Wakeman's handbook of Irish antiquities

by W. F. Wakeman

Hill of Ward.​—​The Hill of Ward, near Athboy, was the site of the Palace of Tlachtga, where the great festival of Samhain, the end of summer (Nov. 1st), was celebrated. Here the sacred fire was lighted, and sports and games held for three days before the eve of the festival and for three days after. At Teltainn, now Teltown, was another great palace where, from a remote period, a great fair was held on August 1st, instituted, it is said, by Lewy, in honour of his foster-mother, Taillte, daughter of the King of Spain. Games of all kinds were celebrated, and chance marriages made, some of which practices came down to modern times.

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Naas Rath.​—​The great rath at Naas was the ancient seat of the kings of Leinster, the place of assembly of the chiefs of the province, and continued so until the tenth century. The Hill of Allen, about eight miles to the west, was another seat of the Leinster kings. Here, we are told, dwelt Fin Mac Coul and his companions in the reign of Cormac Mac Art; but the remains of the old mound were nearly destroyed when erecting the modern monument on the summit of the hill. About the same distance south-west of Naas was Dun Aillinne, a third of the royal seats of Leinster. This crowned the Hill of Knockaulin, and the earthen rampart of the fort still surrounds its summit. Many of the motes were used also as places of burial, and we find recorded instances of such within the mound. Remains of burials have frequently been discovered; and these have a special significance to which we have referred in the previous chapter.

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Caher or Cashel.​—​Where stone was abundant, as in Kerry, Clare, the Arran Islands, Mayo, Sligo, and other districts, the defences consisted of walls of dry masonry called Cathairs (Cahers), or Caiseals (Cashels). Many of these are found on projecting headlands, or on steep precipitous cliffs, the line of defence crossing and enclosing a portion of land that had a natural protection seawards. Cashels existed too in exposed situations on hill-tops and bleak uplands. The walls usually show that two faces were built many feet apart with a batter, and the interior filled up with a mass of rough rubble which, in settling, often brought destruction on the walls. Others, however, were constructed of two or more walls lying close together and apparently forming one mass, reaching a thickness of 16 to 18 feet. The inner wall was formed into flights of steps leading to a platform lower than the outside wall, and on which a stand could be taken for defence. The gateways are of particular interest and of varied features; the more general kind have inclined sides, a heavy lintel, and a regular course of masonry through the wall. Passages and chambers exist within some of these cashels, intended, no doubt, like the souterrains, as places of retreat in time of danger. These stone forts were sometimes defended by outer works, as in the case of Dunbeg (Kerry) and Moghane (Clare), or by a chevaux-de-frise of sharp stones set in the ground, as at Dun Ængus and Dubh Caher in Aranmore, Ballykinvarga in Clare, and Dunamoe in Mayo.

Many of the cashels contain small stone-roofed buildings called Clochauns, or bee-hive huts. These are circular or oval in plan, and the walls converge upwards by the gradual approximation of the horizontal layers of stones until the top is reached and closed by a single slab, as in the case of the chambers in the tumuli. Examples of these singular structures are to be found in Kerry, Aranmore, Inismurray, and elsewhere. They are of especial interest, not only as dating from pre-Christian times, but because they were adopted by the early missionaries, with such modifications as necessity required, as models of the monastic cells and oratories. The circular bee-hive hut was necessarily of very moderate dimensions; but the difficulty of space was sometimes overcome by connecting two or three together by short passages, as in the clochauns in the neighbourhood of Dingle. The bee-hive cells in this district are among the most remarkable now remaining; some of them contain souterrains with a trap-like entrance from the floor.

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Staigue Fort, Co. Kerry.

Staigue Fort, the most perfect example of the caher or cashel now existing in Ireland, is about fourteen miles from Waterville, on the road to Kenmare. The plan is nearly circular; it measures 114 feet exterior diameter, and the enclosed space is 88 feet from east to west. It is built of schistose slate, and the spaces between the blocks are filled with spawls of the same rock. The wall varies in height from 10 to 18 feet; it is 13½ feet thick at the base, and about 7 feet at the top, and this is due to the batter or incline of the inner and outer faces. The doorway is 6 feet 2 inches high, 5 feet 2 inches wide at the bottom, and 4 feet 3 inches at the top. In the wall, and with small entrances opening to the court, are two chambers, one measuring 10 feet by 4 feet and 6 feet high; the other 8 feet by 4 feet. The main face of the wall presents a series of ten sets of stairs, leading to narrow platforms, the highest reaching nearly to the top of the rampart. The steps are not uniform; some rise from the base, and some from a few feet above the ground. The plan and execution exhibit great skill in this primitive style of architecture.