Hill of Tara Landscape
As we journey, and continue so, through the eight festivals we find ourselves on different parts of the hill and in the surrounding landscape. As you journey through this website you will see pictures of different places and different people. All unique and yet all in unity.
The Hill of Tara lies in a north - south orientation. It is not particularly high. There are no dramatic cliff edges or noticeable natural features... and from the east it barely seems a hill at all. Just a gentle rising of the land. Coming from the west it appears as a bank against the skyline.
And yet....
...it has the capacity to stir the hearts and souls of all that tread its ground. It 'gets under the skin' and you either laugh or cry as you walk where thousands have walked before you. Humanity has played out its history in lives of feasting and battle on these gentle slopes, and the hill has somehow energised the whole thing; the emotions, the thoughts, the physical actions and the spirituality enhanced in those that visit.
Here human beings have raised massive embankments, cut into the bedrock with our ditches, creating circular and linear features for who knows what purpose, our ancestors reasons lost in the mists of time, their mystery remaining for each who cares to consider and interpret the intentions of those far off days.
For that is the enduring gift of Tara. It can be whatever you want it to be. The land is firm beneath you, the sky wide above you and the views immense. It may seem insignificant but it broadens your horizons and supports you.
The most familiar view from Tara - looking across the Gabhra valley to Skryne Church
Hillside Monuments
Western Woodland Fairy Tree Rath na Sinead Rath Grainne Sloping Trenches Banqueting Hall Western slope Rath na Rig Rath Leoghaire Mound of the...
Holy Well
St Patrick's Well, The Hill of Tara. Words spoken by Des Maguire 21. 3. 2002 Water is a gift from God which flows, freely, underground and...
Tara's Sacred Wells
The Sacred Wells of Tara Tara ’s Sacred Wells – from the TARA Solstice Festival Booklet 2004 (updated 2008) Water occupies about two-thirds of a...
St John's Well
Note: there is NO PUBLIC ACCESS to the well as of June 2018 Discussions are on-going as to whether this can be arranged again in the future....
Dowdstown Bridge Tara
The Gabhra and Skane flow from the east and west sides of the Hill of Tara to meet at Dowdstown Bridge. They then travel through the grounds of...
Rath Lugh
Also named Rath Gabhra (Gabhra being the stream in the valley between the Skryne and Tara hillsides) or Mound of the Druids. There are said to be...
Sacred Art Rediscovered
Sacred Art rediscovered after thousands of years. Samhain is a special time of the year. It is the death of the old and the birth of the new....
Page last updated: 6th Nov 2014
