Interview with Michael Slavin on the Hill of Tara

The Hill of Tara

St. Patrick's Church marks the modern entry point to the Hill of Tara, but the story of the ridge begins millennia earlier. Teamhair was woven into Irish myth as the seat of kingship, while excavation shows a Neolithic and Bronze Age cemetery and ceremonial complex that stood at the centre of the island's sacred map.

Beyond the churchyard, low banks and mounds outline a landscape where assemblies, burials, and seasonal rites may have drawn people from across Ireland. The Tuatha Dé Danann, the High Kings of medieval tale, and today's heritage visitors all share the same windy summit.

The Mound of the Hostages

Dumha na nGiall, the Mound of the Hostages, is a passage tomb built around 3500 BCE and later reused for cremated burials. It belongs to the same era as the passage tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth on the Boyne. Light enters the passage around Samhain and Imbolc, hinting at a shared ritual calendar.

The Lia Fáil

The Lia Fáil on the Forrad is the inauguration stone of tradition, one of the four legendary treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Tales say it cried out when the rightful king was chosen. Its present position on the Forrad owes something to nineteenth-century rearrangement of the summit.

Rath of the Synods

This double-ditched ring is one of several enclosures that structure movement on the hill. Medieval synods may have met nearby, giving the monument its English name, but the banks themselves are prehistoric.

Teach Chormaic

Teach Chormaic recalls Cormac mac Airt, a king whose legends tie law, wisdom, and the origins of Irish literature to Tara. The visible monument is an earthwork rather than a house, yet the name keeps his story alive for visitors.

Ráith na Ríogh

Ráith na Ríg wraps the Forrad and the Mound of the Hostages in a wide ring bank. Often called the Royal Enclosure, it is the focal monument of the summit, where earthworks, myth, and wide views combine. Linear features such as the Banquet Hall, interpreted by some as a processional cursus, lead the eye toward this core.

The Book of Tara

The Book of Tara by Michael Slavin is written by a local historian with a lifelong connection to the hill. It examines why the Hill of Tara became Ireland's symbolic capital, weaving together archaeology, early literature, and the legends that still shape how visitors understand the ridge.

Slavin guides the reader through the major monuments on the summit, from the Neolithic Mound of the Hostages to the royal enclosures, the Lia Fáil and the associations with St Patrick and the High Kings. He also traces Tara's later history, including its place in political memory and the events of 1798.

For anyone planning a visit to Tara, the book offers a readable companion to the landscape itself, a blend of factual account and affection for one of the most evocative sites in the Boyne Valley.

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