Antiquites of Tallaght

Antiquities

The Tallaght hills were formerly covered with the rude burial-places of the prehistoric races of Ireland. These were circles of stones, mounds, cairns, kistvaens, pillar-stones, and suchlike, which are found scattered all over Ireland, as well as over many other parts of the world. The numbers found on the Tallaght hills give colour to the tradition of its being the great burial-place of the Parthalons, as before mentioned. There is an ancient boreen, leading up from near Marlfield, at the back of Old Bawn paper-mills, to the top of the hill. In winter it is the bed of a stream, In summer a miserable stony path, with scarcely room in some places for a cart. This appears to be the same path as was trodden, perhaps a thousand years ago, by the feet of those who bore the bodies of their relatives to their last resting-place on these wild hills. Not far from the head of this lane is a very regular circle of rocks, on a mound; several stones appear through the sod. I do not think it has ever been properly explored. A little ridge runs for a few yards to the north from it, and terminates in a round head, which is surrounded by a circle of very large stones.

Two other cairns, to the north of this, are very distinct, and are composed of earth and stones. Cnoc an Terree is one of the most perfect and handsome cairns possible. Cnoc an Ralain was an immense cairn; but it has been opened on the north-west side, for the purpose of getting gravel; and a great part of it has been carried away. A continued line of large stones appears round the sides. Another rath, near to this, has more the appearance of a sepulchral enclosure than a fortification. A little cairn near it is also quite perfect. The two cairns on Sliabh Foghail have been opened. One of them contained a grave, covered with a large flag, which was broken and carried away; but its supporters still remain, though not in their places. There were numbers of other stone circles everywhere over the hills.

Several of the stones or rocks composing them have been quarried and carried away; and many of the ancient graves have been opened, and the cinerary urns which they generally contained have been carried away. These graves are seldom more than two feet square. Four large stones compose the sides, leaving a square aperture to contain the urn, and covered by a large, flat rock. Those which I have seen opened were about two feet beneath the surface, and were accidentally discovered by a farmer when reclaiming a small patch of the heath. Each held an earthenware urn, with zigzag tracery, containing ashes, thus showing that incremation was fashionable in those days. [See Appendix D] Numbers of similar urns are to be seen in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy.

There are, or were, several other moats or raths in the parish. One near Ballycullen was very perfect. It had a high, raised mound, which surrounded a circular spot inside, about 50 yards in diameter. A thick hedge grew round the top, and a deep ditch lay outside. This was levelled many years ago, by a farmer named Dunne, who, following the law of popular belief, of course, died within the year. The trace of this moat is still quite distinct. Another small rath, or burial-mound, is in a field on the right side of the road from Piperstown to Killsantan, or Glenasmole. There are some large stones appearing through the grass on the top. It does not appear to have ever been disturbed; and the superstition of the country people would prevent any attempt to do so.

At the edge of Featherbed Bog is another moat, called Cnocarmheibh, through which the county boundary-line runs. This moat was cut through to the depth of 10 feet; but as the cutting did not pass through the centre, no grave was discovered. There are two or three other small raths up this valley. At the top of the Killinardan road there was another moat, which has now nearly disappeared; and over Killakee there was a small one on the side of the hill.

There is a large isolated hill at Knocklyon, or rather in Prospect Demesne. About half of it was removed many years ago for road-making. I do not think it was artificial. At Balrothery - a similar hill, about a quarter of a mile from this - about 25 years ago, there were found the remains of several skeletons about six feet below the surface, which was being removed as sand. On hearing of the discovery, my father and I went to see the bones. He popped surreptitiously one of the skulls into his hat, and brought it home. Soon after a deputation of the villagers came up to get back the skull to bury it. We had some difficulty in persuading them no harm should come to them from our possession of it. We afterwards gave the skull to the late Dr. Ball, the Curator of the College Museum. He said it was very peculiar, being small, very thick, and of the oldest type of the ancient Irish. The excavation for sand was stopped, and has never been renewed. [A number of skeletons were found a few years ago in a sandpit lying to the west of Balrothery Hill. It is in a field called the Terrets, belonging to Mr. Stubbs of Newtown, on the banks of the Dodder. The skeletons were in separate graves facing east]

This Balrothery Hill is the first of a range of similar sand or gravel hills that extends for many miles across the country in a northerly direction. The old road to Tymon Castle is made over the crest of this range, and follows the very winding line of the hills, probably to keep out of the marshes which once surrounded that castle, of which more hereafter. [Brewer, in his *Beauties of Ireland, *says that the village of Greenhills, between Tallaght and Dublin, claims notice for one of those circular mounds called raths. Here also, he mentions, there is a strong guard-house.]

The nearest mountain to Tallaght is Seeghane, or the Seat. On the top of it is a large cairn of stones, about 80 feet in circumference. It does not appear to have been opened, and may contain a sepulchral chamber. About 14 yards to the east of the cairn, is a grave, covered with a flag-stone eight or nine feet long and four broad. It has been moved from its place, and is broken. There is, a similar grave about the same distance to the west of the cairn. The stone covering does not appear to have been removed. It is very large; and how it was carried to the top of this steep hill it is not easy to say. There are several other large flag-stones, nearly covered with turf lying about on the top they are probably also burial-places.

Following the crest of the hill for about a mile or so, we arrive at See Finnan, a mountain considerably higher than Seeghane, and quite covered with bog and heath. There is a very large and perfect cairn on the top of it, which, like that at Seeghane, does not appear to have been opened. It may contain a chamber, like that on Seefin, [In the third century there was a military organisation of the Fians, or Fenians. Their leader was the renowned Finn mac-Cumhail (Finn mac Coole). Finn’s seat or resting-place was thus named from its being one of the hills on which this old hero is said to have rested and feasted during the intervals of the chase, as his principal amusement was hunting. - Joyce’s *Irish Names of Places, p. *35.] which is about a mile further on, and is the loftiest hill of the three. A great cairn crowns its highest point, which is about 100 yards in circumference. There was a deep fosse all round it; then a circle of rocks placed edgeways, and inside smaller stones, piled up about 20 feet in height. In the centre is an opening, leading into a sepulchral chamber, about 12 feet in length, and roofed with large flat stones, each projecting further than the other. The rocks of which the chamber is composed are of great size, and are rudely fitted together. The roof of the chamber has partly fallen in.

The use of these great constructions will ever remain a mystery. The mountains must have been very different when these cairns were made; now they are all covered with deep turf and bog, and no stones or rocks are to be seen anywhere. Formerly there was a large cairn on the top of Mont Pelier; but a great portion of it was utilized in building the house there. The remains of the cairn are still to be seen. It much resembles those already described, except that there was no chamber under it. There was a pillar-stone not far from this; but it has disappeared.

At Mount Venus is a large cromlech, or Druidical altar. The covering stone is about 20 by 10 feet across, and is four feet five inches thick. It is displaced, and one side rests on the ground, the supporting’ stones having fallen. [There is a coloured sketch of this cromlech in a collection of drawings by Gabriel Bdranger preserved in the Royal Irish Academy. He thought the roof-stone was displaced by an earthquake in the 17th century, which was severely felt in Dublin. Borlase, in his great work on the *Dolmens of Ireland, *says that be came to the conclusion that the roof-rock had never been lifted completely on to the pillars.]

In a field close by there are numbers of granite boulders, some of them rudely carved. Another pillar-stone once stood on Tallaght Hill; but it has long since disappeared. Mr. Dix, in *The Journal of the Society of Antiquaries *for June, 1898, describes a pillar-stone, or gallan, which stands opposite Mount Seskin in the loop formed by the new Tallaght road going round Tallaght Hill from Kiltalown to Brittas, and the old steep road between these places. It is a block of the clay slate of the district, and is seven feet high. There are five cup-shaped holes on the southern face.

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