Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ritual site - holy tree/bush
Toonagh (bunratty Upper By.), County Clare, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Toonagh (bunratty Upper By.)
- County
- Clare
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- SMR number
- CL034-095011-
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
FitzPatrick (2004, 57-8) notes that during a raid on Magh Adhair by Máel Sechnaill, king of Temair in 982, the tree of Aenach-Maighe-Adhair was cut after being dug from the earth with its roots. Almost seventy years later, during the reign of Donnchad mac Briain, the ‘bile’ was prostrated once again from which it may be deduced that either it had not been fully destroyed in the attack of 982 or it had been replaced by another tree that was flourishing by 1052 (ibid.). FitzPatrick goes on to note that these events indicate the significance of the ‘bile’ of Magh Adhair to the Dál gCais kings and their enemies and that the ‘slat na righe’ or rod of kingship may have been cut from the ‘bile’.
Compiled by: Mary Tunney
Date of upload: 16 July 2018
References
FitzPatrick, E. 2004 Royal inauguration in Gaelic Ireland c.1100-1600: a cultural landscape study. Studies in Celtic History 22. Woodbridge. The Boydell Press.