A day on Dun Ailinne

If there was any doubt about the interest local people have in the heritage of Kilcullen, it was definitely dispelled during a recent guided walk on Dun Ailinne, the ancient royal site a few kilometres outside the town.



A large crowd turned up in the afternoon to walk up the hill, courtesy of the landowners Robert and Adrienne Thompson.

Dun Ailinne is ranked in archaeological importance with Tara, Knoc Cruachain (Co Roscommon), and Amhain Macha (Navan Fort, Armagh) although it has never received the same public attention because it is on private land.

The site was the subject of intensive excavations during the 1960s and 1970s, by Professor Bernard Wailes of the University of Pennsylvania. He revisited the site during this summer past to mark the opening of an interpretive park in Kilcullen relating to the hill. Other more recent investigations Dr Susan Johnston, Professor of Anthropology at George Washington University, have mapped about 25 percent of the site and revealed the existence of other ancient elements under the ground.

Dun Ailinne is the largest pre-Norman earthen enclosure in Ireland, covering some 44 acres. The ditch or 'henge' which circumscribes it is the best preserved and largest such feature in Ireland.

Giving the talk to those on the hill recently, local historian Des Travers suggested that from a tower-like structure which was erected on the apex of the hill around 100BC, it could be possible to observe the Royal Site of Tara 50 kms away.

"There is much evidence of fires being lit at the base of the tower and these fires occurred with greater frequency and intensity than anywere else within the royal site," he notes. "It could be presumed that signalling by fire is likely to have occurred at both sites."

He also poses what he terms as 'unresolved questions' regarding Dun Ailinne. "How did a society then succeed in excavating 30,000 tons of rock and shale to create the ditch around the site, for instance?" he asks.

Local environmental geophysics graduate Alan Corcoran spoke about recent investigations he carried out using magnetic gradiometer equipment. Warning that his methods were 'highly interpretive', he nevertheless made images which indicated ancient ploughlines and circular structures under the modern topography.

"I believe a wealth of archaeology is still to be found around Dun Ailinne," he says.

In addition to the many local Kilcullen people, a contingent from the County Kildare Federation of Local History Societies also visited Dun Ailinne later in the afternoon, following their annual seminar held in the Kilcullen Heritage Centre.

The walk was organised by Kilcullen Community Action.

Brian Byrne.