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The Royal Sites of Ireland is a cross-border cultural heritage project in collaboration between the Irish Government, the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • Hill of Tara
  • Rock of Cashel
  • Navan Fort
  • Hill of Uisneach
  • Rathcroghan
  • Dún Ailinne
  • Article A Journey to the Irish Royal Hill of Tara

    A Royal Irish Journey: Exploring the Hill of Tara with Neil Jackman

  • Video Bealtaine Fire Festival

    Bealtaine Festival – Documented through the years (2017-2024)

  • Podcast Bealtaine – The Hill of Uisneach, Handfasting and the Hawthorn

    Sally Mooney talks about the ancient Celtic festival of Bealtaine. She speaks of the importance of the Hill of Uisneach, the tradition of handfasting at this time, and the significance of the Hawthorn tree.

  • Book Cashel – History & Guide

    This book explores the History of Cashel from earliest times to the modern day and accompanies the tale with black and white and colour images.

  • Podcast Cashel of the Kings – Amplify Archaeology Podcast

    Excavations at the Rock of Cashel. We join Dr. Patrick Gleeson at the Rock of Cashel for a trench-side chat.

  • Article Columbia College – Dún Ailinne

    This four-week field season is designed to offer students the opportunity to participate in all aspects of an archaeological excavation.

  • Podcast Digging Dun Ailinne - Amplify Archaeology Podcast

    Looming large over the plains of Kildare is a large tree-lined hill. This is Dún Áilinne, believed to be one of Ireland’s ancient ‘royal sites’, and a place of significance for millennia

  • Article Documenting Ireland – The Rock of Cashel

    The Rock of Cashel, also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick’s Rock, is a historic site located at Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland.

  • Book Dun Ailinne: Excavations at an Irish Royal Site, 1968-1975

    The site of Dn Ailinne is one of four major ritual sites from the Irish Iron Age, each said to form the centre of a political kingdom and thus described as "royal."

  • Article Emania – Bulletin of the Navan Research Group

    The Navan Research Group (NRG) was formed in the spring of 1986, when quarrying threatened to destroy the archaeological remains of Navan Fort (Emain Macha), Ulster's ancient capital.

  • Podcast Farming Rathcroghan – Amplify Archaeology Podcast

    In this episode, Neil travels to one of Ireland’s most significant archaeological landscapes, Rathcroghan, to discover an important and innovative project that is helping farmers to protect the archaeology on their land.

  • Podcast Irish Hillforts - Amplify Archaeology Podcast

    Dig into the Story of Irish Hillforts in Amplify Archaeology Podcast Episode 43 with Dr James O’Driscoll

  • Book Landscapes of Kingship in Early Medieval Ireland AD 400-1150

    This volume is the first interdisciplinary study of early Irish kingship, combining archaeology and history; explores Uí Néill, Éoganachta, Tara, Cashel, led by Patrick Gleeson.

  • Book Navan Fort – legendary capital of prehistoric Ulster

    The guide presents an overview of the archaeology of Navan Fort, County Armagh, the Early Iron Age monument identified in early written sources as Emain Macha, the headquarters and sacred space of the Ulster king Conchobar and his warriors.

  • Podcast Origins of Samhain - Interview with Rathcroghan Visitor Centre

    In this episode, Mol returns home to Tulsk to talk to Elaine Conroy and Daniel Curley, two historians from Rathcroghan Visitor Centre, to talk about the area of Rathcroghan; Ireland's Ancient Capital.

  • Article Procession and symbolism at Tara

    Procession and symbolism at Tara: analysis of Tech Midchúarta (the Banqueting Hall) in the context of the sacral campus

  • Book Rathcroghan: Archaeological and Geophysical Survey in a Ritual Landscape

    The authors have completed a major programme of archaeological field research in the Rathcroghan area of Roscommon in the west of Ireland.

  • Video Royal Sites of Ireland – Full Film

    The Royal sites of Ireland are said to be places that are since time immemorial, the capitals of major regional territories on the island of Ireland and places where political power and authority stems from.

  • Article The Kingship & Landscape of Tara

    Authoritative essays on ritual kingship and Tara’s sacred landscape.

  • Article Tracing Sovereignty in the Soil

    Archaeologist Daniel Curley revisits ancient sites across Roscommon

  • Podcast Tuatha – Oweynagat Cave

    Underneath a hawthorn tree yawns the black mouth of a cave. Is it the Gates of Hell? Or a portal to the Otherworld?

  • Book Uisneach or the Centre of Ireland

    The hill of Uisneach lies almost exactly at the geographical centre of Ireland. Remarkably, a fraction at least of the ancient Irish population was aware of that fact.

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Thanks To

The Thompson Family (Dún Ailinne)  

Farming Rathcroghan

Rathcroghan Visitor Centre

The Clarke Family (Uisneach)

The Hill of Uisneach Visitor Centre