Richard and I visited Rath Lugh today (May 7th 2007) and saw close-up the damage which has been done there so far. Difficult as this may be to believe, it seems that no archaeological work has yet been carried out on the portion of the hill at Rath Lugh which is within the land take of the motorway. This is despite the fact that archaeological work on other sites along the route, including the nearby Lismullen henge, is well advanced or, in some cases, finished. For now, I'll let the pictures do the talking and will post an article later:

(Note: All these photos are copyright free, and may be used in any publication.]


The pathway of the motorway, between the fences, coming towards Rath Lugh from Lismullen. What worries me about this photo is that the fence on the right is angled, and the road take clearly narrows coming towards Rath Lugh. Will further damage be inflicted on the side of this site in coming months?

While it might appear that only tree-felling was carried out at Rath Lugh, there are signs of digging and caterpillar tracks have also left their mark. But why no archaeological digging?

The motorway "take" looking south, with the slope of Rath Lugh on the left.

Rath Lugh is listed as a promontory fort. It is clearly a very massive and impressive monument, built onto a natural feature. As well as giant rings, the hill also appears to contain a mound, possibly a motte or passage-tomb.

What price progress?

Nature pays a heavy toll for this motorway.

The remains of one of many trees sacrificed for the road.

Old fence, new fence. In times gone by, what lay behind the old fence was sacred, ancient. Today, the fence has moved. Nothing is sacred any more.

The Gabhra river snakes its way through the Tara-Skryne valley within metres of the new road.

Old mound, new mound. The mound in the background is spoil from the stripping of the landscape by huge machines.

Island of the Setting Sun authors Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore at the site of the M3 at Rath Lugh.

Where's the archaeological work?

Richard Moore surveys the damage at Rath Lugh.

See more photos from Rath Lugh here:
http://www.mythicalireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=387

Lugh's last stand

Lugh, this will not stand.
How are we to protect this place?
Shall we lie down in front of the bulldozers,
or shall we, like the masses, turn our heads
the other way
and accept this monument to failure?

What about the badgers?
What say they, that live in Rath Lugh?

The old tales tell that some day,
you will return again to this world from your mounds,
to save Ireland from destruction and doom.

Has your time now come?

Some questions about Rath Lugh and the M3:

(More will be added as I think of them).

1) Why does the width of the motorway channel narrow towards Rath Lugh from the north?

2) Why has no archaeological digging taken place at that portion of the Rath Lugh hill which has been damaged during deforestation works?

3) Is Rath Lugh the biggest obstacle to the M3?

4) What are all the blue and red paint marks all over Rath Lugh about?

5) Where is the "National Monument" sign for Rath Lugh, the same sign that appears all over this country at every kind of monument imaginable?

6) What prominence do the Ordnance Survey maps give to Rath Lugh?

7) Is the Lismullen henge find a convenient distraction, to avert the public's gaze from Rath Lugh?

8 ) Is there really such thing as ghosts? (There are a lot of skeletons in Gabhra valley).

Roads agency denies damage to Tara site

By - Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

The National Roads Authority (NRA) has denied that directions by
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche to protect archaeology along the
M3 motorway route are being "openly flouted" by works now under way.

Celtic scholar Dr. Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, of the Save Tara campaign,
has written to Mr. Roche and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern complaining that
damage had been done to Rath Lugh, a designated national monument.

"The tree felling and use of heavy digging machinery at Lismullin and at
the base of Rath Lugh - one of Tara's outlying defensive fortifications
- is not being carried out in accordance with the Minister's directions".

Dr. Ní Bhrolcháin said standards of best archaeological practice were
not being observed and that the directions issued by Mr. Roche in May
2005 regarding the treatment of archaeological sites "are being openly
flouted".

But Mary Deevy, project archaeologist with the NRA, insisted that a site
in a Save Tara photograph was part of an esker ridge - "two fields away
from Rath Lugh" - which was used for private small-scale gravel quarrying.

She had walked from Lismullin to Rath Lugh earlier this month with
Heather King, a senior archaeologist from the department, "who confirmed
that no damage had been done to archaeological sites" in the area.

Asked if the Minister's directions were being flouted, Ms. Deevy said:
"Absolutely not". She added that the contractors involved in the work
were fully informed on archaeological sites "and know very well what
sites to avoid".

Mr. Roche had specified that the removal of forestry and topsoil at
Lismullin and Ardsallagh was to be "carried out under archaeological
supervision" and all construction topsoil stripping was to be
archaeologically monitored.

"There is no archaeological supervision of forestry clearance at
Lismullin", Dr. Ní Bhrolcháin said. "Neither is there any archaeological
monitoring of large-scale earthmoving from the base of the Rath Lugh
escarpment".

"Such actions completely undermine Rath Lugh and the assurances given by
the Minister in relation to this, one of our nation's most sensitive
archaeological and historical landscapes", her statement said.

She explained that Rath Lugh "stands as a sentry over the Gabhra Valley
guarding the northern and north-western approaches to the Hill [of Tara]
and overlooks other nearby recorded archaeological monuments".

Dr. Ní Bhrolcháin said stratified archaeological sediments were visible
in photographs of damage done to what she claimed was Rath Lugh. "If
there were archaeological supervision such works would have been brought
to a halt".

She also queried why such work had started under cover of darkness when an archaeologist would be unlikely to see freshly disturbed
archaeological strata.

Although the Minister had said that his directions were "both
comprehensive and onerous" and would "protect heritage" sites along the
M3, Dr. Ní Bhrolcháin said that his expressed wishes "are being
'comprehensively' ignored".

© The Irish Times, 16th. January 2007.

Look at how the road take narrows towards Rath Lugh:

Richard and I have been looking at the Ordnance Survey maps tonight. We were engaging in our age-old pursuit of drawing lines on maps.

Turns out Rath Lugh is very interesting. A line from the centre of Rath Maeve (a huge embanked enclosure south of the Hill of Tara) through Rath Lugh finds Newgrange !! Bingo. More ancient alignments going on here.

A line from the Mound of the Hostages through Rath Lugh heads towards Baltray, site of the standing stones at the mouth of the Boyne.

There's definitely something going on here. Surprisingly, Rath Lugh is not named on the Discovery Series map, but is rather just marked as being a 114m peak with a wee red circle on it.

The plot thickens . . .

Also threaten with destruction by the road builders is the historical well on Rath Lugh. Check pic at
http://wicklowwolf.pictiger.com/images/14353042/ .
Engineers working for the NRA recently claimed to protesters "that they would be entitled to move across the well".