|
| |
|
TULSK |
| |
|
|
| |
Paganism has been destroyed though it was splendid and far flung
their old cities are deserts without worship.
- Oengus the Culdee, early Christian poet
Centred roughly on the village of TULSK on the main N5 is a collection
of some seventy megalithic monuments that mark one of the great centres
of ancient Ireland, plus more than eighty ring forts. Unlike the
monuments of, say, County Sligo, they're unmarked and largely
unexcavated - most of them are no more to look at than grassy shapes in
the fields - and access is generally free and unrestricted. According to
legend, the most important of them, the long-barrow of Rathcroghan
itself, was built by Eochard Fedleach, King of Connacht and father of
Medb - who herself took power by killing her pregnant sister Clothro,
who had inherited the title from their father.
In the absence of signposting, the area's monuments are difficult to
identify; Rathcroghan - or Cruachan - itself, however, lies just beyond
the first crossroads on the N5 northwest of Tulsk and is signposted.
It's a ring-barrow, traditionally the inauguration place of the kings of
Connacht; close by are a cluster of standing stones, cairns and ring-barrows
with legendary associations with Medb.
For the rest, it's probably best to rely on inspired guesswork when
moving among these unexcavated monuments, knowing that, in this ancient
landscape, anything you identify is likely to be at least as old as you
think
|
| |
|
