"Islands and daring sea forts"

Dun Aengus: Promontory Fort by Atlantic's foam

Perched on the largest of the three Aran Islands - Inis Mor - off the west coast of Ireland, is a defense fort by the cliff, properly called a Promontory Fort in archaeological parlance. This is a spectacular stone fortification which overlooks the foaming Atlantic below! Others can be seen on the west coast of Ireland - around the Dingle Peninsula particularly - and there are one or two others on Inis Mor but this one is particularly famous and well known! Dated to circa 1,000 BC, it's not known why it was constructed save that the builders clearly felt under threat from the sea and marauders coming in from the Atlantic. Some theorists attribute it to the mythical Fir Bolg - who according to the chronicles, after defeat by the Tuatha De Danaan, were allowed to take refuge in Connacht (the west), as part of the peace treaty after the battle. Hence, the legends dictate that the Fir Bolg retreated to the west! The one thing archaeologists are adamant about is that there is some Iberian connection, and as I've alluded to before in some posts in this blog, there are undoubtedly connections between Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula, which re-inforce the many references in the myths.

My first visit here was back in 1993, and permit me to digress a little here - for on that trip, I got one of the worst sun burnings I've ever had (my last one!). The Atlantic breezes tend to be very warm, and a hot torrent wafts ashore from the west! Anyway.... It was an amazing feeling when first getting to Dun Aengus - in the days, much like Newgrange, when heritage sites were yet to be commercialised - I was able to walk straight up into the fort, without having to go through the omnipresent Visitor's/Intrepretive Centre, which cropped up at many places in the late 90's! Lying over the edge, was a spectacular experience; the crazy and whimsical idea I had, of throwing the football I had with me, into the herculean Atlantic below, to see if it would float out to sea, an example of youthful and capricious exuberance, as if the lady of caprice was waving her mantle or cape avidly for me there!

The name of the fort is interesting - Dun Aengus - Aengus's Fort - and making a beeline for the mythology, the permutations are interesting. For, of course, Newgrange is often called "Aengus's Tomb or Palace" - in fact, that's what it's known as in the mythology - Aengus being the son of the male deity, the Dagda; Aengus the Gaelic God of love - him of the famous Song of Wandering Aengus by WB Yeats. So does the fort have some connection to Aengus? Certainly, the view from here of the Atlantic below and the elliptical angle of the cliff, as elliptical as the curve a half moon makes, would fertilise the most banal muse and feed the most barren mind into fertile and inspiring creativity! So as an aside, apart from its clear defensive purposes, perhaps it's meant to be a kind of romantic refuge or bastion! (Of course, in the days of yore, when it was noncommercialised - just like Newgrange - one could walk up to it, stay as long as one wished, contemplate, meditate and let the eloquence and muse drift in, from the Atlantic!!)

At the entrance to Dun Aengus promontory stone fort; on my third and final visit 2002

                                                                       
Notwithstanding the now commercialised nature of the site, to actually see those limestone walls and stonework, the very impressively built structure of this promontory fort, and to gaze out at the broad and billowing Atlantic - foaming felicitously and powerfully, gives one a great insight, into why the land of Ireland, the island of Eireann, has mystery and mystique laced all over it like an embroidered quilt, embroidered intricately! In addition, to merely stand there at quite possibly the most westerly point of Europe is awesome in itself! Visions of pirates or ancient marauders surrounding the cliffs, seeking a hornet's nest, the cliff's face and nooks and crannies being eked out, for some vantage point to come ashore, spring to mind and send the thinker into overdrive; visions like a scene from an Errol Flynn film or an ancient equivalent of Pirates of the Caribbean - renaming it "Pirates of the Atlantic" - and the descriptions in the annals and mythology of the sea pirates called the Fomorians come to mind; visions of the mythical "Tir na Nog" (the land of eternal youth), all break out of the shell of legend as through the Atlantic squalls and the Aran Island's mists! Dun Aengus Promontory Fort is a hill fort with a difference.

PS For the definitive and authoritative guide to megalithic and archaeological monuments in Ireland:

Pre-Christian Ireland by Professor Peter Harbison is recommended;

And in addition The Stones of Time by Martin Brennan;

www.stonepages.com


 
                                                   

"The necessity of protecting heritage"

Bremore: a wilderness by the Irish sea

This Blog is all about chronicling hidden places - hidden sights of Ireland; unknown places, enclaves and locations off the beaten track; and the place called Bremore on the east coast, straddling the Dublin/Meath border merits inclusion on that list. A few miles north of Balbriggan, County Dublin, the best way to explore this beauteous cleft in the coastal strip of plenty, is to go to the Delvin bridge (a short distance from the Huntsman's Inn pub), and head down to the right, following the Delvin river to its mouth!

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

Either side of this river, is to be found a series of mounds (passage tombs) - and hence a complex - which would seem to be every bit as important as their more famous counterparts - the Boyne Valley - and very plausibly designate the start off point for the neolithic people - like turning a key in an enigmatic lock - as they moved inland. Indeed, one could draw a line, linking them to Fourknocks passage tomb, then on to the Boyne Valley; the line can be taken further to Loughcrew, then on to Carrowkeel and Carrowmore in county Sligo, in the northwest. (Gaelic mythology of course, attributes the advent and construction of the passage tomb to the enigmatic and magical Tuatha De Danaan - they may well have simply been a highly advanced neolithic people, who were portrayed and depicted as Gods by the good folk of the land, and those who forged their links with the Emerald Isle subsequently!).

Main mound of Bremore and satellite mound

 ARCHAEOLOGY AND MYTHOLOGY OVERLAPPING????
 
The Passage tomb is believed to have originated in the Iberian Peninsula; having travelled around there three times, I was struck by their prevalence and number in Galicia in the northwest. This conjures a very interesting scenario: the Beaker People, according to archaeologists were responsible for the construction of these megaliths in the Iberian peninsula, after which, they probably migrated to Ireland. Simultaneously, look at the mythology: as I've alluded to in a few posts in this blog, Gaelic mythology and Galician mythology corroborate each other regarding the connections between the two countries (the common denominator to both traditions and chronicles being the "Tower of Brigantia/Hercules" in La Coruna). This neatly accompanies the Beaker People scenario of people coming here from the Iberian Peninsula, so archaeology and mythology actually overlap each other!  

Anyway, as one takes a ramble along the coast's edge heading south, onto where the land touches, the estuaries and rocks, one gets a very appreciable scope of the area's importance: flint is readily found, the water is particularly translucent, as if conveying and unveiling the deepest thoughts of profundity; there is a fantastic view as far north as the Mournes, and there are the passage tombs themselves; there is also a lovely array of wildlife, protected under an EU Habitats directive. In sum, this is an untouched, pristine wilderness, and as one looks back to the beach, just beyond where the river Delvin, sallies forth, the incline of the cliff face is most evocative! There is also an energy around here, which pokes me tantalisingly with the thought, that this is a very important place in the history (ancient) of Ireland. At the end of a recent walk, led by local historian, Brendan Matthews, close to the Wishing Chair (a curious rocky outline/outcrop, at which hikers and visitors can sit, muse, meditate and make a wish), I was able to look directly across the field, to the south, and see Balscadden Bay - known generically, as Cromwell's harbour, where it's believed Cromwell docked before heading northwards. I was also able to identify (with the assistance of a lady called Kathyrn), the church of the Beekeeper behind Balbriggan Castle in the near distance!

On the subject of the bee, the aforementioned Brendan Matthews mentioned that there might be a connection between here and the Boyne Valley via the goddess Eblana (which, of course, is what Dublin is called by Ptolemy on his c. second century maps). I found this most intriquing, and will be exploring the bee dimension very much in the near future.

Wishing Chair to be seen at the top of the rocky outcrop

Photos courtesy of Teamhair Scrin

To cut to the heel of the chase, this area is under threat from a proposal of a 300 million euro deep sea port to be constructed here. Given what Professor George Eogan, Mark Clinton of An Taisce and the passionate and erudite Brendan Matthews, say about the area, in addition to its pristine beauty, its ecological significance, and its pedigree as a wildlife sanctuary, this would be an unthinkable scenario and yet another nadir for Irish society to add, to the long queue of the encroachment of consumerism and wealth of the last 20 years. Reference the following article (scroll 3/4's down) published by me in this newsletter pre-2002:  www.ireland-information.com/nov01.htm    If one then adds the disgrace of the Tara (Gabhra) Valley destruction in 2007/08, the percentage of Irish heritage destruction is probably 45/46% as we speak. This is the backdrop to where we are at now. This wilderness on the east coast of Ireland - Bremore - must be kept intact.



And so to finish with a poem:


East coast cooler

The water's sway and ripple
like an east coast boulevard
jettisons crests supple
at Bremore's salt water yard.
Was it a staging post? A couple
of mating tribes bore witness
to creation's subtleties?
The wit of time when witless
in the long boat's sureties!
In the soapy suds, what faeries
linger on moss and algae;
cream-coated estuaries,
the floating pupils of larvae?

For pre-Celt, neolithic,
the gateway of Meath;
rockhard in megalithic
when first civilisation teethe!
Did it seed on beach
and germinate? What fungi
carved its maiden speech?
Its depths and leagues rangy -
pristine and untouched cameo -
Eireann's flint-filed claymore!
Stones sharp in patterns long ago
will the willow at Bremore
fast forward their constellation so?
Oh Eblana Queen amore
for wildlife, heritage, protect Bremore!       




PS For more info, check Save Bremore on Facebook