As long as we're posting shots of Ireland

[Byker]

... here are a few of my Irish holiday pix! These were all taken with a 1/3 megapixel camera (read, low resolution) on my Palm device that I carry whereever I go.

The first shows the fields outside my cousin's house in Galway at dawn on Wednesday, December 1. The fog was lifting, leaving behind frozen dew that made the grass crunchy, and that glowed when the sun burst through the clouds.

The second shot is of Mary Ward's. This is a pub in Co. Galway. It says "B. Ward" above the door, which is the Irish fashion -- just the publican's name above the door, naught else. Of course, Brian Ward died in 1968, and his wife, Mary, survived about 8 years after that, so that the current governor is not Brian nor Mary Ward, nor is he related to either. But it's still "Mary Ward's", and it still says "B. Ward" above the door. Things change slowly in rural Ireland ....

How'd you like to grow up next to a real, honest to God, Norman castle? My wife did. Kilkea Castle, the seat of the Kildare Fitzgeralds, is the oldest continually occupied castle in Ireland. It's a snazzy hotel now, which is a good thing, because when it was built the animals lived on the first floor, and the family above. Now, the Yank riff-raff enters through the front door.

The Fitzgeralds of Kildare were often feuding with the Butlers of Kilkenny. The castle in the fourth image is Kilkenny Castle, where the Butlers lived. I took this one at dusk on Saturday, November 27, before going to a concert in the nearby cathedral. You just don't find things like this in Boston!

Finally, the last picture is a monument to good taste. Guinness is GOOD for you!

Byker Reviewed by Byker on 12-09-2004. As long as we're posting shots of Ireland ... here are a few of my Irish holiday pix! These were all taken with a 1/3 megapixel camera (read, low resolution) on my Palm device that I carry whereever I go. The first shows the fields outside my cousin's house in Galway at dawn on Wednesday, December 1. The fog was lifting, leaving behind frozen dew that made the grass crunchy, and that glowed when the sun burst through the clouds. The second shot is of Mary Ward's. This is a pub in Co. Galway. It says "B. Ward" above the door, Rating: 5

[Lulu]

Great pics - I love Galway and it looks like you had a great time

I'm on the east coast, not as wild or windswept but beautiful none the less.

http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancie...ara/index.html

And I have the Hill of Tara on my doorstep where I run with my dogs every
morning.

[Byker]

Funny you should mention the Hill of Tara ...

I just finished reading a book by a Father Tom O'Connor, about two hills in the flatland of eastern Co. Galway, near Athenry, and from whence my mother's family hails.

One hill is called Knockadolla, and the other is Turoe. In between the two runs a stream, and around that stream have been found late iron age settlements that the book's author says are associated with the entry of the Fir Bollig, or Belgae (as they were called by the Romans) sometime after the Roman conquest of Gaul by Caesar around 51 BC.

Turoe has an artifact called the Turoe Stone, an elaborately carved stone that was removed from its position atop the hill and placed in front of a landlord's house during the 19th century, when such things were done. O'Connor claims that the carvings are unlike typical Irish Celtic carvings of their time, and more resemble the La Tene culture that emerged along the Rhine and spread through northern and western Europe. This lends credence to the idea that the people who settled between Knockadolla and Turoe came from afar.

O'Connor spent a lot of time talking to people in the area, many of whom are now deceased, about the huge ramparts that used to run through their fields. These were big earthen walls, some as high as twelve feet. Some were torn down in the 19th century, but most of them needed the power equipment of the 20th to get rid of them. No-one knew who built them, but according to O'Connor, they ran in huge rectangles, concentrically encircling Knockadolla and Turoe, and eventually expanding to wrap around both. More ramparts encircled Athenry, and where the Knockadolla / Turoe ramparts met the Athenry ramparts, they merged into each other.

There were also many passage tombs in the area. Some were placed prominently on Turoe. Many were broken open during the Famine by people in search of anything that could be sold to pay for passage to America, Australia, Canada, and elsewhere. Clearly, a lot has been lost.

But O'Connor went beyond description of these anomalous features. He studied the names of places in Irish, and found some startling things.

For example, in Irish, Turoe comes out "Temhair." That is, of course, the Irish spelling of Tara.

And Knockadolla is Cnoc an Dail -- the Hill of the Gathering, or if you prefer, the Hill of Parliament.

Then, between the two hills, was the settlement I mentioned above. That makes sense, too, if Turoe (Tara) was the seat of religion, and Knockadolla (Cnoc an Dail) was the seat of government. You put the village in the valley between these two important civic centers.

There are also other odd names around. One place translates to "Palace of Evan," or Maine, which is curious since Queen Maebh had seven sons named Evan (Maine). There's even a place where she was said to be buried nearby, on Loch Rea. (That's Loch Rea, Galway, not Loch Ree in Roscommon.)

Can you guess what I'm leading up to? O'Connor believes that the placement of the Hill of Tara in Meath is just plain *wrong*. He says that the old stories, written down as they were in the 11th century and later, were deliberately distorted to place the seat of the kings in the east, rather than the west, so as to write into history the rulers before Strongbow as being from this place of kings.

If this sounds far fetched, well, maybe it is. But what do we know about pre-Christian, or even early Christian Ireland, except what was handed down by oral tradition? Many civilizations have had their histories distorted by enterprising kings who've glorified themselves and their enterprises at the expense of the truth. Witness the Bush administration ...

O'Connor agrees that there's some interesting things in Meath. But that location on the River Boyne at Newgrange, nice as it is, is not Tara, says he. The civilization that's represented in the legends about Tara actually began in Galway, and he cites legends that work much better in Galway than in Meath when their setting is changed. (Example: Queen Maebh stole the brown bull of Ulster, going north by way of Athlone. But if she were in Meath, why would she go that way? Now, if she were in Galway, she'd have to go that way because it's one of the few good crossings of the River Shannon. It just makes more sense for her to be in Galway, says O'Connor.)

The attached photos are of what O'Connor says is the Sli Dala, the road was said to run from Tara to Roscrae. They were taken at about 10am on Thursday, December 2. The bike at the left is mine, the hill behind is Knockadolla (Cnoc an Dail, if you prefer), and the road is the straight run between the two fields, next to the gate, that's overarched by trees. The trees form a straight boundry between the two fields, but the ditch or flat or road or whatever it really is, is on a different grade than either of the fields. It was definitely flattened and graded by man, not nature.

And my great grandfather owned the field to the left. That's where I'm from. The Hill of Kings!

Hey, even if it's not true, it makes one one fine story for the pub!

[Byker]

Whoops! Missed the pictures! Here they are!

[socks]

And I have the Hill of Tara on my doorstep where I run with my dogs every
morning.

The ring of 8 thats forever troden by lulu and her dogs in t hills....

[Lulu]

I've never heard about that before and I'd like to read that book, what's the name of it or better still the i.s.b.n. ?

[Byker]

I've never heard about that before and I'd like to read that book, what's the name of it or better still the i.s.b.n. ?

I don't have it with me this sec, but I'll get it for you. I'll tell you a few more things, though --

1) It's privately published.
2) It's horribly edited. Lots of spelling errors, and later chapters repeat what's in earlier ones, which suggests to me that it was thrown together from pre-written essays. (Kind of like Bill Clinton's book.)
3) The experts don't think much of the theory.

Why do I like it? Because I love it when the experts turn out to be wrong!


Anyway, I'll give it to ya. And I wish I'd met up wit'cha when I was in Eire. Ah, next time!

[Lulu]

No worries Byker

Speaking of experts getting it all wrong, have you heard about the geologist who claims Ireland is the mythical Atlantis??????~lol~

Read it even if it's just for the giggle factor

http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancie...a-atlantis.php

[Byker]

Speaking of experts getting it all wrong, have you heard about the geologist who claims Ireland is the mythical Atlantis??????~lol~

He's got it wrong. It's the US economy that's under water. Ireland is still roaring along.

As a matter of fact, starting next year, the Federal Reserve is going to start issuing US notes with little perforations across them ... to make them easier for European euro-spenders to tear them off the roll ... if ya know what I mean ...


It was seriously expensive to travel in Ireland. A euro 33 round trip ticket from Kildare to Galway works out to US $44, and the price of a pint, at euro 3.50 in country pubs, comes out to about US $4.75. And to fill your tank, expect to spend US $70 -- and that's for a Nissan.

Makes me glad I'm a byker, so it does!

[Imotep]

thats a cool hill.