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STORIES
Divining Da Dergas Hostel
The Dodder is no little stream, it is the most powerful and dangerous river in Ireland. This is because of it's catchment area which is a long high granite valley which has little absorption capacity and thereby immediate run-off creating huge torrents of powerful energy washing all and sundry away. In the past, unwitting gentlemen landowners have built splendid gardens on the banks of the Dodder only to have them washed away in minutes following a heavy thunderstorm.
It would not be possible to confuse the magnificent Dodder with a stream with only three trout.Today, the Dodder is tamed because of the construction of a second lake. This was built in the late 1800's. Two lakes allow the many spring waters that rise within the valley to be saved for drinking water while one of these lakes is mainly used to capture the rain fall. The rain water lake is "flushed" to allow new rain to be captured and then released under control. In the valley of Glenasmole is a smooth round hill known as Piperstown hill, it is on the east side of the valley, at about 1,000 feet.
It is the only hill in the valley and while the surrounding peaks are named in Irish, it has a modern English name. I would suggest this hill as the location for Da Derga's Hostel. It is uninhabited with a lovely view of the lakes, it is unfenced common ground used mainly by sheep. This beautiful hill is only ten minutes from the Square in Tallaght and to date I have never met anyone walking over it. I find it really hard to understand why previous researchers did not use all the information / clues that were available to them, because when I used them I found this site for a royal hostel with little effort.
The site has many features that would make it a prime location during our Bronze Age. It is readily defendable. It can see a fire at Tara. It commands the valley in which it lays. On the northern approach there is a huge Z shape that can be seen from miles away that may have been the chariot way. It has its own spring well. It also has the remains of possible ramparts of a enclosed large compound. It should always be remembered when studying the old 1833 maps that they were made by the British sappers. They recorded all sacred enclosures and ringforts as forts because they have defensive potential. They were making the maps (which were the worlds first and are incredible) to facilitate the handing over of large tracts of land to British Officers returning from overseas campaigns in lieu of full wages. They were not overly concerned with high ground because of it's relative low value and their concern with our ancient monuments was simply one of landmarks.
In an old legendary account of the Destruction of Da Dergas Hostel we have an account of the death of Conaire, King of Ireland, whose rule was good and reign peaceful. He was returning from a visit to Munster where he had settled a quarrel between two foster brothers of his and he stayed over at Da Dergas hostel. This hostel was always open with food and lodgings free to those upon the Kings business. These hostels belonged to the high kings office and were to be found only on the royal roads of which there were five.
These five royal roads all went to Tara where there are many easily accessible temples today including four holy wells. As you leave Piperstown Hill in Glenasmole heading northwest towards Tara you enter a townland that is called Bohernabreena. When we break this word into its parts we get;- Boher - na - Breena. Bohar does not mean road as is commonly assumed today, it means a "cowpath" or more literally a high walled narrow path in which a cow cannot turn around. Ireland's wealth was in cattle even in the Bronze Age. Na means "of the" and Breena means "hostel". Reconstructing the townland name of Boharnabreena we see it as - "the high walled narrow cowpath in which a cow cannot turn around belonging to the hostel".
The roads were called slí or slighe which was a chariot way and it was an offense to block a slí as I am sure it was an offense to break the wall of a bohar.The King was given a welcome and the feast was prepared by Da Derga himself. During the feast an earthquake shook the building "So that the weapons fell from their racks". King Conaire cried out aloud ...
"I do not know what it is, unless it be that the earth has been rent, or that the Leviathan encircling the earth is striking with its tail to overturn the world, or the boat of the sons of Donn Desa that has come to land".
Now a Leviation is a comet, which in ancient times was known as a fiery dragon. Norse legends tell us of three comets, a serpent, a wolf, and a dog, and in the book of Job, this Leviathan is referred to as the apostate dragon. It might be possible to cross reference the comet with the earthquake and thereby date Conaires death date exactly.
It was by the swords of the sons of Donn Desa that our Conaire died.Using divining rods on the potential site, which was after much research, I came across the crack left by that earthquake all those years ago. It is about six to eight feet wide, travels about north - south for hundreds / thousands of steps, and the now grassed over crack is clearly visible as a linear depression. Further south is a well known standing stone alignment, the remains of seven cairns, and maybe five stone circles, which I believe to be annotating this same earth fracture. Not far north is a Cist grave.
The highest point of the hill has a Bullaun stone, which is a huge boulder lying on its side with a 16 inch wide bowl carved into it. Standing beside the Bullaun stone there is a panoramic view to Tara and to Newgrange and to the sea at Howth. Part of the old story of the Destruction of Da Dergas hostel tells us that the hostel was visible from the sea, and this means that the sea was visible from the Hostel. This is the only place in the valley from which you can see the sea. Not only can you see the sea, you can see Howth and this means that the Sons of Donn Desa could have seen the huge fire declaring Conaires presence at the hostel. One of the five royal roads to Tara came from Da Dergas Hostel in Glenasmole, and it is perfectly appropriate that Tara could be seen from the Hostel. Glenasmole has long been thought of as the Valley of the Thrushes, but a friend, Thomas Maher, an Irish scholar, has brought us a proper translation as "the glen of the burnt out ruins".
From this site you can also see the cairns on Tallaght and Saggart hills. After Conaires death the wooden hostel was burned as was the tradition. There would only be postholes as an indicator of its existence. These are hidden under the blanket bog that covers the hill. In the 1960's a bog fire on a section of this hill burned for many days and revealed the remains of seven stone cairns. These seven cairns are in a line that I believe is also the line of the earthquake fracture. What makes them important is the fact that thousands of flint shards or flakes were found indicating industrial activity from the earliest phase of Ireland's occupation. Flint did not go out of fashion until metal knives became easily and cheaply available so they may have been still in production even during Conaires time. I have taken members of HAG the Divining Club to this site on numerous HAG Event Days, and the divining effects over this earthquake crack are quite powerful.
This quiet little hill has survived re-occupation since the earthquake as if the locals held a memory of the fateful day. Members of the JRSAI have looked for this hostel for over a hundred years, many papers suggesting locations have been published, but none have been validated. This is the first time I have published my work on this piece of Irish History. On Monday the 18th of March, HAG will visit the standing stone circles and the long line of stones over the earthquake crack on the south side of the hill of the Hostel of Da Derga.
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