The Hill of Tara - Teamhair/Cnoc na Teamhrach is an ancient ceremonial and burial site. Also known as Teamhair na Rí Tara of the Kings, it was the inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland.
Tara consists of numerous monuments and earthworks—from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, including a passage tomb the Mound of Hostages (Duma na nGiall), burial grounds, round enclosures a standing stone (Lia Fáil - Stone of Destiny), and a ceremonial avenue. There is also a church and graveyard on the hill. Tara is part of a larger ancient landscape. Tara was at the height of its power as a political and religious center in the early centuries after Christ.
The remains of twenty ancient monuments are visible, and at least three times that have been identified through geophysical surveys and aerial photography.
The oldest visible monument is Dumha na nGiall (the mound of the Hostages), a Neolithic passage tomb built around 3,200BC. It holds the remains of hundreds of people, most of which are cremated bones. It was the communal tomb of a single community for about a century, during which there were almost 300 burials. Almost a millennium later, in the Bronze Age, there were a further 33 burials – first in the passage and then in the mound around it. During this time, only certain high-status individuals were buried there. The last burial was a full body burial of a young man of high status, with an ornate necklace and dagger.
During the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, a huge double timber circle or ‘woodhenge’ was built on the hilltop. It was 250m in diameter and surrounded the Mound of the Hostages. At least six smaller burial mounds were built in an arc around this timber circle, including those known as Dall, Dorcha, Dumha na mBan-Amhus (Mound of the Mercenary Women) and Dumha na mBó (Mound of the Cow). The timber circle was eventually either removed or decayed, and the burial mounds are barely visible today.
There are several large round enclosures on the hill, which were built in the Iron Age. The biggest and most central of these is Ráth na Ríogh (the Enclosure of the Kings), which measures 1,000m in circumference, 318m north-south x 264m east-west, with an inner ditch and outer bank. It is dated to the 1st century BC and was originally marked out by a stakewall. Human burials, and a high concentration of horse and dog bones, were found in the ditch. Within the Ráth na Ríogh is the Mound of the Hostages and two round, double-ditched enclosures which together make a figure-of-eight shape. One is Teach Chormaic (Cormac’s House) and the other is the Forradh or Royal Seat, which incorporates earlier burial mounds. On top of the Forradh is a standing stone, Lia Fáil at which the High Kings were crowned. According to legend, the stone would let out a roar when the rightful king touched it. It is believed that the stone originally lay beside or on top of the Mound of the Hostages.
Just to the north of Ráth na Ríogh, is Ráth na Seanadh (the Rath of the Synods), which was built in the middle of the former ‘woodhenge’. It is a round enclosure with four rings of ditches and banks, and incorporates earlier burial mounds. It was re-modelled several times and once had a large timber building inside it, resembling the one at Navan. It was occupied between the 1st and 4th AD, and Roman artefacts were also found there. It was badly mutilated in the early 20th century by British Israelites searching for the Ark of the Covenant.
The other round enclosures are Ráth Laoghaire (Laoghaire’s Fort, where the eponymous king is said to have been buried) at the southern edge of the hill, and the Claonfhearta (Sloping Trenches/Graves) at the north-western edge, which includes Ráth Gráinne and Ráth Chaelchon. The Claonfhearta are burial mounds with ring ditches around them which sit on a slope.
At the northern end of the hill is Teach Miodhchuarta or Banqueting Hall. This was likely the ceremonial avenue leading to the hilltop and seems to have been one of the last monuments built. Saint Patrick's Church is on the eastern side of the hilltop. The Rath of the Synods has been partly destroyed by its churchyard. This modern church was built in 1822–23 on the site of an earlier one. The deconsecrated church is now used as a visitor centre operated.
The 11th-century Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland) says that Tara was the seat of the high kings of Ireland from the far past until the time of writing. However, there is no evidence that the institution of high kingship conferred authority over the whole island.
The earliest written records say that high kings were inaugurated there, and the Senchas Már legal text (written sometime after 600AD) specified that the king must drink ale and symbolically marry the goddess Maeve as part of the ceremony. The last High King to observe the pagan inauguration ritual of marrying Medb, the goddess of the land, was Diarmait mac Cerbaill. He is also seen as the first High King in the Cristian era. The Mound of the Hostages has a passage aligned with the sunrise around the times of Imbolc (the Gaelic festival marking the start of spring) and Samhain (the festival marking the start of winter). The mound's passage is shorter than the long entryways of monuments like Newgrange, which makes it less precise in providing alignments with the Sun.
In Irish mythology, Tara is said to have been the capital of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who are based on the gods of pagan Ireland. It says that when the Milseians (the first Gaels) arrived, Tara became the place from which the kings of Mide ruled Ireland. There is much debate among historians as to how far the King's influence spread. The high kingship of the whole island was only established to an effective degree by Máel Sechnaill mac Máele (Malachy I) in the 9th century. Atop the hill stands a stone pillar believed to be the Lia Fáil (Stone of Destiny) on which the High Kings were crowned; legends suggest that the stone would roar three times if the chosen one was the rightful king.
The Five Roads of Tara
According to legend, five ancient roads Slighe meet at Tara, linking it with all the provinces of Ireland. The earliest reference to the five roads of Tara was in the tale Togai; Bruidne Da Derga (The Destruction of Da Derga's Hall).
The five roads are said to be:
Slighe Assail, which went west towards lough Owel, then to Rathcroghan.
Slighe midluachra, which went to Slane, then to Navan Fort, ending at Dunseverick.
Slighe Cualann, which went through Dublin and through the old district of Culann towards Waterford.
Slighe Dala, which went towards and through Ossory.
Slighe Mhór ('Great Highway'), which roughly followed the Esker Riada to County Galway.
To log this cache:
To prove you have visited the site and are not sitting on your regal throne elsewhere please post a photo of yourself /your GPS at the Lia Fáil.
Logs not fulfilling this condition will be deleted.
Why not post a photo of yourself wearing a crown and be a High King in Ireland for a day? A crown made from gold, silver, copper, twigs, grass, paper, anything ... well, maybe not plastic!
NB: This is not a compulsory requirement, but adds to the fun 
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and December 31, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.