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Rathcroghan – The Guidebook 2nd Edition

18.00
New Edition 2023 now available to order.

This second edition of the Rathcroghan Guidebook contains updated and new imagery and text alongside entries on every aspect of Rathcroghan, from its archaeological and historical landscapes, through to its literary and mythological associations. This publication is the quintessential user’s guide to this fascinating archaeological landscape. Drawing upon historical, literary and cutting-edge archaeological research, Rathcroghan: The Guidebook is designed to bring the reader on a journey through time at Rathcroghan, from the first settlers to this broad limestone plain in the Neolithic period, through to the political mechanics of late medieval Machaire Connacht.

Thereafter, you will be taken on a journey of a different kind. You will see how our ancestors wove a tapestry of literature on top of this canvas of Rathcroghan, connecting physical landmarks and ancestor burials with the intoxicating narrative of Queen Medb of Connacht and the Ulster Cycle of Tales, filled with war and strife, jealousy and intrigue, gods and mere mortals.

PAGAN IRELAND, Ritual and Belief in Another World – John Waddell

30.00
RITUAL AND BELIEF IN ANOTHER WORLD.

Archaeologists frequently come across puzzling evidence for ritual activity and Pagan Ireland looks at some of these discoveries. This is a survey of the many rituals and beliefs that were vitally important elements of life in ancient Ireland over several thousand years from at least 4000 BC. Driven by a very human desire to make sense of the world and transform their lives, people created sacred spaces and monuments to facilitate communication with the gods and with ancestral figures. A multiplicity of sacred phenomena were a part of everyday experience, with landscapes and objects often holding unworldly meaning.

Written for a general readership, this wide-ranging study draws on archaeological evidence and on what is known about ritual practices in other cultures to address the difficult question of what beliefs might lie behind certain ritual activities. Sometimes it is possible to make a plausible guess as to what these may have been. A circle of stones was more than just a way of marking a sacred space, the round plan was an expression of a belief in a circular, cyclical cosmos as witnessed in the path of the sun and the fixed stars, and in the rhythm of the year.

Sun worship is recorded throughout prehistory and is apparent not just at famous sites like Newgrange but in imagery in gold and bronze at a later date. The great disc of the sun travelled across the daytime sky and at night was believed to descend beneath the earth in the west, traversing a mysterious underworld, to rise again in the east.

Funerary ceremonies, solar symbolism, magical metalworking, an enduring belief in the cosmic circle, fertility rites, idol worship and much more were all a part of a great pagan tapestry. Veneration of the old gods survived well into Christian times.

John Waddell, formerly Professor of Archaeology in the University of Galway, has written extensively on Irish archaeology. His work on Rathcroghan, a place like Tara that is rich in myth and legend, inspired his interest in Celtic mythology and publications like Archaeology and Celtic Myth (2014).

Archaeology and Celtic Myth – John Waddell

25.00

In this book John Waddell contends that elements of pre-Christian Celtic myth preserved in medieval Irish literature shed light on older traditions and beliefs not just in Ireland but elsewhere in Europe as well. He mainly focuses on aspects of the mythology associated with four well-known Irish archaeological landscapes: Newgrange and the Boyne Valley, the royal sites of Rathcroghan in Co. Roscommon, Navan in Co. Armagh, and Tara in Co. Meath. Their mythological associations permit the pursuit of the archaeological implications of several mythic themes, namely sacral kingship, a sovereignty goddess, solar cosmology and the perception of an Otherworld.

 

Ancient Folk Tales of Ireland

20.00

Ancient Folk Tales of Ireland

(by Douglas Hyde, illustrated by Paul Bolger)

Over one hundred and twenty years ago a young man set about collecting Irish folk tales before they were lost forever. He taught himself Irish so that he could write the stories down as they were told, by storytellers beside the fire, word for word.  Ancient Folk Tales of Ireland contains six of those stories, each brought to life with stunning illustrations.

That young man was Douglas Hyde, he would become one of Ireland’s finest scholars, working to preserve Ireland’s ancient heritage for future generations. In later life he would become Ireland’s first president but he is equally remembered for the wonderful stories he helped to keep alive.

Beautifully illustrated by Paul Bolger, this collection is based on those stories collected by Douglas Hyde.

 

Royal Inauguration In Gaelic Ireland C.1100 - 1600: A Cultural Landscape Study (Studies In Celtic History)Out of stock

Royal Inauguration In Gaelic Ireland C.1100 – 1600: A Cultural Landscape Study (Studies In Celtic History)

65.00

This investigation considers the places on the Irish landscape where open-air Gaelic royal inauguration assemblies were held in the period c. 1100-1600. Specially designated inauguration sites played an important role in the political life of Gaelic lordships in later medieval Ireland.

Gaelic ruling families often appropriated prehistoric ritual landscapes for their royal assemblies in order to attach the pedigree of a royal candidate to an illustrious past; such sites might be an alleged burial place of an eponymous ancestor or a legendary heroic figure, or an ancient landscape associated with renowned events.

This study of their physical appearance, place-names, and geographical and historical contexts ranges over all the archaeological sites identified as inauguration places – enclosures, sepulchral mounds, natural places, ringforts and churches, and associated inauguration furniture in the form of leaca and stone thrones, basin stones and sacred trees.

Irish royal assembly places and practices are viewed in relation to sites elsewhere in Britain and greater Europe, and the circumstances that brought about the ending of the Gaelic practice of inauguration are also considered.

Author – Elizabeth Fitzpatrick

Out of stock

From Kings to Warlords – Katharine Simms

25.00

From Kings to Warlords: The Changing Political Structure of Gaelic Ireland in the Later Middle AgesKatharine Simms

The Norman invasion of Ireland (1169) did not result in a complete conquest, and those native Irish chieftains who retained independent control of their territories achieved a recovery of power in the later middle ages. Katharine Simms studies the experience of the resurgent chieftains, who were undergoing significant developments during this period. The most obvious signs of change were the gradual disappearance of the title (king), and the ubiquitous presence of mercenary soldiers. On a deeper level, the institution of kingship itself had died, as is shown by this study of the election and inauguration of Irish kings, their counsellors, officials, vassals, army, and sources of revenue, as they evolved between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. Sources such as the Irish chronicles, bardic poetry, genealogies, brehon charters and rentals, family-tract and sagas are all used, in addition to the more familiar evidence of the Anglo-Norman administration, the Church, and Tudor state papers.

Dr Katharine Simms lectures in the Department of Medieval History, Trinity College, Dublin.

 

Charles O’Conor of Ballinagare, Life & Works, Luke Gibbons & Kieran O’Conor (editors)

60.00

Charles O’Conor of Ballinagare (1710–91) was one of 18th-century Ireland’s greatest scholars. Writing in both Irish and English, his work was clearly influenced by the Enlightenment and he regularly corresponded with the important intellectual and cultural figures of his day. O’Conor is regarded as having played a key role in founding the modern study of Ireland’s language, culture and history. He was author of the highly influential Dissertations on the ancient history of Ireland, along with many other works. He endeavoured to advance the civil rights of Roman Catholics, then marginalized by the Penal Laws, and in 1756 he was one of the founder members of the Catholic Association. This volume on the life and work of this great Irishman consists of a dozen essays by experts in language, literature, archaeology, history and architecture.

Dysart Rural Men's Group - Celebrating 10 Years

Dysart Rural Men’s Group – Celebrating 10 Years

15.00

The Dysart Rural Men’s Group was established in 2007 to provide a social outlet for men from the wide catchment area of Dysart, enabling them to meet in the local community centre and engage in various projects/activities.

The men’s group have left a wonderful legacy with this publication and is now to be added to their other projects which are showcased in this book. This publication is replete with beautiful photographs and captures 10 years of memories, friendships, fulfillment, achievements and community spirit.

Out of stock

Emania Vol. 13, 1995 – Focus on the Origins of Early Christian Ireland.

12.00

Emania Vol. 13

Bulletin of the Navan Research Group, 1995 –

Focus on the Origins of Early Christian Ireland.

Emania is the premier interdisciplinary journal publishing original research on Ireland’s Celtic past. The main focus of the journal is on the Ulster Cycle of tales, the ancient ‘Royal Sites’ of Ireland and the archaeology and environment of Ireland in the period from the Late Bronze Age until the Early Medieval period.

(Please see below for full list of contents)

Emania Vol. 4, Focus on Haughey’s Fort (1988)Out of stock

Emania Vol. 4, Focus on Haughey’s Fort (1988)

12.00

Emania Vol. 4

Bulletin of the Navan Research Group

Focus on Haughey’s Fort (1988)

Emania is the premier interdisciplinary journal publishing original research on Ireland’s Celtic past. The main focus of the journal is on the Ulster Cycle of tales, the ancient ‘Royal Sites’ of Ireland and the archaeology and environment of Ireland in the period from the Late Bronze Age until the Early Medieval period.

(Please see below for full list of contents)

Emania Vol. 5, 1988 - Focus on Rathcroghan

Emania Vol. 5, 1988 – Focus on Rathcroghan

12.00

Emania number 5

Bulletin of the Navan Research Group, Autumn 1988

Focus on Rathcroghan

Emania is the premier interdisciplinary journal publishing original research on Ireland’s Celtic past. The main focus of the journal is on the Ulster Cycle of tales, the ancient ‘Royal Sites’ of Ireland and the archaeology and environment of Ireland in the period from the Late Bronze Age until the Early Medieval period.

(Please see below for full list of contents)

 

 

 

Emania Vol. 6, Focus on the Dorsey (1989)

12.00

Emania Vol. 6

Bulletin of the Navan Research Group

Focus on the Dorsey (1989)

Emania is the premier interdisciplinary journal publishing original research on Ireland’s Celtic past. The main focus of the journal is on the Ulster Cycle of tales, the ancient ‘Royal Sites’ of Ireland and the archaeology and environment of Ireland in the period from the Late Bronze Age until the Early Medieval period.

(Please see below for full list of contents)