Brian Ború (c. 941–23 April 1014), was born at Kincora, Killaloe.
The youngest of twelve sons, Brian would become the 175th King of Ireland, the founder of the O'Brien dynasty and the ancestor of the Kings of Thomond. Brian was an excellent harp musician and the harp has become a symbol of peace and unity in Ireland in his memory.
In 1002, Brian was recognised as Ard Rí, High King of Ireland, thus ending the six hundred year reign of the Uí Néill’s in Leinster. Breaking from tradition, he ruled from Kincora Castle in Killaloe instead of Cashel, thus making Killaloe the "Capital of Ireland ". Brian's name was inscribed in the Book of Armagh, in gold lettering, as "Emperor of the Irish" in 1005 during Brian's campaign in the north of Ireland.
After forty years of incessant warfare in his early life, Brian devoted his mind to works of peace. He rebuilt the monasteries that had been destroyed by the Danes, and erected bridges and fortresses all over the country. He founded and restored schools and colleges, and took measures for the repression of crime.
Maelmordha, brother of Gormlaith, third wife of Brian, who had usurped the crown of Leinster in 999, rebelled against Brian's rule in 1013. Conspiring with Sitric, son of Gormlaith, the two resolved themselves to overthrow Brian. They along with Dane Vikings of Northern Ireland in Leinster and Dublin, as well as native Irish rivals to Brian, gathered their forces in rebellion to Brian in 1014. Two Norwegian princes, Bróðir and Óspak at the head of a thousand troops, arrived to reinforce the Danish contingent. As the Danes prepared for battle at Clontarf, they numbered sixteen thousand, as well as troops from Leinster under their king, Maelmordha.
With a force nearing thirty thousand, including the Dalcassion Knights, Brian marched into Leinster, where Malcolm II, King of Meath, joined him four miles outside of Dublin at Clontarf. Arriving on Palm Sunday, the battle would occur five days later on Good Friday. All of the accounts state that the Battle of Clontarf lasted all day and was a bloody affair. Brian Ború’s troops would win this battle to keep a unified Ireland, but this would not to be a glorious day.
High King Brian Ború died on this day, Good Friday, 23 April 1014. There are many legends concerning how Brian was killed, from dying in a heroic man-to-man combat to being beheaded by the fleeing Viking mercenary Bróðir while praying in his tent at Clontarf.
High King Brian Ború is said to be buried in the grounds of St. Patrick's Cathedral in the city of Armagh keeping with the pagan tradition that warriors or those who die in battle must be buried in the northern sections of graveyards.
Brian Ború remains to be one of the greatest historical figures and the last that saw a unified Ireland.
Brian Boru's fort is located in a very serene setting - overlooking Lough Derg on the River Shannon, just one mile north of the village of Killaloe. Beal Boru, as it is more commonly known, stands on a spur of land which commands the point where the lake narrows into the River Shannon.
The fort can be found by taking a trek down a half-mile grassy pathway from the Killaloe-Scarrif Road ,at the parking waypoint, through a mostly wooded area, and the place feels detached from the modern world when the trees are in full leaf. The site is impressive in the height of the outer side of the banks, and is fairly expansive in size.
In ancient times cattle designated as tribute for the Dalcassian chiefs were driven across the river at this point.
Over 800 stone implements, including stone axes, hammer stones and perforated stone sinkers for lines and nets, have been found in the immediate neighbourhood. Ten stone axes were found within the fort in 1936. So it is quite possible that a Stone Age settlement occupied the site of Beal Boru because of its position on the river, which could be forded at this point or used as a safe harbour by craft. In 1961 Professor O'Kelly's excavations revealed an early ring fort which had been inhabited, abandoned and later built over.
Except for some filling in of the ditch and the planting of trees at the start of the nineteenth century, the fort looks very much as it did during the thirteenth century. Two Hiberno-Norse coins, minted between 1035 and 1070, were found here as well as a decorated piece of local slate, five bronze pins, a tangled stud, 25 large nails, two small shreds of pottery, animal and bird bones and a considerable amount of musket balls.
Please take care to conceal the cache afterwards for fear of it being muggled by the groundsmen, thanks.