but that a Bronze Age burial should be found close to this Late Bronze Age site is significant.
At Killinane, a mile south-south-east from Dind Ríg and on the same side of the River Barrow is an Early Bronze Age burial site, or cist. During the Early Bronze Age, from about 1800 to 1300 BC, funeral rites involving both cremation and inhumation were popular, many of the bodies being buried in a crouched position. Burials were sometimes accompanied by a range of distinctive pottery and grave goods (a sign of Christian burial being an absence of grave goods). The cist at Killinane contained the cremated remains of two individuals as well as rock crystal and quartz fragments and a food bowl. If Dind Ríg were plundered in 307 BC, as stated by the Lebor Gabála, then the cist at Killinane as well as that at Ballyknockan would presumably have been known to the inhabitants of Dind Ríg, and may well have been the graves of Slanga and of earlier kings from this famous royal site.
Perhaps the largest Bronze Age site in Carlow, and possibly in the country, was found at Ballon Hill [61], about six miles south-west of Tullow. Much of Ballon Hill was a Bronze Age cemetery and included pit and cist burials; cist burials were often under mounds and contained in a box-like structure of stone slabs. Ballon Hill contained two ring barrows, which are generally small mounds with an encircling ditch and bank. They are burial mounds, and excavations have shown cremations of a Bronze Age or Iron Age date. A good example of a ring barrow is Rath Gráinne on the Hill of Tara, Co. Meath [42]. Julius Caesar and other writers note that burning the dead was customary among the Celts. Generally, this was reserved for the upper stratum of society, but with such a large graveyard as that on Ballon Hill, the custom of cremation may have been more inclusive.
Another custom associated with burial was the burying of white stones or lumps of quartz crystal with the dead. Beneath one of the graves at Ballon Hill a funeral urn was found upside down and beneath it, placed in a triangular position, were three small pebbles, one white, one green and one black. This custom can be seen all over the country as well as in Scotland and within what is known as the Sacred Circle on the Isle of Man. A stone’s throw from where I write in Co. Cork is a cromlech with a large quartz stone beside it, a material that seemingly had a religious meaning for our ancestors, though in what precise way we do not know. We do know that stones were regarded in many primal societies as the abode of supernatural beings. At Plouër, in the French part of the Cȏtes-du-Nord, since earliest times, girls have been sliding down a large block, and if a girl manages to do this without scraping her flesh, she is assured of soon finding a husband. The custom can also be seen in other parts of France and is no doubt connected to an earlier form of stone worship.
We do not have any poets or bards from the Bronze Age to weave a picture of the world they lived in, but we can possibly get a glimpse into their beliefs and world view from the way they buried their dead. An excavation at Ballon Hill in 1853 unearthed three skeletons ‘huddled together in a small space not above two feet in length’. They were buried beneath an immense boulder, and urns were found close by. Beneath the boulder were granite slabs and beneath these a bed of charcoal was found. Some of the urns found here are the finest examples discovered in Ireland, and they along with the food vessels show that these peoples believed in an afterlife. Their ‘sitting-up’ positions also showed that they were ready to attend some ceremonial gathering in the afterlife, but the presence of a dagger blade of bronze seems to suggest that one needed to be on one’s guard even in the Otherworld.
About five miles north-east of Leighlinbridge is Kelliston (cell osnaid, ‘the graveyard of the groans’) situated on Magh Fea or the Plain of Fea [61], the site of a noted battle in the fifth century AD. The King of Leinster at that time was Fraoch son of Fionnchaidh. This battle probably took place in the late fifth century AD. Aonghus who was King of Munster at that time and his wife Eithne Uathach both fell by Muiredach and by Oilill. This battle is remembered in the following verse from Keating’s history:
Atbath craobhdhos bhile mhóir
Aonghus Molbhthach mac Natfraoich
Fágbhaidh lá hOilill a rath
I gcath Cell Osnadha claoin.
There died by the spreading branch of a great tree,
Aonghus Molbhthach, son of Natfraoch;
He lost his success by Oilill
In the battle of Cell Osnaid the vile.
[Translated by P.S. Dinneen]
A possible site for this battle is at Kelliston East where there is a graveyard in an area locally known as Kilomeel. It is a circular, raised area, and there is a local tradition of bones being buried at the site. About 400 yards north-west of the graveyard is St Patrick’s Well. To get to the graveyard, go to Kelliston Crossroads, which are approximately four miles south-east from the town of Tullow. At the cross, turn right and continue for one mile, and here you will find a church on your right; looking north-east from the church is the likely battle site. A few hundred yards before the crossroads is a mound with steep sides and a small, rounded summit. This may well have been the site of the local king, and the battle may have been an attempt by a provincial king to extend his kingdom. Oilill, one of the invaders, eventually became King of Leinster. Legend has it that around this time St Patrick and Caoilte mac Ronáin, a warrior of the Fianna* who had miraculously survived into Christian times, came to Kilomeel, where they were entertained by a dulcimer player and where St Patrick performed a miracle.
St Mullin’s (Tigh Moling, ‘the houses of Moling’) is situated on the east side of the Barrow River six miles south from Graiguenamanagh [68]. St Moling, who flourished in the seventh century, is cited by Aengus the Culdee (a bishop from the ninth century) as one of the early ecclesiastics who was distinguished as a literary figure. The story of the building of the oratory of St Moling involves the legendary builder of round towers, castles and oratories, namely the Gobán Saor,* the famous smith whose buildings and whose antics are a necessary part of the storyteller’s bag. As payment for building the oratory, the Gobán Saor wanted the chapel filled with corn, rushes, apples and nuts. Whether he was successful or not leads to a long story, way beyond the remit of the present work. An oratory still stands at St Mullin’s, although in ruins; whether this is the one that the Gobán built is anybody’s guess.
The association of St Moling with that great personage of Irish myth, Suibhne Geilt* or Mad Sweeney* – the inspiration of the Ulster poets – is an example of a blending of Irish mythology with Christian saga. Some people say they are one and the same person due to the fact that Suibhne was said to have flown from place to place around Ireland, and the etymology of Moling’s name is mo ling or ‘my flight’. Be that as it may, St Mullin’s is special insofar as it encloses these two notable people within its grounds. Suibhne* eventually settled down at Tigh Moling, where he was looked after by the saint. His wanderings have inspired the imagination of many poets to which the following verses give testament:
Duairc an bhetha-sa
bheith gan maeithleaptha,
adhbha úairsheacha,
garbha gáoithshnechta …
Gloomy this life,
to be without a soft bed,
abode of cold frost
roughness of wind driven snow.
Cold, icy wind,
faint shadow of a feeble sun,
shelter of a single tree,
on the summit of a table land.
Enduring the rain-storm,
stepping
