Call for 'statement of national relevance' on Dun Ailinne in Curragh plan
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| The Curragh, Des Travers on Dun Ailinne, and Alison Rea. |
A request that the importance of Dun Ailinne be incorporated in any proposals for the conservation and management of the Curragh Plains has been made by Kilcullen resident Col Des Travers (Retd), writes Brian Byrne.
He raised the matter during a Zoom meeting of interested individuals on Thursday evening, organised by architect Alison Rea from Kinneagh. More than 40 people attended the online event, at which Ms Rea gave a detailed presentation on the area, along with proposals for its management and conservation.
Des Travers, whose interest in the Curragh reflects 60 years of living and working in and around it, said that Dun Ailinne was one of the most dominant archaeological features of the Curragh Plains area at one time. "It is an extraordinarily important feature, and possibly one of the most important pre-historic features in Leinster," he said, adding that in his opinion it could be considered as one of the first and most significant military facilities in the Curragh Plains, going back at least 1,600 years BCE.
He noted that the structure which has been discovered underneath Dun Ailinne in past and recent investigations would suggest that Dun Ailinne was indeed a 'royal' site and place of gathering for the residents of the Curragh Plain, and may suddenly have become a defensive feature 'for reasons that we still don't know'. He said that situation argues for some kind of association of the site, both historically and archaeologically, with the Curragh. In whatever results from the current public consultation and the ongoing development of a management and conservation plan, he hopes that a 'statement of national relevance' to the importance of the site in the context of the Curragh plain proper will be included.
Earlier, Alison Rea had noted that the whole area had been from time immemorial a 'place of Celtic landscape', dotted with barrows and raths and bounded by Dun Ailinne to the south and the Hill of Allen to the north. She agreed with Des Travers that Dun Ailinne must be considered as part of the archaeological side of things, noting that 'it was connected but is now shut off from the plains'.
Dun Ailinne is on a private working farmland, not open to the public, and investigations of the site are thanks to the courtesy of the Thompson family. A large commercial quarry has also become part of the division of the hill from the plains.
Through the Zoom meeting, a busy conversation developed across a wide range of interests associated with the Curragh. They included commercial, ecological, and leisure aspects and activities.
The initial public consultation on the future of the area is being carried out by the Paul Hogarth Company, contracted to develop a plan for Kildare County Council and the Department of Defence. That consultation finishes in mid-April, and everybody with an interest is strongly urged to make submissions.
NOTE: There will be a full report on Thursday evening's presentation in next Tuesday's Kildare Nationalist.
