Hill of Tara

An 8:45a arrival at the Hill of Tara, just 10 miles or so from the B&B, meant we’d have to return later to watch the documentary shown in the Heritage & Visitor Center later in the morning. The upside to our early arrival? We had the whole place to ourselves.

The Hill of Tara is Ireland’s first pagan sanctuary. It is a must-see place for its historic significance. For the casual visitor, however, there’s not much to see … only some earthworks. If one does not do any research in advance, it just looks like an undulating field of lush green grass. Well, it’s those undulations that make this place so significant. They are burial mounds.

The first passage tomb was built at Tara in the late Stone Age. But it wasn’t until the Iron Age (600 BC to 400 AD) that Tara gained in importance. By the early Christian Period, it had risen into great prominence as the seat of the High Kings of Ireland ... as the place where they were coronated. As Christianity gained in importance, however, Tara’s significance became mostly symbolic.Read more