Hill of Tara Images
West of the Banqueting Hall on the Hill of Tara lie Rath Gráinne and the Sloping Trenches, among the larger circular earthworks on the hill. Rath Gráinne is named in later tradition for Gráinne, daughter of Cormac mac Airt and heroine of the tale of Diarmuid and Gráinne. What survives today is a broad ringed barrow, about 60 metres (200 feet) across, with bank, ditch and central rise.
Rath Gráinne - Hill of Tara.
Rath Gráinne - Hill of Tara.
South of the Fort of the Kings is Rath Lóegaire, a large enclosure about 130 metres (425 feet) across. Tradition links it with Lóegaire mac Néill, the king who, in early Christian accounts, confronted Saint Patrick after the Paschal fire was lit on the Hill of Slane. Folklore says he was buried here fully armed and upright, facing his enemies in Leinster. Ploughing has erased much of the eastern circuit, but the surviving bank and internal ditch still show clearly from the air.
Rath Lóegaire - Hill of Tara.