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Recommended Reviews - Hill Of Tara

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Sara G.

The Hill of Tara in Ireland stands as a solemn reflection spot to the country's ancient past, evoking a profound reverence. The Stone Age People built the passage tomb here 5000 years old, making it older than the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge. This was once the seat of the High Kings of Ireland. Its grassy mounds and weathered stones represent burial and ceremonial grounds. At the Hill or Tara, the weight of centuries is almost palpable. My chest was heavy. It was an odd feeling. I was a little bothered that we could walk on the mounds. I would think they'd be more protected and revered.

Isabella B.

The Hill of Tara was the third stop of my day trip to ancient Ireland sites using Mary Gibbons Newgrange Tours (https://www.yelp.com/biz/mary-gibbons-travel-dublin?hrid=yj8BepG4DJi6Cpl6Ggm7Og). The views here can be pretty spectacular as on a good day you can see three of the four ancient counties of Ireland using Lia Fáil (Stone of Destiny) as a vantage point. It was said that the high king first saw St. Patrick light a bonfire in the nearby Hill of Slane, challenging the king's authority as only the king had the authority to light such fires. This allowed St. Patrick to introduce Christianity to Ireland using the shamrock to demonstrate the trinity (three-in-one). The site is known for being the seat of the High King of Ireland. Kingship wasn't passed down hereditarily but was earned by either being chosen for it or won in battle. Coronations would be held in Lia Fáil. Additionally the Hill of Tara is known in more modern history as the site where Daniel O'Connell gathered peasants on a hill demanding repeal of the Act of Union with Britain. Also at Tara there is a passage tomb Dumha na nGiall (Mound of the Hostages), similar in scope but smaller in size compared to Newgrange. There's a visitor's center inside the church and there's also a small cafe with attached souvenir shop. Souvenirs are cool but are typical of a shop in Dublin. The Hill of Tara is an important site in Irish history but to best appreciate it you would need the help of a guided walk as the ruins themselves don't stand out very much themselves aside from the statue of St. Patrick. It is also advisable to wear good shoes when walking out here as the ground tends to be wet along with an umbrella as it tends to rain here more than Dublin.

Steak sandwich
Steven C.

Great food at a historic site! Good service and fast. Local brews. After seeing the fairy tree and the standing stone (let's out a scream if you are the rightful king of ireland...i'm not), came back down the hill and was pleasantly surprised by the quaint atmosphere and good food.

picture from website
Aoife R.

The seat of the High Kings of Ireland, and Ireland's political and spiritual centre from ancient times until the 6th century. At the hill's summit, you will find the remains of a large Iron Age enclosure known as Ráith na Ríogh - the Fort of the Kings. In the middle is a standing stone, the Lia Fáil (Stone of Destiny), the spot where High Kings were crowned. According to legend, the stone would emit a scream if a series of challenges were met by the would-be king, one that could be heard all over Ireland. Head along and see if it screeches - Ireland could do with a new leader.

Jen L.

Visited April 2015 We traveled 15 minutes way from Castle Trim- to see the Hills of Tara where the Kings of Ireland used to meet for politician and spiritual needs. The visitors center was closed so we just took pictures of the place. This is also a part of your Heritage Card. Gorgeous surrounding views.

Qype User (ardrig…)

I was bit by the bug called genealogy... in the days when you had to travelled to local library's..My late father was always talking about how he was going to go to see the Hill of Tara when he retired ...sadly he died before he retired ...he also talked about researching his family tree ...if I asked how he knew about all these places he would say from my father who got it from his father and back into the mist of time...It was because of my father I started researching the family tree... I just thought it was all just stories ...now I am not so sure ...He said we were descended from the Last ArdRigh (high king) of All Ireland....He called me his little seanachie (a teller of tales)...My tree was coming along OK .....but I just wanted so much to go to the places he had talked about as he hadnt been able to go himself...So we arranged a holiday to see many of the places he had talked about... We went various places in Ireland but kept what I thought was the best until last....As we travelled over from the West of Ireland to Meath...I longed to see the Hill of Tara....It had a misty beauty about it ....as we drew nigh ...Wisely the people of Meath had not attempted to make it into some sort of Theme Park.....of wood and wattle....reconstruction...leThe vistor centre was housed in a wee church with a really good audio visual presentation ....giving full weight to the romantic gend while making sense of the 4000 year old earthworks...which are the only structures to be seen apart from the Lia Fail...the stone of destiny .....on which it is said the Kings of Tara.... were crowned......and on which my father had wanted to sit..... The Origins of Tara are lost in the mist of time and as I sat there...thinking of my father ..I glanced down at a leaflet.... I had picked up in the visitor centre which said ......it reached its height in the 3rd Century AD during the reign of Cormac Mac Airt....... Suddenly the magic story telling of my Father and Tara... all became one ....Just before I had left England for this holiday ....I had recived the marriage certificate for my great grandfather Patrick Quinn to my Great Grandmother Ann McCart .......I hadnt even shown it to my husband....... but was it true.... had my father spoke truly when he said ......we were descended from the last ardrigh of tara...... On the mundane side there is a little shop and tearoom ...the shop sells the nicer quality Irish Goods and they made a nice cup of tea and homebaked scones.....Its just down a wee country road ....it cost nothing to go and see Tara just a donation.....in a box.....From the top of the hill you can see some fabulous views across County MeaThe megalithic tomb called the Mound of the Hostages is the oldest monument on the Hill of Tara dating back to between 2500 B.C. and 3000 B.C. The passage, 4m in length and 1m wide, was subdivided by sillstones into three compartments each containing cremated remains.....A wonderfully decorated stone can be viewed from the entrance gate. The engravings may represent the sun, moon or stars as religious symbols or maybe the stone was used as a prehistoric calendar. The term passage tomb is disliked by those who consider megalithic mounds to be have been primarily astronomical observatories or sacred temples. In the case of Tara evidence of at least 200 individual cremations were found, so the passage tomb description is appropriate. The hills at Loughcrew can be seen to the west from the top of the mound. Long after the megalithic mound was constructed Tara became the seat of the High Kings of Celtic Ireland. The most famous of these was Cormac Mac Airt who reigned in the third century AD. One of the ring forts within the large hill fort known as the Royal Enclosure is known as Cormac's House. The other ring fort known as the King's Seat may actually be constructed around a prehistoric tomb

Leek and potato soup. Yummmm! And every time I eat bread in this country it's different and better than the last time

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Amazing view and interesting cultural site. It's particularly beautiful when only a few people are there.

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Review Highlights - Hill Of Tara

Long after the megalithic mound was constructed Tara became the seat of the High Kings of Celtic Ireland.

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Newgrange

Newgrange

4.5(50 reviews)
16.9 km

Absolutely fascinating, powerful, and educational. I believe you can just arrange a visit yourself…read moreif you're driving but we weren't so we took Mary's tour here (and to Knowth and Hill of Tara). Mary herself is an incredible source of knowledge so the ride up and back was full of cool information. The bus trip was easy and comfortable though just an fyi there are no restrooms on board. Once we arrived our small group had a reasonable amount of time to spend walking through the visitors center and learning more about the tombs and history before hopping another short shuttle ride to Knowth first. The guide at Knowth was very helpful, thorough and interesting. You can't enter these tombs but I really enjoyed walking around the site and taking it all in. There's plenty to see and some beautiful views on a clear day. The visitors center is very well done... don't miss it. I almost wished we had just a little more time, like 15 minutes, to be honest. It's chock full of information. There are restrooms and they have a small gift shop and there won't be an opportunity to return (at least if you're on Mary's tour there won't be) so if you'd like a keepsake be sure to purchase it first. After Knowth it's back on the shuttle and out to Newgrange itself where small groups can go in with one of the very helpful and friendly guides. I thought for sure I would get claustrophobic but I had no trouble at all. All in all it was absolutely mesmerizing. 10000/10000 would go again.

So the way that I travel, I like to rent a car and just drive around with my partner. The best way…read moreto experience a new country is just to live like everybody there. So as we were driving along, we found this beautiful park drove into and really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. There's a beautiful walkway that takes you down to this building. As we open the doors, there's a greeter and I asked her a little bit about what this whole experiences and she didn't really have much information to give me. So I said why not let's go ahead and see what we got ourselves into. There is a beautiful museum and there is a beautiful café with lots of different treats and sandwiches and entrées. There's also a gift shop that has really great gifts that you could give to family and friends a couple of the items we got were a wishing Stone and a worry stone. The experience did not stop there, you have to walk down this beautiful pathway where everything is green and luscious and you get to a bus stop. The bus comes and takes you down this roadway that leads you to what we found out was a tomb. It was a surprise to us that we found out that this tomb was actually one of the oldest tombs in the world, even older than the Egyptians. As we get to the property, we see a beautiful architectural, severe round building with one little small entrance. The entrance to the tomb is narrow but a large man can still fit through it to see the experience. As we come to find out, it was a tomb, possibly from a rich family and Ireland that controlled most of the land. The family had incest to keep the power within. All of these are possibilities they do not know because of how old this is. Once in the tomb, you get to see that there are three burial plots, and there's a light experience to show that once a year the sun hits a certain way and lightslights the tomb up for a period of time. After you're done with that, you get back on the bus and they take you back to the museum area where you can go ahead and have lunch or you can be done with experience altogether. This all lasted maybe an hour or two and really gave us something to do when we did not have anything planned. This whole experience cost us about $26 and was pretty nice and learned something new that I did not know before.

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Newgrange
Newgrange
Newgrange

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King John's Castle - Historic 12th Century Carlingford Castle.

King John's Castle

5.0(2 reviews)
58.7 km

Carlingford is currently the home of President Joe Biden's Irish cousins. Great people. Just 8…read moremiles away. Carlingford is also a fine example of a medieval walled town, built at the time of the Normans in the 12th century. The Vikings had invaded Ireland in the 9th Century and historical records establish that they occupied Carlingford Lough. The name Carlingford is Scandinavian translating into 'Fjord of Carlinn'. The Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169 as allies of Irish King Dermot MacMurrough. By 1184 they had reached Carlingford. A Norman Knight, Sir John de Courcy claimed this part of Louth for himself. Sir John was a busy beggar. He arrived in Ireland in 1176 and by the time of his expulsion in 1204, he had conquered considerable territory, endowed religious establishments, built abbeys for the Benedictines (yes the monks that created champagne and benedictine), the Cistercians and he also built strongholds at Dundrum Castle in County Down and at Carrickfergus Castle in County Antrim. The very first historical reference to Carlingford dates to 1184 when Sir John gave the rights of the ferry at Carlingford to the Abbot of Downpatrick indicating that the harbour was in use as a ferry point. However, the town of Carlingford only developed after the castle known as King John's Castle was built. The castle today is a ruin, but it's still obvious what it was nearly a thousand years ago - a place of defence. As for its creator Sir John De Courcy, well he returned to Ireland, sailing across the Irish sea from the Isle of Man in July 1205 with Norse soldiers and a hundred boats. John and his army landed at Strangford and laid siege to Dundrum Castle in vain, because the defences he himself had made were too strong. King John then had John de Courcy imprisoned and he spent the rest of his life in poverty so the clerics he was so generous toward left him broke. He was subsequently released when he "crossed himself" to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. De Courcy died in obscurity just outside what is now Craigavon - I suppose anyone who dies there still departs in obscurity as the best thing about Craigavon, even a thousand years later, is still the road out of it.

As you drive into Carlingford King John's Castle sets the scene for the magnificent historical…read morevalue of this town. The views from the ledge are amazing and worth the bit of climbing to get up to it! Transports you back in time as you see all the way over to Warrenpoint and soak up the atmosphere from days gone by. Look out for the plaques dotted around to learn more!

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King John's Castle - 12th Century Carlingford Castle.

12th Century Carlingford Castle.

King John's Castle - 12th Century Carlingford Castle overlooking Carlingford Lough.

12th Century Carlingford Castle overlooking Carlingford Lough.

King John's Castle - Inside the walls of Carlingford Castle.

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Inside the walls of Carlingford Castle.

Hill Of Tara - landmarks - Updated May 2026

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