dun ailline Community day
We really enjoyed the Open Day at Dun Ailinne on Sunday 10 July, where we viewed the latest excavations.(The Dun Ailinne site is on private farmland and no access is available to the public without prior permission.)
Archaeological investigations have been carried out on Dun Ailinne with the permission of the landowner since the 1960s, and students from the Universities of New York and Washington travel to the site each summer. Dun Ailinne is believed to have been where the ancient Kings of Leinster were inaugurated and is considered to be one of the great ceremonial sites of Iron-Age Ireland. However, indications of its earliest use are from the Neolithic period (4000-2500 BCE), continuing through the Bronze-Age (2500-500 BCE) and into the Iron Age (500 BCE - 500 CE) when activity at the site reached its peak.
The site consists of a massive circular enclosure (c. 13 hectares - covering the entire summit of Knockaulin), surrounded by the largest henge in Ireland; with a circumference of 1.45km and a depth of c. 4.5m. Constructing the henge would have been an enormous undertaking, requiring the excavation of 30,000 tons of rock and soil. As with most ceremonial sites, the ditch is on the inside, meaning that it was likely to have had a symbolic or ritual purpose, rather than it being a defensive structure.
Since our visit to Dún Áilinne, it has been added to the UNESECO World Heritage List. The Tentative List is an inventory of natural and cultural heritage sites that may have potential to demonstrate Outstanding Universal Value and therefore considered suitable for nomination to the World Heritage List.
We welcome this decision as one of the three existing quarries surrounding Kilcullen sits at the foot of Dún Ailinne, Ballysaxhills (The proposed quarry at Racefield Ballyshannon will be the 4th). The proposed Racefield quarry here in Ballyshannon would further scar the landscape and sightlines visible from the ancient site, and the potential for damage to the ancient site both from Racefield and Ballysaxhills is considerable. Kilsaran applied for an extension to the Ballysaxhills quarry site (at the foot of Dun Ailinne) in 2020, which was turned down at Kildare County Council Level.
Kilsaran have appealed this decision at An Bord Pleanala and the case is awaiting a decision.
View of Ballysaxhills Quarry at the foot of Dún Áilinne.
The quarries surrouding Kilcullen, including our proposed quarry on the greenfield site at Racefield, Ballyshannon
