Dun Ailline day a great success
A most impressive turnout to the seminar about, and subsequent walk on Dun Ailline today confirmed the strong interest in Kilcullen's heritage across a wide stratum of the community.
The second speaker was Padraig Clancy MA, whose Masters thesis was based on a two-year research structured around a fieldwork survey of the Curragh landscape. His theme at the seminar was Dun Ailline: 'Royalties' and its Landscape, and his presentation was based on the position of the monument within the surrounding landscape, and how a 'build-up' of Dun Ailline in the bronze and iron ages led to an importance 'which we call royalty today'.
Dr Edel Bhreathnach of the Michael S Cleirigh Institute at UCD presented a paper -- Dun Ailline: A Literary and Historical Perspective -- which looked at the literature and the historical references to Knockaulin. "They go back to around 600-650AD, and they describe what is already a very ancient monument. And through the medieval period until around 1100, the descriptions particularly refer to the 'huge rampart'. But by around 800AD, they indicate that the place had been deserted. Possibly because the politics of the area had shifted, and maybe because Kildare itself had become important."
During the seminar, Kilcullen Heritage Group chair Nessa Dunlea paid tribute to the work done by Des Travers in the preparation of the event.
"When we suggested the idea, he was first out of the traps and became totally obsessed with the event," she said. "Today is above all a result of all the work he put into it." She also thanked Cathy Flynn, the Heritage Centre secretary, 'who never would have believed how much she'd be involved when she came to live here three years ago'.
"But one of my purposes as chair of the Heritage Group is to encourage new people to get involved in the heritage and history of Kilcullen, and the attendance today shows that this is happening."
She read a letter from Professor Wailes, who couldn't make the event owing to prior family commitments.
"Warmth and cordiality [from the local people] marked the progress of the excavations from the start," he wrote, and he particularly singled out the Thompson family, on whose land the site is, for their welcome and help. He also said the excavations were 'challenging' archaeology.
In the afternoon, Des Travers led the group on a tour of the site, in the company of landowner Robert Thompson.
On an exceptionally perfect day for the walk, he drew on both his military expertise and interest in history to bring the bronze and iron ages site to life, and postulated a number of theories of his own as to the significance of Dun Ailline in the overall social and political scheme of the times.
In particular he provided an estimate of the effort which was involved in the excavation and construction of the perimeter ditch, which used stone from the hill's basic greenstone in its structure.
"It was the equivalent of 54,000 truckloads, and the rocks themselves were also transported away from the hill, possibly to be used elsewhere for making roads or filling in marshy areas surrounding the local hills."
Edel Bhreathnach and Padraig Clancy outlined the kind of agriculture-based economy and lifestyle of the period, saying the indications were that the area was used mainly for dairy and production of young beef, but that it was evident that the royal inhabitants of the site moved from place to place.
In his own concluding remarks, Des Travers called for further work to be carried out on the site. "We can speculate forever on what might have been here in the past," he said. "But we cannot know anything further until more of the science is applied to finding it out, and I hope that this will happen."
At the end of the walk, Nessa Dunlea expressed her appreciation to everybody who had an input into the event, including those who came to learn.
"I am absolutely thrilled," she said. "When we started off, I wasn't expecting what we got today."
In our normal way, the Diary will publish more pictures and further information from the day during the next week or so.
Theories mooted on Dun Ailline day
Dun Ailline day pics: 2
Brian Byrne.
