Brian Ború Country-Footprints of History

Posted on April 10, 2014 by clarevirtually

Come walk with me in the Footprints of History……………

One thousand years ago on Good Friday 23rd April 1014, Ireland’s High King Brian Ború of Thomond (Munster) fought and won a famous battle against Viking invaders at Clontarf outside Dublin. His army of 4900 men had battled 3000 Viking Warriors from Dublin and The Isle of Man and 4000 Leinster men. The battle had raged all day with skirmishes all through what are now known as Drumcondra, Phibsborough and Marino. He retired to his tent to rest and, whilst there, one of the Viking leaders from the Isle of Man called Brodir came across Brian’s tent and killed the 73-year-old with his axe.

A painting of the Battle of Clontarf by Hugh Frazer (1826)

Brian Ború had ruled Ireland as High King for 12 years from 1002 until his death in 1014, from his palace in Kincora (Killaloe, Co. Clare). During his life he fought many battles against the Viking raiders, who for two hundred years had terrorised the Irish people by constant raiding and pillaging. The Vikings had got a foothold in Dublin (translation Dubh Linn or Black Pool). Brian had arranged marriage alliances between his family and other Irish Chieftains. His intention was to cement all these alliances and become the High King of all of Ireland. The Vikings were a constant thorn in his side though, challenging his position as High King, and he had battled and won against them, many times in Munster.

A statue of Brian Ború in Tuamgraney, Co. Clare

In 1014 one of the marriage alliances fell apart as Mael Mordha, King of Leinster revolted against Brian and joined forces with Vikings in Dublin. They then attacked the kingdom of Mael Seachlainn in Co. Meath who sent word to Brian Ború looking for assistance. Brian didn’t know, as he gathered his forces of Munster men and Dalcassians that this would be his last battle.

The Catholic church in Killaloe sits on the site of the Banqueting hall of the Palace in Kincora.

The Catholic church in Killaloe sits on the site of the Banqueting hall of Brian’s Palace of Kincora.

Kincora was the site of Brian’s Palace and it was in what is now known as Killaloe in Co. Clare. During his reign Kincora was the capital of Ireland. The palace was situated on top of a hill overlooking a ford on the mighty river Shannon. This position was a stronghold against Viking raiders who had come up the Shannon from Limerick Estuary in order to pillage the many Monasteries and other sacred places on the banks and islands of the river.

This Bridge spans the Shannon directly under the site of the Palace of Kincora.

Up stream a mile from the Palace of Kincora stood Brian Ború’s Fort at Béal Ború. It is said that Brian was born and reared here. It is a beautiful location at the very southern tip of Lough Derg as it narrows into the river again. It is thought that because of the narrow strip of water here that it would have been used as a shelter for boats on the Lough, and also a place for cattle to cross the river. It is a very peaceful place for visitors and you can sit and think about the history and watch boats sailing and cruising past along the river.

Béal Ború is said to be the place where Brian Ború was born and reared.

The mound which was once an unfinished Motte & Bailey is now ringed by Beech Trees.

Béal Ború is now ringed by Beech trees.

You can feel a sense of history in Killaloe and as you walk up the main street to the site of the Palace you will see how commanding a position it held on the summit. Coincidentally the Police station and Catholic Church now reside on the site. Church and State holding onto a power position maybe ? There are several restaurants and coffee shops in Killaloe/Ballina where you can take a break before continuing to explore Brian Ború Country. Here’s a link to Flanagan’s on the Lake which is on the riverside across the bridge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiPUj-xz47Q

Eleven miles from Killaloe along the Western shore of Lough Derg you will come across Raheen Wood. It is one of the last few acres of the great forests that once ringed the Lough. In it you will see one of the oldest trees in Ireland. The Brian Ború Oak is thought to be over 1000 years old. Giant oaks like this covered the land around the Lough and nearly every one was cut down to produce charcoal for iron making in the 17th Century. (That’s a story for another Blog Post in the not too distant future)

One of the oldest trees in Ireland. The Brian Ború Oak is thought to be over 1000 years old.

One of the oldest trees in Ireland. The Brian Ború Oak is thought to be well over 1000 years old.

The huge trunk of the Brian Ború Oak.

Allegedly, during a raid on Lough Derg’s Holy Island by the Vikings, one of their boats was holed. They needed an oak plank to repair it and they took a branch from the Brian Ború Oak. You can see where they cut it from in the photo above.

Just beside Raheen Woods is the village of Tuamgraney and here you will find the East Clare Heritage Centre. It is situated in St. Cronan’s Church which was built in the early 10th Century. Brian Ború had a long association with this Church and is mentioned as having had the bell tower repaired. There is a museum in St. Cronan’s, and from April on, it is open to the public. Here you can find out about Brian Ború’s connections to the Church and surrounding area.

St. Cronan's Church in Tuamgraney. The oldest church in ireland still in use.

St. Cronan’s Church, Tuamgraney. The oldest church in Ireland still in use.

Here is a link to the virtual tour of the East Clare Heritage Centre

http://www.clarevirtually.ie/eastclareheritagecentretuamgraney.php

During his reign Brian Ború’s name has been mentioned as building seven monasteries and 32 Round Towers or “Cloictheachs”. So we can assume that Brian was responsible for building the Cloitheach on Holy Island which is situated on Lough Derg off Mountshannon.

The Round Tower and one of the Churches on Holy Island.

Here you will find the ruins of six churches, a holy well and other ancient structures like a bargaining stone where marriages were performed and deals were struck. Holy Island is one of the most famous monastic sites in Ireland and probably one of the best preserved. As I said earlier the Vikings attacked holy sites on Lough Derg and along the Shannon and the first recorded one here was in 836AD. Brian is said to have rebuilt one of the churches after a Viking attack. His brother Marcán was also Bishop Abbot of the Monastery on Holy Island.

Holy Island has the ruins of six churches with some dating back 1400 years.

You can access Holy Island only by boat. It is an amazing place to visit and even better if you hire Gerard Madden to bring you out and give you a guided tour. Here is a link to the virtual tour of Holy Island.

http://www.clarevirtually.ie/holyislandtours.php

It has always been thought that the Round Towers were built to protect the valuables of the churches from Viking raiders. Lately though it is thought they were built as a signpost for pilgrims, and that from the top of each tower you could see the next point on the pilgrimage.

Here’s the link to a video of an aerial tour of Lough Derg at sunset, featuring Holy Island.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIrFdZkt7LA

Brian Ború Country.

Armagh is said to be the burial-place of Brian Ború, but there is a legend that he was buried on one of the islands on Lough Derg. The biggest island on the Lough is called Illaunmore and on the southerly tip is a 3 metre high standing stone that was whitewashed every year for hundreds of years. The story goes that Brian’s followers were bringing him home and procured boats in Banagher, Co. Offaly. They intended to travel to Killaloe with the bodies of Brian, and his son Murchadh but the weather was very warm and the bodies deteriorated very quickly. Brian’s followers then decided to bury them on Illaunmore facing towards Killaloe. The standing stone allegedly marks the grave.

A misty sunrise on Lough Derg. Brian Ború Country

So. it has been a Millennium since the death of Brian Ború who was probably the greatest High King of Ireland. His success at Clontarf will be celebrated on the 23rd April and throughout 2014. Come visit Brian Ború Country in Co. Clare sometime, and walk in the “Footprints of History”.

Here’s a link to a video of other heritage sites and tourism products on & around Lough Derg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJXk1Rj08ek

All photographs and videos ©Eoin O’Hagan/clarevirtually.ie

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The life, death and struggles of the White Tail Sea Eagles (on Lough Derg)

Posted on March 7, 2014 by clarevirtually

The beautiful body of water that is Lough Derg on the mighty river Shannon woke up this morning to the reality that it had lost one of its treasures. One of the White Tail Eagle Chicks had been found dead on the shore of the lough in Ballinderry Co. Tipperary. If it had died naturally it would have been sad, but to hear that it had been shot was horrific. It appeared to have been at close range too as its body was peppered with several dozen lead shots from a shotgun cartridge. Bad enough that it was shot, this was compounded by the fact it was left to die. The chick had been injured but not fatally. A broken wing and leg left it unable to fly, and subsequently unable to feed it starved to death, it’s thought over 3 weeks. All that time the poor creature would have been in a lot of pain.

The story of Lough Derg’s Eagles starts in a reintroduction scheme by “The Golden Eagle Trust”which is an Irish NGO. The White Tail Sea Eagle had been extinct in Ireland for over 100 years. Hunting pressures and habitat destruction had brought an end to these magnificent raptors hunting over Irish seas and land.

The White Tail reintroduction scheme sourced Eagle chicks in Norway (where they live in abundance), in 2006/7 and brought them to Kerry where they were released into Killarney national park. The rocky and steep mountains there are ideal places for Eagles to live, breed and hunt. Being wild creatures though once they’re released they can fly anywhere. This they did, and two of them, a male and female luckily (for us), came to Lough Derg.

They built a nest in 2012 on a small island on Lough Derg near Mountshannon in Co. Clare called Bushy Island. The island is well named as it is totally over grown and covered in live and dead trees. More importantly it’s uninhabited which is important for nesting White Tail Sea Eagles. The tree that the two Eagles picked to nest in was on a part of the island that was visible from Mountshannon pier. This made it a perfect spot for people to watch, from the pier, the comings and goings at the nest. Unlike visitors to Dingle who have to go out on the sea (naturally), to get a glimpse of “Fungi” the Dolphin, in Mountshannon, you could sit in your car if it was raining, and with the aid of binoculars or a spotting scope look directly into the nest.

There was great excitement locally, and nationally when the news broke that the two eagles may have an egg or two that might hatch Ireland’s first White Tail Eagle chick in over 100 years. People flocked (excuse the pun) to the small Co. Clare town and looked out over the 500 mts of water to see the nest, all the time hoping that a little fluffy feathered head might appear over the edge.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and early in May the nest failed. Normally either the male or female eagle would usually be on the nest. The first sign of trouble was when both parents were off the nest for an hour. The appearance of Grey Crows near the nest at the same time heightened the fears of everyone. An investigation the next day confirmed that an egg had been in the nest but all that was left was a few fragments of shell. The disappointment was palpable around the pier in Mountshannon, and people who had been there every day for 6 weeks found it hard to believe. It was all over and as the news broke visitors stopped coming to the pier, and the interest waned.

The male and female Eagle stayed around Lough Derg even though the nest had failed. Whilst the focus was no longer fixed on the nest it was still possible to see both Eagles regularly taking fish from the lough. Many of the local fishermen and hunters who spend time on the lough told tales of the birds “eyeing” up their catch. I heard one story from a duck hunter who shot a duck and when it hit the water an Eagle swooped down and took it. These White Tails are opportunists too and will eat any carrion but their favourite is fish.

In March 2013 all the locals in Mountshannon waited with bated breath to see would the Eagles return to the nest on Bushy Island. Indeed they returned to the island alright, but to a different tree. Nigel Beers-Smith (a wildlife photographer and film-maker), took up station on the pier and filmed every move the Eagles made. He filmed hours and hours of footage; Huge events like the mating of the Eagles on the top branch of a tree, the nest-building, the male and female catching fish and feeding each other, and when hatched, the first shot of a White Tail Chick raising its fluffy feathered head over the side of the nest. This event created huge excitement on the pier, and in the press as the two chicks were Ireland’s first to hatch in the wild in over 100 years.

Things went wrong fairly quickly. Something spooked both the male and female parents, and they both abandoned the chicks in the nest and stopped bringing food to them. Panic ensued in Mountshannon and after three days when neither parent had returned to feed the chicks it was decided to go out to Bushy island and hand feed them. This continued regularly for several weeks until the male parent eventually returned with food for the chicks. The female didn’t return to Bushy though until the chicks eventually fledged and left the nest. A huge sigh of relief went around Mountshannon when both chicks were spotted out, with either the mother or father, learning how to fly, catch fish, and start to fend for themselves.

As the Summers bright days faded to Autumn the two parents made the chicks move on and range out across the Lough and surrounding countryside themselves. The juveniles regularly visited their parents though, and one day last September one of the chicks came to Mountshannon Harbour, and perched in a tall conifer forty feet up over the car park. I managed to get some photos and video that day, and it was thrilling to see a White Tail Chick so close, and the interest it was showing at the comings and goings in the harbour. It eventually flew silently off across the lough in search of its parents or maybe on a fishing expedition.

During last winter there were reports from local, fishermen, hunters, walkers and householders, of sightings of one or more of the chicks or the parent birds. There were sightings on Lough Derg and the surrounding countryside, from Woodford in Co. Galway to O’Callaghans Mills in Co. Clare the birds had been spotted. This is no surprise because with a wingspan of 8ft in an adult, they could fly a long distance in a short length of time. The Eagles could range out for many miles, but these ones seem to like Lough Derg.

Maybe because the fishing is so good. I wish I was as successful at catching fish as the eagles are.

Last Tuesday morning I had some free time so I decided to go to Mountshannon and see if any of the White Tails were about. As soon as I arrived I spotted a solitary Eagle flying South along the Lough towards Ogonnelloe and maybe further towards Killaloe. Then I saw both parent Eagles flying together over Mountshannon Bay in what looked like an “aerial ballet”. It’s a spectacular sight to behold and is worth waiting on the pier to see. It was then I heard from one of the other people there about the death of one of the chicks. The wanton destruction of one of Mother Nature’s most precious gifts to Ireland.

Please respect these fantastic and beautiful Eagles. They deserve a chance at life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RFDkgPoRj0

Thank you to Nigel Beers-Smith for allowing me to use some of his photos. Please visit his website http://www.irelandsfirst.com and buy a DVD or his beautiful book “Ireland’s First in 100 Years”

Please support the work of The Golden Eagle Trust as without their expertise and the work by project manager Dr. Allan Mee there would be no White Tail Sea Eagles in Ireland.