Dún Ailinne (; sometimes anglicized Dun Aulin) is an ancient ceremonial site on the hill of Cnoc Ailinne (Knockaulin) in

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the count ...

, Ireland. It is southwest of Kilcullen, near the

R418 road The R418 road is a regional road in Ireland, which runs north-south from the R448 at Kilcullen to Athy, County Kildare, and then to the N81 in Tullow, County Carlow. En route it meets and shortly later leaves the N78 in the town of Athy, an ...

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 9,677 (as of the 2016 census) makes it the sixth largest town in Kild ...

. It is a large circular enclosure covering most of the hilltop; about 13 hectares. While there is no longer anything visible on the ground surface, archeological investigations show that there were once circular timber structures (or rings of upright timbers) inside the enclosure during the Irish Iron Age (ca 400 BCE - 400 CE). According to

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later Early Irish ...

, Dún Ailinne was one of the great royal sites of early

Gaelic Ireland Gaelic Ireland ( ga, Éire Ghaelach) was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the late prehistoric era until the early 17th century. It comprised the whole island before Anglo-Normans c ...

and was believed in the Early Medieval period to have been where the

Kings of Leinster Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

were inaugurated. These documents were written long after the site was in common use, however, and the site's relationship to Early Medieval kings remains unclear. It is similar to the other royal sites of Tara (Kings of Meath), Navan Fort (Kings of Ulster) and Rathcroghan (Kings of Connacht). The site is on private property and is not open to public access. The hill is above sea level and so visible from many places in the surrounding area. The best view of the site is from the Old Kilcullen churchyard in Old Kilcullen (where there is also a round tower), which is free and open to the public. Dún Ailinne should not be confused with the Hill of Allen (Cnoc Alúine), which is to the northwest.

History and purpose

The site is circular, about 13 ha (32 ac) in area, ringed by an earth bank and ditch (or "

henge There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...

"). As with most henges, the ditch is on the inside, meaning that it was likely to have been symbolic rather than defensive. It is believed that Dún Ailinne was a royal centre and inaugural or ceremonial site for the

. In terms of its ritual use, the internal structures and layout, and its location and association, is similar to the other royal sites of Tara, Navan Fort and Rathcroghan (Johnston 2006). Indications of earliest use are from the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

period, but the main activity there was during the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

. It does not seem to have been dwelt in year-round, but was instead mostly used for short-term activity, including ritual. It seems to have been occupied during the Spring/Summer months and there is evidence of cooking, which include a great deal of bone from cows, sheep, pigs, deer and horses (Crabtree 2007, in Johnston and Wailes 2007). A La Tène style sword and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

bronze

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity ...

e have also been found at the site (Johnston and Wailes 2007). While it figures in some early historical references, Dún Ailinne was mostly abandoned about the time the nearby early Christian settlement at

Old Kilcullen ''Old Kilcullen'', formerly ''Kilcullen'' (''Cill Chuilinn'', "the Church of the Holly" in Irish), is a townland in County Kildare, Ireland, which includes a noted religious archaeological site within its boundary. As a townland it is rel ...

was established in the 6th century.

Structures

Excavations during the 1960s and '70s found that there were once timber structures within the ring. There were three phases of construction, each including rings of upright timber posts. One of these, the Rose phase, had a figure of eight layout, with one large ring, an annexe to the south, and an elaborate funnel-shaped entrance. The later Mauve phase had a stakewall, within which were a timber ring and smaller, closed, circular structure. The last phase was characterized by ceremonial feasting, indicated by a large amount of animal bone (Johnston and Wailes 2007).

Study

Dún Ailinne was the subject of archeological research between 1968 and 1975 by a team from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

led by Bernard Wailes. More recently, a geophysical survey of the interior was carried out by a joint American and Irish team (Johnston, Campana, and Crabtree 2009). This revealed a large number of new subsurface features whose character is unclear. Following some scholarly journal publications, a book was released by an American university publisher in 2007, by Bernard Wailes and Susan Johnston. In 2008, an interpretative site was opened at Nicholastown, a townland just south of Kilcullen, featuring a bilingual information panel (Irish and English) and a small-scale reproduction of the mound, topped by a sculpture.

Current status and access

The whole site is on private farmland and casual access is restricted due to difficulties with livestock; if there are cattle on the hill then access is not possible. If they are not there, however, you can ask the landowner and you may be given permission to have a stroll around the site.

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dun Ailinne Kilcullen Archaeological sites in County Kildare Mountains and hills of County Kildare Royal sites of Ireland Locations in Celtic mythology