Legendary ireland

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Le g e n d a r y

Ireland

A Journey through Celtic Places and Myths

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EITHNE MASSEY

LEGENDARY IRELAND

Table of Contents Acknowledgements 5 Introduction 9 L E G E N D LEINSTER Howth Head, Dublin Bécuma of the Fair Skin 19 Ardee, Louth The Fight at the Ford 28 Cooley, Louth The Battle of the Bulls 36 Tara, Meath The Magic Branch 42 Newgrange and the Boyne Valley, Meath The Revenge of Sín 50 Hill of Uisneach, Westmeath Fintan the Seer 59 Glencree, Wicklow Da Dearga’s Hostel 64 St Mullins, Carlow The Death of Suibhne 72 P L A C E

MUNSTER Lough Muskry, Tipperary The Vision of Aonghus 82 Slievenamon, Tipperary The Birth of Oisín 87 Béara Peninsula, Cork The Hag of Béara 95 Killarney, Kerry The Return of Oisín 101 Caherconree, Kerry The Death of Cú Roí 108 Knockainey, Limerick Áine of Knockainey 116 Doonbeg, Clare Donn, Lord of the Red Palace 122

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CONNACHT Dún Aonghusa, the Aran Islands, Galway The Last of the Fir Bolg Lough Corrib, Galway Manannán and the Crane Bag Inis Glora and the Erris Peninsula, Mayo The Children of Lir Rathcroghan, Roscommon Pillow Talk: The Beginning of the Táin Bó Cuailgne Ardagh Hill, Longford The Finding of Étaín Keshcorann Caves, Sligo The Hags of Winter Ben Bulben, Sligo The Story of Diarmaid and Gráinne

130 136 141 149 157 165 171

ULSTER Grianán of Aileach, Donegal The Gods of the Hill 182 Tory Island, Donegal The Birth of Lugh 187 Lough Neagh, Tyrone Lí Ban the Mermaid 194 Ballycastle, Antrim The Tragedy of Deirdre 200 Giant’s Causeway, Antrim Fionn’s Visitor 207 Emain Macha, Armagh Macha’s Curse 213 Time Chart 221 Glossary of Main Characters Mentioned in the Text 222 Glossary of Archaeological Terms Used in the Text 230 Map of Sites 233 Direction Key 234 Bibliography 237

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LEGENDARY IRELAND

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IntroductionM

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reland is an island of stories, some of which stretch back over many centuries and have their roots in a tradition that goes back even further. Many of these legends have close associations with particular places. This book retells just some of these legends and links them with the places from which they grew. Place and story are inextricably bound together, and so in the arrangement of the stories I have followed a geographical sequence rather than the traditional division into four cycles. However, these traditional divisions do provide a useful context in which to gain a sense of the richness of the world of the Celtic legends. The first of these, the Mythological Cycle, tells the tale of the very origins of human life in Ireland. The stories deal with the successive invasions of the island, the great battles between the tribes of the Tuatha Dé Danann (the divine people of the goddess Danu) and the Fomorians, the demonic tribe who competed with them for control of Ireland. They also include the stories of the Sídh (those mythical beings which share human passions but not human sickness and age), such as that of the lovers Midhir and Étaín. The second cycle is the Ulster Cycle, which has at its heart the great epic of the Táin Bó Cuailgne, (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). The central story of the battle between Conchobhar, king of Ulster, and Maeve, queen of Connacht, encompasses the exploits of the great hero, Cú Chulainn. This cycle includes associated stories such as that of Deirdre. There has been much dispute between scholars about the period in which the Ulster Cycle is set. Conchobhar, King of Ulster, was said to have lived in the first century AD, and the nature of the society portrayed – warrior-like and tribal – seems close to our perceptions of the Celtic Iron Age. But Maeve, for example, has her roots as a goddess figure much further back in time, as do many of the figures woven into the tapestry of the stories. Similar uncertainty surrounds the stories of the Fianna Cycle. These stories deal with Fionn and his hunter companions, including the epic INTRODUCTION 9

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Opposite: Statue of Cú Chulainn carrying the dead Ferdia, Ardee, County Louth.

pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne. The Fianna Cycle stories take place in the natural world rather than in the courts of the kings, and the ‘fian’ actually existed as a group of young warriors who lived in small groups outside society. The stories are set at the time of Cormac Mac Airt, who was said to have reigned as high king in the third century AD, but the genesis of the figure of Fionn is probably far older than this. The fourth cycle, known as the Historical Cycle or the Cycle of the Kings, has its stories set in a later period, and some of the characters involved are based on actual historical characters living in a Christian society. However, here, as in all the legends, different worlds and different periods intertwine and historical characters drift in

and out of the landscape of legend. It is impossible to establish a clear and consistent chronology, all the more so as the stories were written down many centuries after they had already had a long history as part of an oral tradition. This oral tradition indicates that while extant texts date from no earlier than the eleventh and twelfth centuries, many of the stories were originally written down up to four centuries earlier. The Ulster Cycle tales may have been written down as early as the seventh century and they portray a world that is undeniably pre-Christian in its ethos. Irish literature is the earliest vernacular literature in western Europe and, while scholars have argued over the historical existence of its heroes, and queens and kings, whatever human existence these characters may have had has long been concealed under the layers of a thousand re-tellings. I therefore make no apologies for telling these stories once again in contemporary language, or for the slight liberties I have taken with some of the texts. Every society retells its myths in a slightly different form and the texts we have of the tales are the products of a medieval Christian society where the stories were recorded by clerics who added their own gloss to the versions they wrote. Having said this, I must add that the amount of loving effort the scribes put into producing and preserving these beautiful manuscripts indicates how important these stories were to their society. And through all their re-tellings the stories retain a distinctive sense of the sacredness of the natural, sensual world; they celebrate it in its entirety, from the joy of the blackbird’s song in spring to the cold beauty of winter. St Colmcille is said to have been more frightened by the sound of the axe in his beloved oak grove at Derry than of death and hell, and early Irish lyrics, many written by monks, include many lovely celebrations of the natural world. This close connection with the natural world and with the features of the landscape is also found in 10 L E G E N D A R Y I R E L A N D

the poems of the Dindshenchas, the lore of places, which gives us the stories associated with the names of particular places and is a major source for Irish legends. Other important sources are the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann – commonly known as The Book of Invasions, and the Leabhar Laighean – The Book of Leinster, both compiled in the twelfth century, together with the Leabhar na hUidhre or The Book of the Dun Cow which is late eleventh or very early twelfth century. The original texts are inaccessible to all but Gaelic scholars but it is worth looking at some of the translations to get a sense of the complexity and beauty of the original language.

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Although one might hope to be on firmer ground when dealing with the physical places and the man-made structures associated with the stories, in reality the situation is almost as confusing. Structures such as burial chambers and earthen mounds have been neatly classified by archaeologists, but as in the stories, scholarship can classify but cannot fully explain. Some of the sites visited in this book show evidence of settlement as far back as 5,000 years ago, dating from the New Stone Age or Neolithic period; while in other cases the structures are as late as the tenth century. A great many of the sites show evidence of layer upon layer of settlement, and in many cases there is no consensus as to what their purpose was. The only generalisations that can be made are that many of the structures mentioned in the book were used as tombs of one kind or another, or at least show evidence that burials were carried out there, while others seem to be places where the community gathered for defence or celebration. The categories used by archaeologists divide the period of prehistory into various time spans. These divisions are based on cultural change rather than strictly on timescale, and sometimes vary from place to place – for example, one community might still be living a Neolithic (i.e. New Stone Age) existence while another nearby might be using bronze and have developed corresponding social structures. Human occupation in Ireland dates from 9,000 years ago when people lived by hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants. This way of life was fairly widespread over Ireland at sites such as Mount Sandel, County Derry, and Ballyferriter, County Kerry. The hunter-gatherers left no traces of field monuments although a controversial date from a passage-grave in Carrowmore in Sligo suggests that they may have begun to build monuments I N T R O D U C T I O N 11

for their dead by the end of the Mesolithic period. It was the people of the Neolithic period who left their mark on the early landscape, as they settled down to till the land and rear cattle. The great walled fields in north Mayo known as the Céide Fields indicate how they organised their land and how important stock-rearing was to their society. They honoured their ancestors and the dead, and some of the most spectacular Megalithic tombs in Europe are the work of the early farming community in Ireland. There are about 1,450 of these monuments, and many of them became the focus of the lore of places and of the stories which are the subjects of this book. The most famous of them are at the Bend of the Boyne (Brú na Bóinne), now a UNESCO World Heritage site with the greatest collection of Neolithic art in Europe. The great cult centre at Tara, County Meath, also has its origins in Neolithic times and has continued for millennia to be a sacred place and a setting for stories of gods and kings. The hundreds of portal dolmens which dot the landscape and are often known locally as Leaba Dhiarmada agus Gráinne, are another legacy of the Stone Age builders. The Bronze Age from c.2000bc brought to Ireland’s society the use of metal and the beginnings of trade. This was a warlike society, but also a very creative one, which crafted exquisite weapons and jewellery in gold and bronze. Such wealth needs to be defended, so structures such as the great hill-forts began to be built – Dún Aonghusa on the Aran Islands had its beginnings in this period. Standing stones and stone circles were ritual sites for these Bronze Age people and the first crannógs, or defensive lakedwellings were built. Around 300bc the first Celts arrived in Ireland and ushered in the Iron Age. Hillforts continued to be built and the coast was fringed with defensive promontory forts. Royal sites which also served as great cult and tribal centres were built and are still impressive today. These are at Tara in County Meath, Rathcroghan in County Roscommon, Dún Ailinne in County Kildare and Emhain Macha in County Armagh. They are the buildings of an aristocratic, tribal and violent society which has clear connections with the world portrayed in the Táin. This society is one where certain values are held in common, particularly courage, strength, generosity and faithfulness to one’s companions and to one’s tribe. It is a multi-theistic society, where heroes swear by the gods their people swear by. It is one where music, poetry and rich colours were held in high regard, as were feasting, fighting, racing, 12 L E G E N D A R Y I R E L A N D

hunting and hospitality. In general, however, the attempts that have been made to match the evidence of archaeology or actual historical events with the accounts of the history of Ireland in the Leabhar Gabhála or the Táin have met with little success. There are no clear patterns and neat correspondences; rather, the world of the stories is a world that is larger inside than it is outside, and where time may be circular as well as linear, possessing the shapeshifting, mutable qualities of the Sídh. Because of this, a mental shift is needed to enter fully the world of the legends. The stories are the myths created by people – many people over a very long time – from their history and geography, from time and place. Myths have been described as the dreams of the tribe and, like dreams, they take what happens in time – history – and transfigure it. In this world, events may be inconsistent, even contradictory. Because they do not fit into a rational world view, in the light of day their importance can be denied. However, to live without myth is to live without the healing power of dreams and the imagination. At the same time, the raw material on which the imagination works is rooted in time, in a specific place and in the physical features of the landscape. In the stories, this natural world merges with the world of the collective imagination. So, the emotional power of the stories adds resonance to our encounters with place, and place itself can embody a story in a similar way to that in which the ancient Irish could see a hill as a goddess, or a lake as the embodiment of a god. The word sídh can thus mean both a magical being and the mound in the earth where that being lives. A further shift in perception is needed to accept that the same member of the Sídh can have his or her home in many different places – the guardian spirits are very local ones. Many of the people of Ireland, well into the twentieth century, believed that certain trees and wells and hills were under the guardianship of their local otherworld being and each of these enchanted places was protected accordingly. There was an element of fear as well as awe in this relationship, for at certain times, notably at Samhain (Halloween) and Bealtaine (May Eve), you could slip easily from one world into the other. This feeling of respect for the natural landscape and the ancient remains it holds is under threat. WB Yeats once said that ‘places may begin to seem the only hieroglyphics that cannot be forgotten’, but in present-day Ireland, the letters are being erased from the landscape. Driving through Ireland during the first two years of the new millennium, there were times when it I N T R O D U C T I O N 13

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Above: Celtic wheel of the year.

felt as if the entire countryside had been placed under siege – home-made posters protested against plans for super-dumps, or satellite masts on historic hills, or road-widening schemes set to destroy ancient sites. Nor was all the violence against the landscape on the part of outsiders; land improvement is a particular threat to earthen monuments such as raths and we saw more than one beautiful place hosting its own private super-dump with its antiquities defaced by mindless vandalism. In some cases too, attempts to ‘develop’ a site as a tourist attraction had in fact damaged it beyond repair. There is a definite irony in encouraging people to visit sites which at present owe much of their appeal to the fact that they are largely unvisited. However, unless there is a deep communal appreciation of the worth of the places in this book, we can no longer afford the luxury of assuming that they will resist destruction. Recent reports indicate that, in spite of the legislation introduced to protect these monuments, the rate of their destruction is increasing rather than decreasing. In order for these places to survive, those with power over the landscape – whether they are local landowners or government departments – need to become guardians as well as exploiters, and this relationship needs 14 L E G E N D A R Y I R E L A N D

to be supported by the whole community. There is a Greek myth about a character called Erysicthon, the Earth-Tearer. Erysicthon cut down a grove of sacred trees in order to build his banqueting hall. Demeter, goddess of the fertile fields, at first warned him gently against this sacrilege, but when he threatened her with his axe, she cursed him. He became eternally hungry, and never satisfied. In his greed, he ate filth and became thinner and thinner, hungrier and hungrier, poisoned by his own waste. The hunger that we feel at this loss of contact with the natural world and its ancient stories is not a physical one, but a kind of spiritual and emotional starvation. Yet feeding this hunger may involve nothing more difficult than walking out into the landscape and looking at it with the eye of the imagination. The power of the human capacity to imagine, to see beyond, reaches us through century after century, and draws us again and again into the indivisible trinity of story, place and people. A landscape will survive as long as there are people to love it, and a story is never quite over as long as there are people to tell it. When the Sons of Míl, one of the early peoples of Ireland, came to its shores, they asked their poet Amairgen to quiet the waves which were preventing them from landing. The poem with which he did this is an invocation of Ireland: I invoke the land of Ireland: Much-coursed be the fertile sea, Fertile be the fruit-strewn mountain, Fruit-strewn be the showery wood, Showery be the river of waterfalls, Of waterfalls be the lake of deep pools, Deep-pooled be the hill-top well, A well of tribes be the assembly, An assembly of kings be Tara, Tara be the hill of the tribes, The tribes of the sons of Míl, Of Míl the ships, the barks,

Let the lofty bark be Ireland,

I invoke the land of Ireland.

Lofty Ireland, darkly sung …

From Ancient Irish Tales, Cross and Slover <#>

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EINSTER M

LEGENDARY IRELAND

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Ho w t h

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BEANN ÉADAIR

H D

ead, ublin

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espite its proximity to Dublin, Howth Head retains its sense of being a place apart, particularly if you choose the time of your visit carefully. The best time to visit Howth is on a weekday when the weather is dull and the place is not full of crowds of people trying to get away

from the city. This rocky peninsula, once an island, is steeped in history and legend. The original name for the peninsula, Beann Éadair, ‘the Peak of Étar’, is said to come from the name of the great warrior, Étar, who died for the love of Áine, the goddess of Knockainey. Diarmaid and Gráinne came here, fleeing from Fionn, and Deirdre and the sons of Usna rested here during their flight from the jealous king Conchobhar. Howth is an attractive village and the harbour still functions as a fishing port, although these days you are more likely to meet a golfer than a fisherman as you H O W T H H E A D , D U B L I N 19

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Pages 16-17: WH Bartlett’s nineteenthcentury engraving depicting the ‘Head of Glenmalure’, County Wicklow. Opposite: Aideen’s tomb, a portal tomb in the grounds of Howth Castle.

make your way through its streets. However, to find the real Howth, leave the manicured lawns and expensive restaurants behind you and take one of the many walks by the cliffs or up into the rocky hills. The sites mentioned here are only focal points for a district which has the potential for hours of exploration. One major site is that of Aideen’s Tomb. This is a portal tomb, situated in the grounds of Howth Castle, the traditional home of the St Lawrence family and now the site of the Deerpark Hotel. The tomb is in the forested area to the right of the hotel and easily accessible from the edge of the golf course. This wilderness is particularly beautiful during late May and early June when the rhododendrons and the azaleas are in bloom. The forest on the hilly land behind is worth a visit in its own right, and those who do not mind a scramble can follow a trail to the top of the hills; from the top there are magnificent views. Tradition has it that there is a cave on the hill where Diarmuid and Gráinne slept during their travels. The tomb itself is a huge structure, partially collapsed, with one of the largest capstones in Ireland, estimated to weigh 90 tonnes (1,771 hundredweight). Portal tombs in Ireland are among the very earliest of Megalithic remains, many dating from before 3000bc. Twisted trees and ferns grow around the tomb, lichen covers the stones, and children climb through it, fascinated by something at once so obviously man-made and at the same time on a scale massive enough to seem the work of giants. Legend tells us that Aideen, or Étaín Fholtfhinn, was a beautiful princess of the Sídh, a famous runner who was also the lover and later the wife of Oscar, grandson of Fionn. When Oscar was killed in battle, Aideen died from grief at his loss. Her home had been the sídh of Beann Éadair, and this was where she was taken to be buried. Other traditions state that this was the tomb of Crimthan, a king of the first century

ad,

and others still that the tomb is that of Étar himself.

Whatever the truth of the legends, the tomb in the forest remains a potent, if silent, guardian of Howth’s mysterious past. Howth was a place of many battles, and the promontory fort of Dún Griffin, (also traditionally associated with Crimthan) which surrounds the Baily Lighthouse, shows how important this site was as a defence against invasion. It is generally accepted that such forts, found all around the coast of Ireland, were built for defence against invasion by sea. They may also have been used as ceremonial centres for the gathering of the tribes for fairs or religious purposes. To reach the fort, take the trail leading down from the left of the car park on the summit. Within moments you will see the lighthouse below you. The trail leads through gorse and brambles, ferns and heather, and in early summer it is full of wild garlic. It goes down steeply to the small promontory where the lighthouse stands. Although 20 L E G E N D A R Y I R E L A N D

there is no entry allowed to the grounds of the lighthouse and it is not easy to distinguish the original ditches and ramparts of the fort, it is obvious that this was an ideal defensive site. Sea and high cliffs surround it on three sides, and on the fourth, a narrow neck of rock connects it to the land. To the south is Dublin Bay and the mountains; to the north and east, nothing but sea. Find a sheltered spot and look down steep slopes covered in sea-pinks to the twisted rocks and green water. There will be no sound but the waves lapping on the pale grey shingle far below, and the cry of the sea birds. The hectic city of Dublin will seem like another world. Howth is a place of both escape and defence, of the beginning of exile and of coming home, and many of the tales associated with it mirror these themes of the journey outwards and the return. Imagine the warriors watching here, guarding their people from attack from the unknown lands beyond the horizon. Or think of a solitary king who once stood here, listening to the birds crying and watching in astonishment as a figure came towards him over the sea, bringing death and famine in her wake …

BÉCUMA OF THE FAIR SKIN The High King of Ireland, Conn of the Hundred Battles, stood on a pebbly beach at Beann Éadair, and looked to the sea for comfort. It was a bright morning and the waves danced onto the seashore, but Conn was as weary and heartsick as it is possible for a man to be. For despite his wealth, his power, and all his prowess in battle, and the great prosperity and peace that had come to the land under his rulership, he had been unable to defeat the greatest enemy of all. Death had come and taken his beloved wife, Eithne, away, and without her he felt lost and

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Below: The Baily Lighthouse, Howth Head.

dejected, a man wandering in a mist. He had left the feasts of Tara and had come to be alone with his thoughts, looking out over the sea where his son, Connla, had been taken away by a beautiful woman of the Sídh many years before. At the time, he had wept, but his wife had consoled him, saying: ‘Yes, it is hard to lose a child to the land of the Sídh; but look you, we have yet one son, Art the Lone One, who is as clever and brave and good as ever a child could be, and likely to be a great king when you and I are gone.’ However, now that his wife too had left him, Conn found no comfort in his son’s company. Art reminded him too much that strength was with youth and that he himself was no longer young; that there were to be no

more great battles and marvellous adventures in love and war. His skills now were those of an old man – diplomacy and wiliness. Conn looked eastwards into the rising sun, as if it could bring him salvation with the daybreak. He thought of his wife’s wise words and of her even temper that had saved him from many a hasty action; and he thought, most painfully of all, of her arms around him in their bed, and her small feet wrapping themselves around his legs for warmth during the cold nights of winter. The king blinked through his tears and rubbed his eyes. Coming towards him over the silver waves was a coracle, a coracle that seemed to move without oar or sail, and standing in it was a figure that glowed in the light of dawn. As it came nearer, Conn realised that it was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Bécuma of the Sídh, she of the Fair Skin, smiled her secret smile as she watched the figure on the shore shade his eyes with his hand to watch her approach. She knew who he was, and although she found his son, Art, more to her liking, she had decided that she was in no position to be choosy. She would start with the father and, in time, no doubt the son would come to her. Bécuma had never left herself in want of anything, which was why she had been banished from the Many-Coloured Land; she had betrayed her husband and the choice had been death by fire or banishment to the mortal realm. She had chosen banishment, but her people had warned her not to attempt to enter any of the sídh of Ireland, for their doors were closed against her. Her silver coracle brought her to land, and she heard Conn’s gasp as she stepped onto the shore, lifting her red satin cloak and grass-green gown out of the water as she did so. Her hair was yellow-gold, her eyes a clear grey, her skin like the first snow of winter. Now she was close enough for him to smell her perfume, which seemed to Conn like the scent of whitethorn on a warm summer’s day. He opened his mouth to ask her who she was, but before the words were out B É C U M A O F T H E F A I R S K I N 23

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Left: Howth Head and Dublin Bay.