Ollamh Fodhla

Discovery of the Tomb of Ollamh Fodhla, by Eugene A. Conwell. First published in 1873, a facsimile edition was published in 2005. Ollamh Fodhla was Ireland's famous monarch and lawmaker upwards of three thousand years ago. Later research was to prove Loughcrew Cairn T to be a Neolithic Stone Age tomb, about two thousand years older than proposed in Eugene Conwell's book. However, this short book, 69 pages, is still worth having for the drawings of the symbols on the cairns at Loughcrew.

Eugene Conwell, a National School Inspector, was the first person to study and document the cairns at Loughcrew. While Cairn T is no longer referred to as Ollamh Fodhla's tomb, his identification system for the cairns is still used today.

Clusters of cairns are dotted around the Slieve na Caillaigh hills at Loughcrew. The main concentrations are on Carnbane East, where Cairn T is the centrepiece, and Carnbane West, where Cairn L is located.

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Opening page of Preface

Some portions of the following pages were originally contributed to the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, in a paper read at a meeting of that body on 12th February, 1872, "On the Identification of the Ancient Cemetery at Loughcrew, Co. Meath, and the Discovery of the Tomb of Ollamh Fodhla."

Our attempt to rescue from the domain of legend and romance the memories of a locality, at one time the most famous in our island, and in so doing to revive a faded and long-forgotten page in early Irish history, is here presented to our fellow countrymen, in the hope that it may be found not only not uninteresting to them, but that it may be the means of inducing others, in various localities, to turn their attention to, and to elucidate whatever remains of Ireland's ancient relics may be still extant in their respective vicinities.

Our very grateful thanks are pre-eminently due to the late J. L. W. Naper, Esq., D. L., who, from the time we commenced our antiquarian researches on the Loughcrew Hills, in 1863, uniformly encouraged and aided us in supplying the amount of manual labour necessary for carrying on the explorations, without which friendly encouragement and patriotic help, whilst others laughed at what appeared to them the foolish and childish occupation of a "visionary antiquary" turning over old stones, no practical result would probably ever have been arrived at. Had he lived to see it shown that the greatest, the oldest, and the most important of the ancient royal pagan cemeteries of Ireland existed on and around his own hills, we can only imagine the amount of self-satisfaction with which he would have looked back upon the part he took in contributing to restore the historic memories of the place.

Eugene Conwell and the Discovery of Loughcrew

Eugene Alfred Conwell (1814–1890) was one of the pioneering Irish antiquarians of the nineteenth century and the first person to undertake a detailed survey and documentation of the prehistoric monuments at Loughcrew in County Meath. Working as a National School Inspector, Conwell developed a keen interest in Irish archaeology and devoted many years to exploring the cairns scattered across the Slieve na Calliagh hills.

Beginning in the 1860s, Conwell carried out investigations and surveys of the Loughcrew passage tomb cemetery with the support of the local landowner, J. L. W. Naper. At a time when many of the cairns were overgrown and little studied, he cleared entrances, recorded the chambers and produced detailed drawings of the remarkable megalithic art carved on the stones. His illustrations remain an important record of the monuments and are particularly valuable because some carvings have weathered since they were first documented.

Conwell believed that Cairn T, the largest monument on Carnbane East, was the burial place of the legendary High King Ollamh Fodhla. This interpretation reflected the antiquarian thinking of the period, which often sought to connect ancient monuments with figures from Irish mythology and medieval tradition. Later archaeological research demonstrated that the Loughcrew cairns are Neolithic passage tombs dating to approximately 3300–3000 BC, thousands of years earlier than the period described in Irish legend. Nevertheless, Conwell's work played a crucial role in bringing the site to public attention.

One of Conwell's most enduring contributions was the naming and lettering system that he devised for the cairns. Designations such as Cairn T, Cairn L and Cairn H remain in use today by archaeologists, researchers and visitors. His surveys also helped establish Loughcrew as one of the most important concentrations of passage tombs in Ireland, comparable in significance to Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth in the Boyne Valley.

In 1873 Conwell published Discovery of the Tomb of Ollamh Fodhla, a book that combined archaeological observations with historical and legendary traditions associated with the site. While many of his conclusions have since been revised, his enthusiasm, detailed observations and careful recording laid the foundations for all subsequent study of the Loughcrew monuments. Today he is remembered as the scholar who first brought the remarkable passage tombs of Loughcrew to the attention of both the academic community and the wider public.