Talk:Hill of Tara

Alignments

Removed with the full moon of Lughnasadh since on Lughnasad the moon is not always full, moreover you should explain if the alignment is with the rising of the moon (most likely), its higher point in the sky etc. Clovepower --80.116.106.109 12:47, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Derivation of name

I removed the paragraph stating that the name "Tara" derives from an Irish word for "tower" or from Irish tor ("height"), because clearly neither is the case. The Irish word for Tara, Teamhair, may have some other connection but it certainly is not the word for "tower" nor for "height."

--Ryanaxp 20:27, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)

Tara, or Hill of Tara?

Please use the names appropriately. Use "Tara" when referring to the actual city, and "Hill of Tara" when referring to the archaeological site. I apologize in advance for recently using the names inappropriately, if I did, but I was uncertain about to what "Tara" was referring. Adraeus 13:32, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

Standing Stone

It said the standing stone was in Cormac's House. It is not, so I changed it so it said the standing stone was on Forradh. 64.209.120.164 02:15, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

The picture says the stone of destiny? not only does Scotland have a stone with the same name but the reliability of one or both may be in question, rumours abound if they are or not, shouldn't it be entitled "alleged stone of destiny". They call me Mister Tibbs (talk) 12:57, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Home Rule

I amended the penultimate paragraph of the section "Tara's Significance" which had previously stated that O'Connell's Monster Meeting at Tara was in favour of Home Rule. Home Rule as a concept was not coined until some decades later and was championed by Charles Stewart Parnell. O'Connell at this point merely wanted a repeal of the Act of Union, a slightly different concept.

I also adjusted the figure put on the number of attendees at the demonstration: a correspondent of the affiliated newpaper 'The Nation' estimated 750 000 rather than 1 million (O'Connell's estimate was 1.5 million– which figure is preferable?). Jpolchar 22:14, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Dates?

The article currently states... "One of these structures, the Mound of the Hostages, has a short passage which is aligned with sunset on the true astronomical cross-quarter days of November 8 and February 4, the ancient Celtic festivals of Samhain and Imbolc. (Most modern neopagans now celebrate these festivals a few days earlier on October 31 and February 1, respectively.)" However I am somewhat dubious about the accuracy of this statement. As far as I can work out, it wasn't Neo-pagans who placed the dates of those festivals on the 31st of October and the 1st of February, that is the way they always were. There is certainly no mention of November 8 and February 4 in the respective articles, so again is seems inaccurate (it's also unsourced of-course). At best, you could say these events fall close to the festivals, but not on them at all. Perhaps there could be an explanation in the drift of the dating due to astronomical procession, but I don't know. I'll put a citation needed tag on it. --Hibernian 05:55, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Reputed

There's no reputed about it. This is the hill of tara not some random hummock.

"Reputed" is right. Archaeologists believe many of the sites supposed in legend to have been the seats of kings were in fact ceremonial or religious sites. --Nicknack009 20:30, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Joe Fenwick statement

I am removing the section struck out here:

Some archaeologists, such as, for example, Joe Fenwick of the Department of Archaelogy in Galway (in a recent letter to the Irsih Times), dispute the impact of the motorway on Irish heritage on the grounds that the finds are damaged by ploughing and therefore of minor significance and that recording them is as good as preserving them.

I did this because in Joe Fenwick letter to the Irish Times published on 21 July, 2005 2007 he argues the opposite. Rather than saying that this area is of minor significance he says it is "most culturally sensitive of landscapes". -- Patleahy 16:41, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

The letter I referred to above was actually published on 21 July, 2005 and not in 2007 as I originally said. -- Patleahy 18:33, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Use of Letters to the Irish Times

I believe the paragraph which quotes letters from the Irish Times should removed. These are points of view taken from primary sources and as such they could be selected specifically to make a point without regard to the overall discussion. Quotations from secondary sources such as newspaper articles or scientific journals would not have such a risk. As letters to the editor they are not subjected to the same oversight as newspaper articles or scientific journals. -- Patleahy 18:57, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

A added a paragraph with opinions from Conor Newman, of NUI Galway and Dr Pat Wallace of the National Museum of Ireland which were taken from articles and not the letter pages. -- Patleahy 20:10, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Since nobody has defended the paragraph I am have removing it. -- Patleahy 20:14, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

You can see what I removed here. -- Patleahy 20:15, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Citation needed for Dr. Brancaleone sentences

I have added a {{Citation needed}} to these sentences and it has been repeatly been removed:

Dr. Brancaleone of CCS, Limerick School of Art and Design, visited the site prior to the general election in the company of the protesters and documented the archaeological activity with photographs. It was evident even then that preparatory building works are well underway, and that the digs themselves are being hurried to make way for the diggers, parked in various spots, in large numbers. One of the sites photographed by Brancaleone has since been bulldozed, according to the protesters.

I'm not going to get involved in an edit war so I'm bringing the issue here. This text is a first hand account and as such requires reliable sources in order to be verifable. This text may also be original research. Regardless of whether there is a {{Citation needed}} tag on it I believe the text should be removed if no reliable source provided. -- Patleahy 23:11, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Nobody followed up so I added the {{Citation needed}} back. -- Patleahy 17:37, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

A source has not been provided. Since this is incited and is a first hand account and original research and I am removing the sentences. -- Patleahy 15:50, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

grid refererence

can someone put geo-coordinates in the article? Bumper12 05:07, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

I added {{LocateMe}} in the hope that someone will help. -- Patleahy 05:45, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

it should be tara —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zurich1 (talk • contribs) 09:25, 17 July 2007 (UTC).

Coordinates added. The site is located in WikiMapia. I remove the locateMe banner. — M-le-mot-dit (d) 09:46, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Proposed Motorway

This article is supposed to be about the Hill of Tara. As such the only appropriate reference to the M3 motorway is that it will be built close to the hill, etc. etc. Detailed information about the M3 and surrounding issues should be dealt with in the M3 article. Please input M3 information there! Sean O'Casaidhe

I agree, however the information should be moved to the N3 road article and not simply deleted. -- Patleahy 17:09, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

I moved the text. -- Patleahy 01:29, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Link to tarawatch.org

I'm removing the external link to [1] from this article. The links mainly intended to promote a website. The link does not provide any additional information about the Hill of Tara. Rather it contains information and options about the campaign to stop or change the road development. As such it may be relevant to the N3 road article. I am also concerned that it may not have license to reprint copyrighted material from newspapers. Please see Wikipedia:External links for relevant guidelines. -- Patleahy 22:13, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Brian Boru

It mentions in the article that "It is much agreed that there was never a single Celtic ruler of the whole of Ireland.". Surely Brian of Boruma/Brian Boru would qualify? As far as I know, he was the only Celtic Ard Ri to unite all of Ireland under him. Correct me if I'm wrong!!

Sarah —Preceding unsigned comment added by Seskasha (talk • contribs) 16:57, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

He certainly tried to! However he encountered severe resistance in Ulster and intermittent resistance in Leinster. Undoubtedly he was by far the most powerful king in Ireland at the time, but his supremacy was not in any way comparable to that of, for instance, the Norman kings of England later in the century. ANB (talk) 22:10, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

This is a major problem with this article, and with all Wikipedia's articles related to Irish High Kings. The Irish system of government was not anything like other European monarchies. It relied on a devolution of authority to provincial rulers, and under them to collections of tuatha, and then the tuath itself as a political unit. Despite the fact that inter-provincial squabbling and even rebellions were common, even the early annals refer to Kings of All Ireland. The claims in the article that Tara was not an actual seat of the High King, or that there never were High Kings is hyper cynical pseudo-history. Irish Kingship cannot, and should not be compared with traditional European Kingship, because the other model was based on late Roman Emperors, whereas Ireland's kingship was a system developed in prehistory. There were many valid High Kings of Ireland, from Niall Noigíallach to Domhnall Midi to Brian Boru. Incidentally however, Brian used Cashel as his base, and not Teamhair. 89.204.238.162 (talk) 17:01, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

How big was Tara?

How many houses stood on the hill when Tara was at its high point, say around 1000AD? How big were they? Is there a link to a map online? How many days did a high king typically spend at Tara every year (not full time obviously)? The article needs a bit more meat from some expert.86.42.207.71 (talk) 17:01, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Or from someone with access to a copy of The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, ed. Edel Bhreathnach, (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005). It has articles from top-notch scholars which cover almost every angle in detail. ANB (talk) 22:14, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

References

Should there be either a new section "(Hill of)Tara inspired cultural works" or a few references to works such as "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Hall" by Thomas Moore? Text seems to be as follows : "The harp that once through Tara's Hall, The soul of music shed, Now hangs as mute on Tara's wall, As if that soul were fled. So sleeps the pride of former days So glory's thrill is o'er And hearts that once beat high for praise Now feels that pulse no more. ( verse 2)- No more to chiefs and ladies bright, The harp of Tara swells, The chord alone that breaks at night, Its tale of ruin tells. Thus freedom now so seldom wakes, The only throb she gives Is when some heart indignant breaks, To show that still she lives." (was sung by John McCormack)SignedJohnsonL623 (talk) 02:55, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

In that vein of thought, is there enough justification to add a 'pop cultural element' or references page? The Artemis Fowl series references the sight frequently, and plays off it's pagan connotations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.184.205.85 (talk) 11:21, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

External links modified

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NPOV?

"At the turn of the 20th century, the Tara was vandalized by British Israelists who thought that the British were part of the Lost Tribes of Israel and that the hill contained the Ark of the Covenant.[18] A group of British Israelists, led by retired Anglo-Indian judge Edward Wheeler Bird, set about excavating the site having paid off the landowner, Gustavus Villiers Briscoe." "Vandalized"? "Paid off" (as opposed to "paid")? Doesn't sound very NPOV to me.128.187.112.7 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 18:48, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

closing the huge gap of info in this article by adding tea grave and ark

In history of Ireland, prophet Jeremiah comes to Ireland to bring the throne of David to Ireland along with princess Tea Telphi of Israeli royal line and she is reputed to be buried at Tara... along with the Ark of the Covenant, most sacred relic of Judea Christianity , which then was buried in grave of Tea Wilie Bob of Axum, and Giza, witness to all !!!! f.n. cross ref Asum Ethipia Church of Mry where others say Ark is — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.18.187.224 (talk) 20:12, 8 January 2023 (UTC)

Aos Si

Maybe you should add in the fact that The Hill of Tara is also home to many otherworldly creatures such as the Aos Si, (Fairy Folk) and more Celtic Folk.

If you want proof and reference, here is a site.

www.transferme.ie/hill-of-tara/

Have a wonderful day 76.145.181.225 (talk) 05:09, 27 December 2023 (UTC)