A tale of ancient times in Sligo

Knocknarea from Strandhill

In the west of Ireland in the modern-day county of Sligo, there stands a mountain overlooking Sligo Bay called Knocknarea. It is an energetic walk to the top from Strandhill near the coast and the top of the mountain is covered in a huge mound of stones, said to hide the tomb of Queen Maeve, famous for her cattle-raiding exploits.

The Shanachies had a story about Knocknarea which must pre-date Queen Maeve, who was said to have lived in the 300s AD, about a century before St Patrick. At the time, the native Irish had been joined by two separate bands of settlers, one small and dark from the southern latitudes; and the other tall and blonde who had arrived from the north. I can't vouch for this because I wasn't around at the time. Both of the immigrant tribes built settlements on the coast and all three lived relatively peacefully together.

The native Irish at the time still worshipped the sun. The settlers worshipped their own gods, or maybe none but their differences were tolerated in the name of peace, love and understanding. Until the love part of the trilogy became threatened.

Once a year on midsummer's day, the native Irish held a ceremony on top of Knocknarea, upon which four groves marked the points of the compass, marking out a flat square, in the middle of which stood the Stone of Sacrifice. All the sun-priests were obliged to attend and all the local people too. Non-attendance meant your crops would fail and your cattle would die. Some of the people were starting to wonder why their crops failed and cattle died whether they turned up or not, but they always attended, in much the same way that I always say 'Good Morning, Mr Magpie' every time I see one of those blasted birds. Just in case, just in case. And their faith was not helped by the settlers taking the piss out of them when their crops failed anyway.

Queen Maeve's tomb on top of Knocknarea, from an old postcard

The highlight of the ceremony was the sacrifice of a local virgin upon the Stone of Sacrifice. This was done by the High Priest, probably dressed in a robe and black cowl, with fanatical eyes and a name like Blackie or Evil Pete. He used a sharp knife heated in the sacrificial fire.
This particular midsummer, the girl selected for the honour was called Eilith and she was the daughter of the Chief of Cuil Irra. Not only that but she was in love with the head of one of the Northern tribes who had settled in the locality, a man called Finn the Fearless, which must have been quite the alliterative cliché, even in those days. Naturally, he was tall and strong and handsome and a brave leader of men.

No longer worshipped in Ireland, the sun now rarely bothers to put in an appearance

As the sun began to set, the High Priest appeared from an underground passage with Eilith. He threw her onto the stone, laughed demonically and then began to walk around her, chanting incantations as he did so, like Christopher Lee in Hammer Horror films. His lips curled into a satanic grin and his cruel eyes glinted in the growing darkness. He raised the blazing knife high above his head, preparing to plunge it into Eilith's untouched body when, a shout arose, and Finn and fifty men leapt out from other underground passages. Finn drew a bow and let loose an arrow at the High Priest's heart. A look of pure hatred flashed across his face, a second before he fell down dead. The rest of the priests fled. The onlookers clapped, maybe thinking it was part of the performance. Finn's men tied cowhides around the Stone of Sacrifice and dragged it to the edge of the mountain and rolled it off. It crashed to the ground far below, turning into thousands of Pebbles of Sacrifice. Finn snatched up Eilith and they embraced, silhouetted against the setting sun, as the credits began to roll.

Ascending Knocknarea from the North

Eilith's oul' feller, the Chief, was quite happy with the outcome. Eilith and Finn got married and went to live in Finn's gaff, right on the coast at the end of a stone road on the far side of Coney Island. It was the only stone house in the settlement because Finn was the chief. They had about a thousand children, the girls all ravishingly beautiful like their ma, the boys all fearless warriors like their da. Finn and Eilith lived long, happy lives, never quarrelling once, and when they died, they were buried in the Giant's Grave, which today lies just outside the gates of Sligo Airport. 

And, many hundreds of years later, long after Finn and Eilith's house had succumbed to rising tides, another stone edifice was built in the exact same spot where they had lived. 

Blackrock lighthouse.

Blackrock lighthouse c.1925 with Ben Bulben behind

Photo by marinas.com showing the 'stony road' down which Finn and Eilith used to drive home when the water levels were lower.