The Red Book Of Aileach

Brian Lacey

unknownswilly — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:05:20 +0000

For almost forty years I’ve been visiting and studying the monument known as the Grianán of Aileach in an attempt to understand when its various parts might have been built and what its functions might have been originally in the complex politics of early medieval Donegal and the related wider all-Ireland context. Although it is too complex to explain here (I’ve done that already in my book Cenél Conaill and the Donegal kingdoms: AD 500-800, as well as in other publications) I should say that I believe that the great central cashel was built by the Inishowen king of Tara Áed Oirdnide sometime around AD 800 and certainly after his great victory at the battle of Cloítech (Clady on the Donegal/Tyrone border) in 789. That seismic battle resulted in the traditional enemies of the Cenél nÉogain of Inishowen – the Cenél Conaill – being excluded from the overlordhip of Donegal, of the northwest of Ireland and, henceforth, from the kingship of Tara. I believe that Áed built the Grianán to celebrate that turning-point victory and to symbolise his new lordship over all the lands visible from the monument. In turn, of course, the monument was visible – it is possible that it was then painted white – from much of the territory over which he ruled.

The visibility of and the views from the Grianán are one of the essential components of its majesty. I have had various reasons to appreciate that on many occasions. One of the most spectacular of these was about twenty years ago. I was taking a party of – largely bored – American teenagers on a tour of the Donegal sites. It was February: very cold and damp, the road up to the Grianán was icy, the bus-driver was in a bad mood fearing he might damage his vehicle, and the sleet and mist was so dense that you could hardly see the path ahead of you never mind the view. I began to wonder myself about why I had bothered to drag everyone up the mountain. However, just as we got to the entrance to the monument, the vast sheets of sleet that were washing us and everything around us parted like gigantic theatre curtains and there was the magnificent scene of a winter sunlit Inch Island and Lough Swilly etc. Even the bored American students were greatly impressed by the unexpected – almost shocking – view below us. To this day I still can’t figure out how exactly I managed to arrange it!

Brian Lacey
1/1/12

Howard Goldbaum

unknownswilly — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:09:24 +0000

I live in a home with a view:

www.allaroundnevada.com

It is not an accidental circumstance of my life, but rather the result of a quest, even an obsession. I am a visual person, colors enchant me, I am consumed by the extended horizon. Thus I can understand in the most visceral fashion what must have motivated the original architect of the Grianán of Aileach to pick his spot:

www.voicesfromthedawn.com – GriananWall 360

Some may say that this spot was chosen simply because it is a good thing to command the high ground, it being the best place from which to defend your territory from enemies within and without.
But I know differently. It was because the Iron Age stone mason, or the earlier Bronze Age builder of the earthen ring, or the even earlier Neolithic farmer who climbed up to the top of this hill was struck by the beauty of the view. She looked out to the horizon, to the shimmering waters of what would a thousand years afterwards be known as Loughs Foyle and Swilly, to Inch Top hill and the promise of the cold open seas beyond. He felt the warmth of the morning sunlight on his face as it emerged from over the hills to the East, and he imagined the peoples who inhabited that limitless horizon.

It was a home with a view.

25th December 2011

The Grianán of Aileach at Voices from the Dawn.

Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh

unknownswilly — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:24:27 +0000

There is little hope now of ever understanding the full history of Grianán Ailigh — the Sun Palace of Aileach. The thread-bare facts mingle with the myths and legends. But there is some evidence that there was once a beautiful building standing on top of Greenan Hill that was made from the red wood of the yew tree.

” … a house set out with gold and silver and brass and gems, so that by night it was as brilliant as by day …”

Winter Solstice 2011

www.seoirse.com

th thre