both the Hill of Tara and Newgrange, two massively significant Neolithic sites which happen to be within an hour’s drive. The tour co. is run by Mary Gibbons (our guide is her brother), web site newgrangetours.com, and I highly recommend it.
Tara is considered the “spiritual” capital of Ireland, where for centuries kings were crowned, battles were fought, speeches made. It’s a high hill with a view our guide said was half the counties in the Republic of Ireland. Great view that day even with clouds. Up and around the hills are earthworks, fortifications like a giant ring, two ring forts (concentric circle earthworks), a passage tomb, and a standing stone known as the Stone of Destiny. (Fun fact, per our guide: To keep the English from getting their hands on it, the Irish bid the stone for decades, before finally, I assume in the 20th century, putting it back in its rightful spot.)
Anyway, our tour guide was brilliant on the way up there and also for about the first twenty minutes at Tara, leading us around the major sites before leaving us to explore on our own. So I wandered around for close to an hour. It was extremely windy and most of our small group ducked into a nearby shop for hot drinks after 30 minutes, but I had to see it all. This included a little church and graveyard adjacent. I always have to visit cemeteries!
bishop_pam visited on 23rd Oct 2018 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4
sirius_b visited on 24th Aug 2018 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4
lichen visited on 11th Oct 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4
Jansold visited on 13th Sep 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 4
bat400 visited on 1st Mar 2007 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 4
jeffrep visited on 14th Sep 2005 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4
Klingon visited on 2nd Apr 2005 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5
Runemage visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3
coin visited - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 4
kith visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4
DrewParsons have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.64 Ambience: 4.36 Access: 4
The two most interesting things are the remarkable Stone of Destiny (Lía Fáil: Ireland’s romantic answer to Scotland’s “Stone of Scone”) – a very phallic granite pillar some 1.5 metres high, erected here to commemorate the dead killed in a skirmish during the ill-fated 1798 Rebellion. Unfortunately it is close to a cheap, modern statue of St Patrick even more hideous than the usual: “an offence alike to Tara and the National Apostle”. The simple conjunction of these two monuments says as much about the Irish character as the works of James Joyce.
The Lía Fáil was moved from its position as significant standing-stone near “The Mound of the Hostages”, which is in fact a small passage-less passage-tomb, whose entrance is covered with a grille. Its walls are composed of just 7 massive orthostats, one of which is decorated, and only half of the chamber is roofed: with 2 massive capstones.
Note: Irish Heritage Rights Survey launched to coincide with Tara UNESCO Nomination, see latest comment.
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