Our last stop on our Ireland Road Trip was to the Hill of Tara. We visited after seeing Trim Castle, which I previously wrote about. Actually, Hill of Tara was not meant to be our last stop in Ireland as we had planned to go to Newgrange neolithic timbs the following morning, but the rental car company gave us a car with a dodgey 10-year old winter tire and three normal tires, and we had a blow-out on the motorway on the hottest day of the year and were stranded for a few hours, so we missed Newgrange and had to get directly to our flight. At some point, I will go back to visit Newgrange and a couple of other areas that we failed to see.
Hill of Tara is meant to be the seat of the ancient kings of Ireland, and it probably was a political and religious centre of early pagan Ireland. The area contains many monuments, ancient roads, and tombs. The area possibly started out as a burial location, which was used for hundreds of years.
Mound of the Hostages is a neolithic burial passage tomb dating from 3400BC. It is the oldest visible monument on site. It was reused over a thousand years for new burials. Cremated bones and bones were found inside as well as other items and clay pots. I noticed that a stone inside the tomb contains a pagan spiral image.
Medieval texts mentioned Tara, and it was one of the seats of the ancient high king of Ireland. The site also contained timber-framed buildings and temples which were used in Roman times with connections to the Roman elite. There's also a cemetary here. Nearby is the Banquet Hall, which may have been used in inauguration of the kings of Tara.
Lia Fail is the name given to a stone pillar, and it is thought to have been a fertility symbol. It originally was placed in a slightly different location, but it was moved after soldiers who lost their lives in 1798 were put here. The stone was probably used as a location where the king was crowned and dubbed "the destiny stone". Apparently, if the stone was unhappy with the choice of king, it stone would cry out all over the country of Ireland.
The location has beautiful views over the rolling hills of Ireland's countryside.
On the way to the Hill of Tara, we came across a church. The church is meant to have a small tourist exhibition for the area, but this just closed when we arrived.
A statue of Saint Patrick can also be seen here near the church.
I am sure that this place has a lot of significance and importance in its past, and most of this has been sadly lost in time.
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