Oxford Archaeological Guides General Editor: Barry Cunliffe Ireland Andy Halpin is Assistant Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland. Educated at University College, Dublin and at Trinity College, Dublin, his research interests include the archaeology of medieval Dublin and medieval weapons and warfare. He is the author of numerous papers in scholarly journals and of The Port of Medieval Dublin (2000). Conor Newman lectures in Archaeology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He was director of the Discovery Programme’s acclaimed archaeological survey of Tara. His publications concern landscape archaeology and art-history and he is the editor of the Journal of Irish Archaeology. Barry Cunliffe is Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford. The author of more than forty books, includingThe Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe (Oxford University Press, 1994), he has served as President of the Council for British Archaeology and the Society of Antiquaries, and is currently a member of the Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee of English Heritage. Oxford Archaeological Guides England Timothy Darvill, Paul Stamper, and Jane Timby Rome Amanda Claridge Scotland Anna and Graham Ritchie TheHolyLand Jerome Murphy-O’Connor Spain Roger Collins SouthernFrance Henry Cleere Greece Antony Spawforth and Christopher Mee Ireland An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600 Andy Halpin and Conor Newman 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Andy Halpin and Conor Newman, 2006 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 0–19–280671–8 978–0–19–280671–0 (Hbk) ISBN 0–19–288057–8 978–0–19–288057–4 (Pbk) 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Series Editor’s Foreword Travelling for pleasure, whether for curiosity, nostalgia, religious convic- tion or simply to satisfy an inherent need to learn, has been an essential part of the human condition for centuries. Chaucer’s ‘Wife of Bath’ ranged wide, visiting Jerusalem three times as well as Santiago de Com- postela, Rome, Cologne, and Boulogne. Her motivation, like that of so many medieval travellers, was primarily to visit holy places. Later, as the Grand Tour took a hold in the eighteenth century, piety was replaced by the need felt by the élite to educate its young, to compensate for the disgracefully inadequate training offered at that time by Oxford and Cambridge. The levelling effect of the Napoleonic Wars changed all that and in the age of the steamship and the railway mass tourism was born when Mr Thomas Cook first offered ‘A Great Circular Tour of the Continent’. There have been guidebooks as long as there have been travellers. Though not intended as such, the Histories of Herodotus would have been an indispensable companion to a wandering Greek. Centuries later Pausanias’ guide to the monuments of Greece was widely used by travel- ling Romans intent on discovering the roots of their civilization. In the eighteenth century travel books took on a more practical form offering a torrent of useful advice, from dealing with recalcitrant foreign inn- keepers to taking a plentiful supply of oil of lavender to ward off bed- bugs. But it was the incomparable ‘Baedekers’ that gave enlightenment and reassurance to the increasing tide of enquiring tourists who flooded the Continent in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The battered but much-treasured red volumes may still sometimes be seen in use today, pored over on sites by those nostalgic for the gentle art of travel. The needs and expectations of the enquiring traveller change rapidly and it would be impossible to meet them all within the compass of single volumes. With this in mind, the Oxford Archaeological Guides have been created to satisfy a particular and growing interest. Each volume provides lively and informed descriptions of a wide selection of archaeo- logical sites chosen to display the cultural heritage of the country in question. Plans, designed to match the text, make it easy to grasp the full extent of the site while focusing on its essential aspects. The emphasis is, necessarily, on seeing, understanding, and above all enjoying the particu- lar place. But archaeological sites are the creation of history and can only be fully appreciated against the longue durée of human achievement. To provide this, each book begins with a wide-ranging historical overview introducing the changing cultures of the country and the landscapes which formed them. Thus, while the Guides are primarily intended for the traveller they can be read with equal value at home. Barry Cunliffe This page intentionally left blank Contents How to use this Guide ix Introduction:Ireland from first settlers to the seventeenth century  1 North-east: Antrim, Armagh, Down 55 North-west: Derry, Donegal, Tyrone 111 North Midlands: Cavan, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan 151 West: Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo 176 East:Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Wicklow 252 Shannon:Clare, Limerick, Offaly, North Tipperary 360 South-east:Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford 429 South-west:Cork, Kerry 492 Museums 540 Chronology 541 Glossary 543 Further Reading 546 Index 549 viii Acknowledgements Our first debt of gratitude is to our respective families, for their support and forbearance. We wish to thank our colleagues at the Department of Archaeology, N.U.I., Galway and the Irish Antiquities Division of the National Museum of Ireland. Special thanks go to John Waddell for providing practical help when it was needed. Thanks are also due to Dara Keane, Roseanne Schot, Eamonn O’Donoghue, and Edel Bhreathnach for assistance at various stages of the project, and to the many other friends and colleagues who so kindly granted us permission to reproduce images from their own publications: Stefan Bergh, John Bradley, Barrie Hartwell, Brian Lacey, Jim Mallory, Tom McNeill, Billy O’Brien, Celie O’Rahilly, Tadhg O’Keeffe, Elizabeth Shee-Twohig, David Sweetman, and John Waddell. We also acknowledge the generous per- mission of the following institutions to reproduce drawings: the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Collins Press (Cork), the Discovery Programme (Dublin), Dundalgan Press (Dundalk), Government Pub- lications/Stationery Office (Dublin), HMSO (Belfast), Kells Region Economic & Tourism Enterprise Ltd, Ordnance Survey Ireland (Dublin), Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (Belfast), the Royal Archaeo- logical Institute (London), the Royal Irish Academy (Dublin), the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (Dublin), the Cork Archaeological and Historical Society and the Ulster Archaeological Society (Belfast). Many of the photographs credited to the Department of Archaeology, NUI, Galway, were taken by Professor Etienne Rynne. While it has not been possible to consult with the experts on each and every place or monument, we have picked their brains in different ways and hope that in so doing we are not too far off the mark! Finally, we are grateful to the dozens of landowners and local enthusiasts who gave us directions and permission to visit the monuments in their care. While the State has statutory responsibility for the care of ancient monuments, the great legacy of field antiquities in Ireland is the product of the respect accorded to them by generations of landowners. This is a tradition that must endure, for we are but temporary custodians of Irish and world heritage. ix How to use this Guide It would not be possible to write a complete guide to the archaeological and historical sites of Ireland. The best we can do is to guide you to as broad a cross-section of sites as possible in the hope that what you learn from them will whet, and educate, your appetite for more. An enduring attraction of touring archaeological sites is the fascinating people and places you find along the way. And though we have tried to make our directions as clear as possible, it has been our experience that losing yourself in the Irish countryside is the surest way of finding the real Ireland. Irish people have a deep pride in, and sense of ownership of, their own history, and respond with enthusiasm to enquiries about local archaeological and historical sites; so do not be afraid to ask! As often as not, people will share with you some of their own local knowledge and traditions, and direct you to yet further places of interest. The forging of individual and social identities compels people to erect monuments. Just as today we try to accommodate—or sometimes disregard—ancient relics and traditions, so too did people long ago carve out lives amongst the monuments and memories of the past. This convergence of old and new is what creates historical meaning in human society. Thus, cultural landscapes are made up of monuments of different periods. This is why archaeologists routinely examine whole landscapes that together comprise the homes, neighbourhoods, and territories of the past. For this reason, instead of simply describing individual monuments, in this guidebook we have attempted to guide the reader to landscapes of the past, rural and urban. The monuments and places described in this book are, therefore, a combination of access- ible National Monuments and others on private land. Monuments on private land should never be visited without the permission of the land- owner and the usual rules of the countryside apply such as always closing gates behind you, never entering a field with cattle or horses, and telling someone where you are going. Human society is often shaped by the overriding character of the landscape it inhabits, the mountains, wetlands, and sea shore. A number of more or less distinct adaptive niches existed in Ireland, from the wet, flat, and boggy midlands, to the upland peninsulas of the south-west, and these surely affected aspects of behaviour and cultural identity. In an attempt to reflect this we have arranged this guidebook into seven regions, choosing sites and monuments that reflect the character and cultural history of each area from prehistory to the end of the Middle Ages. As far as possible, these regions correspond with those adminis- tered by the regional tourism boards. Within each regional section, individual monuments or landscapes are arranged in alphabetical order.