09 Dec Fuerty Fairy Fort
Fuerty Fairy Fort, Co. Roscommon According to Liam Connolly, the fairy fort in sight of his kitchen window was used as a burial ground during the...
rath Tag
25 Nov Loher Stone Fort
Waterville, Co. Kerry It is likely that a locally important chieftain built this fortified homestead in the Early Christian period. He certainly had a brilliant sense...
25 Nov The Grianán of Aileach
Burt, Co. Donegal Bus loads of schoolchildren drive up the winding road where the Grianán of Aileach dominates the summit. As the youngsters disperse to explore...
23 Nov The Mound of Down, and
Down Cathedral
Downpatrick, Co. Down The Mound of Down is but a short walk down the hill from Down Cathedral. The Mound dates from the Iron Age; the...
22 Nov Dún An Óir
Ballyferriter, Co. Kerry There is little left to see at Dún An Óir. The earthworks from the hastily-constructed 1580 fortification have been eroded by weather and...
20 Nov Binder’s Cove Souterrain
Finnis, Co. Down Binder's Cove souterrain may have been constructed as a place of refuge where its owners could escape when threatened, torches ablaze as they...
16 Nov Tullylin and Carns
Culleens, Co. Sligo Is it possible that there might be a connection between an ancient inauguration stone, a nearby fairy fort, and the apparition that appear...
16 Nov Dunbeg Fort (An Dún Beag)
Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry In 1910 T.J. Westropp called Dunbeg "the most complex and remarkable of the Irish promontory forts." But archaeologists have few finds from...
30 Oct Rathcroghan Royal Site
Tulsk, Co. Roscommon Rathcroghan has both a geographic and a symbolic presence. It is an archaeological treasure trove, but it also is the venue of a...
27 Oct Mooghaun Hillfort and
the Great Clare Find
Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare The treasure trove of golden ornaments must have been connected to nearby Mooghaun Hillfort. But how did the gold come to be deposited...
20 Oct Minard Castle,
Ring Fort, and Holy Well
Anascaul, Co. Kerry The drama of the Anglo-Irish conflict, explosively played out here in 1650, was—more than 300 years later—the backdrop for the 1970 film Ryan’s...
16 Oct Knock Áine
Knockainey, Co. Limerick This sacred hill of the fairy queen Áine, who was known as both sun goddess and love goddess, was a ceremonial site long...
16 Oct Rosses Point: “The Celtic Twilight”
Rosses, Co. Sligo "At the northern corner of Rosses is a little promontory of sand and rocks and grass: a mournful, haunted place. No wise peasant...
15 Oct Tigh Mhóire
Dún Chaoin (Dunquin), Co. Kerry Tigh Mhóire contains what may be a prehistoric tomb, a fragment of an early cross-slab, and the grave of a Spanish...
15 Oct Rathgall Hillfort
Tullow, Co. Wicklow The blarney recounted by nineteenth-century travel writers in Ireland has not gone out of style. In June of 1979 our informants delighted in...
15 Oct Howth Dolmen
Howth, Co. Dublin Nineteenth-century antiquarian Samuel Ferguson believed it to be the grave of the legendary Aideen, who died of grief when her husband Oscar was...
14 Oct Cahergal and Leacanabuaile Forts,
Ballycarbery Castle
Kimego West, Co. Kerry The two forts are known in Irish as caiseal, not far from the Irish word for castle, caisleán. In local legend, the...
31 Jul The Hill of Tara
Tara has for generations served as the geographic focus for an aspirational sense of national glory, “the most consecrated spot in Ireland,” where blood was...
25 Jul Teltown (Tailteann)
Kells, Co. Meath The Teltown Fair was said to include Olympic-like competitions of strength and agility, even horse races and staged battles. There was also a...
03 May Ardnamagh Fairy Fort
Moynalty, Co. Meath Ireland has remnants of more than 45,000 ringforts. There were once many more, now leveled and lost. That so many have survived is...
03 May Tara Fort
Portaferry, Co. Down Tara Fort sits on a prominent hilltop southeast of Portaferry, on Northern Ireland’s Ards Peninsula. Thomas McKeating claimed that "these fairies were supposed...
21 Apr The City and
the Paps of Anu
Rathmore, Co. Kerry "When you stand in the middle of the Cathair you get great feeling of satisfaction that you're standing here on one of the...
21 Apr Staigue Fort
Sneem, Co. Kerry The local peasantry called the building Staig an air, which was translated as "Windy House, or "The Staired Place of Slaughter." It was...
21 Apr Magh Adhair
Tulla, Co. Clare Did the memory of a first-century warrior’s grave so impress itself upon the early Dalcassians that they enshrined its sanctity for the inauguration...
21 Apr Béal Ború – Brian Boru’s Fort
Killaloe, Co. Clare Within a trench dug into the ringfort the archaeologists discovered evidence of a rectangular wooden building, paved with large slabs of stone...