MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS
OF IRELAND.COM
OF IRELAND.COM
| AILL NA MIREANN STANDING STONE |
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| The Hill of Uisneach, ‘Cnoc Uisnigh’, is a historical site in County Westmeath & was formerly deemed to be the centre of Ireland. In Irish mythology, it was deemed to be the mystical navel of Ireland, upon which rested a great stone (‘Aill na Míreann’ (stone of divisions) which was said to mark the meeting point of the five provinces of Ireland; Leinster, Munster, Connaght, Ulster & Mide which was once a separate, 5th province. Tradition recalls that the Hill of Uisneach was a site favoured for Bealtine fires and Druidical ceremonies, and as a ceremonial site it was regarded as 2nd only to Eamhain Mhacha, (Navan Fort). The hill, between the village of Ballymore and Lough Ennel, was constituted a royal residence by ‘Tuathal the Acceptable’, High King of Ireland in the 1st century AD, who erected a palace on it. He also instituted a yearly meeting to be held on the hill, ‘Bealtaine’, on the 1st of May and the succeeding days, at which games were celebrated and various pagan rites were performed. In the Book of the Takings of Ireland, ‘Lebor Gabála Érenn’, the Druid Mide lit the first fire there. A fire was also lit on the Hill of Uisneach on the feast of Bealtaine. This fire could allegedly be seen from the Hill of Tara and, when those at Tara saw it, they lit their fire. Also in the Lebor Gabála Érenn the Goddess ‘Ériu’ meets the invading Milesians at the Hill of Uisneach where the Milesian poet Amergin promises to give the country her name. It has been suggested that Uisneach is the place identified by Ptolemy, writing in his Geographia around the year 140 AD, as being Raiba or Riba. The biggest enclosure in the area was excavated in the 1920’s by R.A.S. Macalister and R. Praeger and showed evidence of occupation from prehistory up to the early mediaeval period. |
| CO-ORDINATES 53 29' 8.6"N...7 33' 47.11"W |
