Grianan of Aileach
| Grianan of Aileach Irish: Grianán Ailigh | |
|
County Donegal | |
|---|---|
 Grianan of Aileach from the south | |
| Type: | Hillfort |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | C36651972 |
| Location: | 55°1’26"N, 7°25’39"W |
| History | |
| Built 6th century AD or earlier | |
| Material: | Stone |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Heritage Ireland |
The Grianan of Aileach sometimes anglicised as Greenan Ely or Greenan Fort) is a hillfort atop the 800-foot high Greenan Mountain at Inishowen in County Donegal.
The main structure is a stone ringfort, thought to have been built by the Northern Uí Néill, in the sixth or seventh century AD;[1] although there is evidence that the site had been in use before the fort was built. It has been identified as the seat of the Kingdom of Ailech and one of the royal sites of Gaelic Ireland. The wall is about 15 feet thick and 16 feet high. Inside it has three terraces, which are linked by steps, and two long passages within it. Originally, there would have been buildings inside the ringfort.
Just outside the wall are the remains of a well and of a tumulus.
By the 12th century, the Kingdom of Ailech had become embattled and lost a fair amount of territory to the invading Normans. According to Irish literature, the ringfort was mostly destroyed by Muirchertach Ua Briain, King of Munster, in 1101. Substantial restoration work was carried out in 1870.
Today, the site is an Irish National Monument and a tourist attraction.
Description and interpretation
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The Grianán is located at the edge of the Inishowen peninsula and on the western edge of a small group of hills that lie between the upper reaches of Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle. Although the hill is comparatively not that high, the summit dominates the neighbouring counties of Londonderry, Donegal and Tyrone.
The hill is seven miles north-west of the hisotric ecclesiastical site of what is now Londonderry. The histories of the sites are closely linked. There is much legend and historical material related to the Grianán of Aileach. The Irish annals record its destruction in 1101. The main monument on the hill is a stone 'cashel', restored in the nineteenth century, but probably built in the eighth century AD. The summit's use as an area of settlement may go back much further. A tumulus at the Grianán may date back to the Neolithic age. A covered well was found near the cashel in the early nineteenth century.
George Petrie first surveyed the Grianán of Aileach in the 1830s. At this time the cashel was nothing more than a mere ruin. He gives a description of the hill and the monument. The eastern ascent of the hill is described as gradual but within a hundered feet of the top, it terminated in a circular apex. An ancient road between two ledges of natural rock led to the summit. The cashel was surrounded by three concentric ramparts. Petrie suggests that, in the fashion of other monuments of this type such as Emania, the whole hill may have been enclosed by many other ramparts. There is no physical or historical evidence for this. The ramparts that remained were made of earth and stone and follow the natural form of the hill with an irregular circular pattern. They ascend above each other creating levelled terraces. The circular apex of the hill within the outermost enclosure contains about five and half acres, within the second about four acres and within the third about ten acres. Currently, the innermost bank is very low, worn and heather-covered but traceable for almost its entire circuit. The other two banks are in a similar state but are untraceable for long sections. Between the inner most rampart and the cashel, the road dwindles in its width and curves slightly to the right. This "path" was strengthened on either side by walls. At the time of the survey only the foundation stones of these walls remained. Petrie's plan of the site shows a line of stones leading up to the entrance. These are now gone.
The ruins of the cashel itself are described as being a circular wall enclosing an area of 75 feet in diameter. The wall had a height of six feet with a breadth varying from 15 feet to 11 feet. While not perpendicular, it had an inclination inwards indicating its similarity to most other Irish stone forts. Petrie suggests that it was probably originally between twice and four times as high as it was when he surveyed it. Five feet up on the interior side of the wall, the thickness was two feet due to the presence of terracing. The terrace is reached by flights of steps on either side of the entrance gateway. Fallen stones had covered any other existing stairs. Petrie suggests that there were originally three or four such terraces ascending to the top of the wall. On each side of the entranceway, there are "galleries" within the wall. Their precise purpose is not clear and they do not connect with the entrance. These two wall-passages, one on the south and another from the northeast run towards the gateway, but stop short. Near the north end of the south passage is a small recess in its west wall. At the south end of the north passage there is a seat-stone.
The current hillfort, after the restoration of 1874–1878, is substantially different but much of the old structure remains intact. During the restoration, it was found that parts of the original drystone masonry had been preserved under the collapse. The workers marked, in tar, the undisturbed portions of the cashel and used the collapsed stone to build on this foundation. They supplemented these with other stones from the area to replace those 'removed by King Murdoch O'Brien in 1101'. The internal diameters of the cashel are 25 yards north to south and 25 yards east to west. The lintel-covered entrance is 15 feet long, 4 feet wide and 6 feet high. Before the restoration, the gateway's lintel was not in place. It was 4 feet wide and 4 feet high. It leads into the fort from the east. Slight recesses on either side of the entrance way have been filled in. They were probably to allow double leaves of an original doorway to fold flush against the wall. The interior rises in three terraces accessible by stairways which are previously mentioned.
The outer wall is a dry-stone construction. On each side of the entranceway, there are "galleries" within the wall. Their precise purpose is not clear and they do not connect with the entrance. These two wall-passages, one on the south and another from the northeast run towards the gateway, but stop short. The south wall passage entrance is 18 inches wide, 27 inches high and 4½ feet long. It turns through a right angle where it becomes 20 inches wide, 34 inches high and 67 feet long. Near the north end there is a recess on the west side 20 inches wide, 3 feet and 30 inches deep. The northeast gallery entrance is 25 inches wide, 38 inches high and 5 feet long. It meets the main part of the passage in a T-junction. To the north, the passage is 28 inches wide, 4 feet high and 8 feet long. To the south, the passage is 24 inches wide, 4½ feet high and 28 feet long.
Near the north of end of the south passage is a small recess in its west wall. At the south end of the north passage there is a seat-stone. The interior of the cashel is fairly level but Petrie recorded the remains of a small oblong church measuring 16½ feet by 14 feet. The walls were 24 inches thick and not more than 24½ inches high. The structure was constructed of mortar but nothing remains of it today. A drain runs through the cashel wall at ground level on the northwest side. It leads from a midden in the western side of the enclosure that was 5½ feet in diameter and one foot deep.
There are many clues that the Grianán of Aileach is a multi-period site. Brian Lacy suggests that the earthen banks surrounding the fort probably represent the defences of a hillfort of the late Bronze Age or Iron Age. Between the two outer banks on the south side of the hill, is the formerly covered spring well which is dedicated to St Patrick. Petrie describes the tumulus, between the second and third wall, as being a small mound surrounded by a circle of ten stones. These stones were laid horizontally and converged towards the centre. In Petrie's time, the mound had been excavated but nothing to explain its meaning was discovered. It was subsequently destroyed but its former position is marked by a heap of broken stones.
During the excavation work of the 1870s, Bernard documented the discovery of many artefacts. Behind a niche in the doorway, a large stone 14 inches wide was found. It had a round hole in the centre, 3 inches deep and an inch and a half in diameter. A rotten piece of wood was found in the hole. Bernard was unable to decipher its use suggesting only that it could have been a sundial.
Bernard discovered many animal bones including sheep, cattle, goats and birds. He found stone items including "sling-stones", "warrior's clubs" and a "sugar-loaf-shaped stone with a well-cut base" ten inches long, 15 inches round, 14 inches round at the centre and 10 inches round at the top. The most interesting stone object was "a slab of sandstone, chequered into thirty-six squares", which Lacy believed to be some kind of gaming board. Among the miscellaneous items found were a plough socket, an iron ring, some coins and a bead.
Form and chronology
The Grianán of Aileach, at its broadest description, is a ringfort. More precisely it is a multivallate cashel hillfort.
A ring fort can be described as a space, usually circular, surrounded by a bank and ditch or simply a rampart of stone. The bank is generally built by piling up inside the fosse the material obtained digging the latter. Ringforts vary considerably in size and style. In more elaborately defended examples, such as Aileach, the defences take up a much greater area than the enclosure itself.
It is widely accepted that most ringforts date from the Early Christian period. Finds from ringforts typically include items which date from the second half of the first millennium: wheel-made pottery; glass beads; bone, bronze and iron pins; and artefacts of bone and metalwork. The artefacts, which Dr. Bernard found during his excavation of the cashel interior, seem to correspond to the above list of typical items. Brian Lacy argues that 'Aileach' is the name of a specific site in antiquity and also the name of the Cenél nEógain 'homeland' kingdom of Inis Eogian, derived from the place now known as Elaghmore (Aileach Mór) in County Londonderry. After the decisive battle of Cloítech in 789, when the Cenél nEógain won total control of the over-kingdom of the northern Uí Néill, the successful kings relocated to the Grianán, building it inside the pre-existing prehistoric hillfort as a visual symbol of their new mastery of all the landscape visible from that commanding view. Stout comes to the conclusion that the majority of Ireland's ringforts were occupied and constructed during a three hundred-year period from the beginning of the seventh century to the end of the ninth century AD.
Lacy concludes that Aileach was inhabited by the northern Ui Néill dynasty from 789 to about 1050. This was a period when many of the local kings in Ireland were moving to the towns founded by the Vikings or into more important ecclesiastical sites which by this time seemed to have been functioning as towns following the Vikings' model.
In mythology
In Irish mythology and folklore, the ringfort is said to have been originally built by the Dagda, a god and the celebrated king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who planned and fought the battle of the second or northern Magh Tuireadh, against the Fomorians. The fort was erected around the grave of his son Aedh who had been killed through jealousy by Corrgenn, a Connacht chieftain. The history of the death of Aedh, and the building of Aileach, is given at length in a poem preserved in the Book of Lecan which has been printed with an English translation (verse 38 Ordnance Memoir of the parish of Templemore, Dr Perie). The verses regarding the building of this rath follow:
"Then were brought the two good men
In art experts,
"Garbhan and Imcheall", to Eochaid [Daghda],
The fair-haired, vindictive;
he ordered these a rath to build, Aileach."
Around the gentle youth:
That it should be a rath of splendid sections—
The finest in Erinn.
Neid, son of Indai, said to them,
[He] of the severe mind,
That the best hosts in the world could not erect
A building like Aileach.
Garbhan the active proceeded to dress
And to cut [the stones];
Imcheall proceeded to set them
All around in the house.
The building of Aileach's fastness came to an end,
Though it was a laborious process;
The top of the house of the groaning hostages
"One stone closed".
In a subsequent verse of this poem (verse 54), the author says that Aileach is the senior or father of all the buildings in Erinn. It also states that in later times it was called Aileach Frigrind. According to another poem written by Flann of Monasterboice and preserved in the Book of Leinster, Frigrind was a famous builder who claimed the protection of the monarch Fiacha Sraibhthine who was slain in the battle of Dubh Chomar, in Meath, a.d. 322;[2] the monarch gave him the ancient fort of Aileach for his dwelling-place. Here Frigrind built a splendid house of wood for his wife from red yew, carved and emblazoned with gold and bronze; thick set it with shining gems.[2]
According to the chronology of the Annals of the Four Masters, Aileach was built seventeen hundred years before the Christian era. Also worth noticing is the fact that Aileach is one of the few spots in Ireland that is marked in its proper place by the geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria, who some say lived in the second century, nearly two hundred years before the time of Frigrind. Ptolemy distinguishes the Rath as a royal residence.[2]
Site today
The town of Burt is the nearest community and the fortress stands mainly intact insofar as its main walls and features are concerned. Portions of the fortress were destroyed over time but much was rebuilt in the nineteenth century with a view towards retaining the historic nature and aesthetics of the fortress. Dr. Bernard is recorded as having directed the restoration work. The site is now owned by the Irish government.
More restoration work has taken place since 2001 by the Office of Public Works due to a wall collapse and is the subject of public controversy. If any dimensional change in the building's architecture has occurred, nothing about it has been published yet. There are some visible signs of its restoration. Large sections of the wall have been replaced. These sections are easily visually differentiated from the original wall by their shape and colour. Some of the upper parts of the wall have been cemented, probably to prevent falling stones. An iron gate has been set into the entrance. In 2007, the entrance corridor was supported by iron girders which have since been removed.
In popular culture
The site has been used on occasion as a filming location:
- Night People (2015) directed by Gerard Lough: a sequence was filmed here over the course of a two-day period at Blue hour.[3]
- Nous étions tous des noms d'arbres ('And our names were names of trees') (1983) directed by Armand Gatti, has a scene filmed at the fort.[4]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Grianan of Aileach) |
- 'Grianan of Ailech' on The Modern Antiquarian
- Megalithic Portal: Grianan of Aileach
- Grianan Aileach on Unknown Swilly
Books
- Bernard, Walter, 'Exploration and Restoration of the Ruin of the Grianan of Aileach' in PRIA, Ser. 2 Vol. 9 (1879), pp 415–23. Available at: Unknown Swilly- Grianan Aileach, Dr. Walter Bernard's Restoration [6 May 2007]
- Colby, T., Ordnance Survey of Ireland, County of Derry Vol. 1 (Dublin, 1837)
- 'Grianan of Aileach Fort Restoration' at Archaeo Forums [7 May 2007]
- Lacy, Brian:
- 'The Archaeological Survey of County Donegal' (Lifford, 1983)
- 'The Grianán of Aileach' in Donegal Annual' (1984), pp5–24
- 'The Grianán of Aileach- A Note on its Identification' in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 131 (2001), pp 145–149
- Raftery, Barry: 'Irish Hillforts' in Charles Thomas (ed.), 'The Iron Age in the Irish Sea Province' (London, 1972)
- Stout, Matthew, 'The Irish Ringfort' (Dublin, 1997)
References
- ↑ Bartlett, Thomas. A Military History of Ireland. p.37
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, p 10., O Curry E.
- ↑ "Grianán of Aileach". http://www.irishstones.org/place.aspx?p=937&i=15. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
- ↑ Nous étions tous des noms d'arbres at the Internet Movie Database