3 Evaluating the Inaugural landscape of Crew Hill

3.1 Evaluating whether Crew Hill was a site of inauguration and identifying potential elements of the inaugural landscape involves the assessment of several different strands of evidence. Primacy is given to both the historical and literary evidence (Section 3.2), but the following review also considers the place-name evidence (Section 3.3), references to a sacred tree at the site (Section 3.4), the glacial erratic known as the Crew Stone (Section 3.5), two of the anomalies detected in the 2004 magnetometry survey of the hill's summit (Section 3.6), O'Laverty's report of the discovery of stone- lined graves on the hill (Section 3.7), the 'stone chair' now located on the southeastern slope of the hill (Section 3.8), the bivallate rath on the hill's southern slope (Section 3.9) and the mound situated within a second field quarry also situated on the southern slope of Crew Hill (Section 3.10).

3.2 Historical and literary background

3.2.1 None of the historical references to Crew Hill (Cráeb Telcha) contain a definite, unequivocal description of the hill being used as a venue for inauguration. The early references to Crew Hill were first summarised by O'Laverty (1880, 294-299) whose account has been repeated in various levels of detail by Watson (1892, 52-53), Beckett (1929, 11), Lucas (1963, 25), McKavanagh (1968, 9) and Warner (1991, 40); however, the most useful account of the early historic and literary references to Crew Hill is that contained within Flanagan's review of the site (Flanagan 1970). The available references reduce themselves to annalistic records of four historical events and a topographical sequence recorded within a slightly earlier literary source. Collectively they indicate that Crew Hill was an important assembly site with royal connections during a period which extended from at least either the ninth or tenth century to the twelfth century AD.

3.2.2 The earliest reference to the site is its inclusion in a topographical sequence recorded within the Immacallam in dá Thuarad (or, The Colloquy of the Two Sages). This is a complex literary work, purportedly concerning a contest of poetical skill between the poets Néde and Ferchertne at the court of Conchobhar during the first century AD, but also containing a prophetic passage heavily influenced by the apocalyptic literature of later Christian tradition (Jackson 1934, 69). Although the tale is set at an earlier date, it was composed in either the ninth or tenth century and is preserved in various twelfth-century and later manuscript copies (Stokes 1905, 4-5; Jackson 1934, 67). The passage containing the topographic sequence places Craeb Selcha (Crew Hill) en route to Emain (Navan Fort, Co. Armagh) (Stokes 1905, 10-11) and suggests that during the ninth or tenth century the site was of high enough status to be considered suitable to receive a poet of Néde's standing.

3.2.3 The earliest annalistic record dates to 1004 and records the battle of Cráeb Telcha which formed a significant defeat for the Ulaid. The translated account reproduced below is derived from the Annals of Ulster, but closely comparable accounts are also recorded in other annalistic sources (for a full bibliographical list of references to this event cf. Flanagan 1970, 29-30).

The battle of Craeb Tulcha between the Ulaid and the Cenél Eógain, i.e. on Thursday the 18th of the Kalends of October [14th Sept.],and the Ulaid were defeated; and therein fell Eochaid, son of Ardgar, King of Ulaid, and his kinsman Dub Tuinne, and his two sons, Cú Duilig and Domnall; and there was also a slaughter of the army, both noble and base: Gairbíth king of Uí Echach, and Gilla Pátraic son of Tomaltach, and Cumuscach son of Flathroí, and Dub Slánga son of Aed, and Cathalán son of étrú, and Coinéne son of Muirchertach, as well as the elite of the Ulaid; and the combat ranged as far as Dún Echdach and to Druim Bó. Thus in the Book of Dub dá Leithe. Moreover, Aed son of Domnall ua Néill, king of Ailech, fell there in the 29th year of his age and in the tenth of his reign, and others also; but the Cenél Eógain claim that he was killed by themselves.(trans. MacAirt and MacNiocaill 1983, 432-435)

3.2.4 Warner noted that that such a significant battle was fought at, or near, a sacred spot such as Crew Hill is not unexpected (1991, 40). The place-names Dún Echdach and Druim Bó are usually identified as Duneight and Drumbo in Co. Down (Hennessy 1887, 512, fn.2-3), located approximately 13.5 and 15.0 kilometres respectively from Crew Hill. If correctly identified, this suggests that the 'slaughter of the army' was a significant rout which extended over a large area.

3.2.5 The next historic reference is recorded in the saga element of the Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh (the War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill), which was probably composed in the first half of the twelfth century (Hughes 1972, 289). The relevant extract, reproduced in translation below, describes the visit of the high king Brian Borúma (Brian Boru) to Cráeb Telcha as part of a circuit of Ireland in 1006.

Brian was then at Craebh Tulcha, and the Ulaidh with him getting provisions there. They supplied him with twelve hundred beeves; twelve hundred hogs; and twelve hundred wethers; and Brian bestowed twelve hundred horses upon them, besides gold, and silver, and clothing. For no purveyor of any of their towns departed from Brian without receiving a horse or some other gift that deserved his thanks. (trans. Todd 1867, 137)

3.2.6 The historical accuracy of this passage, written between approximately a hundred and a hundred and fifty years after the events it records, is questionable. Although the author of the saga element of the Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh probably followed a contemporary (and now lost) annalistic source, the style of the text is prone to exaggeration and the emphasis on Brian's honour and generosity reflects an observance of the heroic conventions (Hughes 1972, 290-291). If the account of the visit to Cráeb Telcha is not derived from a contemporary annalistic source, but is rather a later fictitious invention, then the passage indicates that the significance of the royal site at Crew Hill was still appreciated, if not maintained, in the first half of the twelfth century.

3.2.7 The next annalistic reference to Crew Hill records an incursion into the territory of the Ulaid by the king of the Cenél Eógain in 1099. Once again, the following translated excerpt is taken from the Annals of Ulster, but comparable passages also occur in several other annalistic sources (for references see Flanagan 1970, 30).

An expedition [was made] by Domnall ua Lochlainn and the North of Ireland over Tuaim into Ulaid; the Ulaid, however, were in camp at Craeb Telcha. Their two forces of horsemen meet, the force of the Ulaid is defeated, and ua hAmráin is killed there. The Ulaid then leave their camp and Cenél Eógain burn it and cut down Craeb Telcha. Two hostages are given to them thereafter, and the successor of Comgall as surety for two other hostages:

The hostages of the Ulaid were taken by force, Witnesses state distinctly, By Domnall grandson of Flann like a lion, And the descendants of generous Eogan. Two stout hostages were given Just now by the warriors of the Ulaid; The third of them was Comgall's abbot, To make a king of Domnall ua Néill. The ninety-ninth year And the thousandth in fame From the birth of the unwithered Christ, It is then that that was beheld. (trans. MacAirt and MacNiocaill 1983, 432-435)

3.2.8 As a consequence of their unsuccessful engagement with the host of the Cenél Eógain, the incursion of 1099 had significant consequences for the Ulaid when the settlement or camp at Cráeb Telcha was burnt and the sacred tree at the site was destroyed. The symbolic significance of the loss of the sacred tree cannot be overemphasised (cf. Lucas 1963, 25). Indeed, the memory of this humiliation may have prompted the retaliatory attack, also recorded in the Annals of Ulster, against Tullaghoge, Co. Tyrone in 1111, during which the sacred trees at the O'Neill's inauguration site were destroyed (see the translated extract below). That the Ulaid lost a thousand cattle in a swift reprisal for their retaliatory raid emphasises the scale of outrage prompted by such desecrations of inauguration sites.

An expedition [was made] by the Ulaid to Telach óc, and they cut down its [sacred] trees. A raid [was made] by Niall ua Lochlainn, and carried off a thousand or three thousand cows in revenge for them. (trans. MacAirt and MacNiocaill 1983, 552-553)

3.2.9 The final annalistic reference to Crew Hill occurs in the Annals of the Four Masters. In the year 1149 a number of concerted incursions into the territory of the Ulidians were made in support of Cú Uladh the overking of the Ulaid who had been expelled by Muirchertach MacLochlainn, the king of the Cenél Eógain. One of these incursions is described thus:

An army was also led by Tighearnan Ua Ruairc and Donnchadh Ua Cearbhaill into Ulidia, as afar as Craebh-Tealcha; and they plundered the country, and placed Cuuladh in his kingdom again; however, he was immediately expelled by the Ulidians themselves. (trans. O' Donovan 1856, 1086-1087)

3.2.10 Warner has argued that this entry indicates that Cú Uladh may have been re-inaugurated at Cráeb Telcha during this episode (1991, 41). Whilst being an interesting suggestion, such a reading is far from certain. The need for a 'restored' king to be re-inaugurated is not obvious and, given that an inauguration ceremony would have required Cú Uladh to have been acclaimed by the very people recorded as immediately expelling him, it seems unlikely that such an event did take place. Whatever events did occur during Cú Uladh's brief restoration, the reference cannot be considered a definite description of Cráeb Telcha being used as a venue for inauguration.

3.3 Place-name evidence

3.3.1 The historic sources cited above contain the earliest place-name evidence relating to Crew Hill (Cráeb Telcha) (for the numerous Gaelic variants of the name cf. Flanagan 1970, 29-31). Although Crew Hill has long been identified in local tradition as a place of inauguration and assembly, O' Laverty was the first to explicitly identify the historic Cráeb Telcha with Crew Hill (1880, 294). Although, O' Laverty cited no conclusive evidence to justify this assertion, more recently Flanagan has comprehensively reviewed the place-name evidence and demonstrated, with particular reference to cartographic evidence, the onomastic link between the Cráeb Telcha of the Irish annalistic sources and the modern place- name of Crew Hill (1970).

3.3.2 Cráeb Telcha has been variously translated as 'the spreading tree of the hill' (O'Donovan 1856, 750; O' Laverty 1880, 295), 'the tree of the mound' (Lucas 1963, 25), 'the tree of the small hill/hillock' (Warner 1991, 40), and 'the branch of the hill' (FitzPatrick 2004, 37-38). Lucas has identified the place-name element Cráeb, although literally meaning 'branch' is sometimes used as a synonym for bile (sacred tree) (1963, 19-20). In modern Irish the term tulach (of which telcha is the genitive) can also mean '(artificial) mound' as opposed to '(natural) hill' (Warner 1991, 40), however, the Old Irish tulach/tilach implies a 'hill of assembly' and is often found in legal phrases (Wagner 1970, 38, fn.46; FitzPatrick 2004, 30- 31). The place-names of several inauguration sites contain the element tulach, or its anglicised variants 'tully' and 'tulla' (FitzPatrick 29-31). Consequently, the place-name evidence suggests the potential presence of an artificial mound as well as sacred tree at Crew Hill, and is consistent with, although not definitive proof of, the site's identification as an inauguration site.

3.3.3 Interestingly, the representation of Crew Hill (K:Crewhollage) on a map of Ulster dated to circa 1590 in the Greenwich Maritime Museum shows it as a two-peaked hill. Flanagan suggested that the second peak probably indicates Cairn Hill, north of the Crew Hill (Grid Reference J192715; Flanagan 1970, 32, fn.20), however, it is possible that the second peak is a representation of an inauguration mound.

3.4 The sacred tree

3.4.1 As well as being implicit in the Gaelic form of the site's name, the presence of a sacred tree at Crew Hill is attested in the annalistic references to the site where it is described as having been uprooted or cut down during a raid by the king of the Cenél Eógain in 1099 (see above). Lucas has reviewed the evidence for sacred trees in Ireland, including their apparent association with inauguration sites (1963, 25-26). FitzPatrick noted annalistic references to the destruction of sacred trees (bileda) at several sites in Ulster and Connacht which were also recorded as inauguration places (2004. 57-58). Although sacred trees are invariably only referred to in annalistic sources when they are destroyed, the known examples suggest a strong association between the sacred tree (bile) and inauguration venues. The precise relationship, if any, between sacred trees (bile) and inauguration ceremonies is not fully understood. Citing an account of the inauguration of the ling of Bréifne in the twelfth century Life of Máedóc of Ferns, FitzPatrick has plausibly suggested that slat na ríghe (the rod of kingship) may have been cut from a bile growing at the inauguration site (2004, 58). The absence of annalistic references to sacred trees specifically associated with inauguration and assembly sites after the first half of the twelfth century AD may reflect a change in the nature of inauguration rituals at this date (FitzPatrick 2004, 148-149).

3.4.2 The precise location and setting of the sacred tree at Crew Hill is not known. From annalistic references to the cutting down of a sacred tree at Roevehagh, Killeely, Co. Galway and the demolition of its stone fort (caiseal), Lucas suggested that the sacred trees at inaugural sites may have stood within specifically built circular dry-built stone walled enclosures (1963, 25-26). Even if this speculative interpretation of the annalistic sources is correct, it does not necessarily follow that a similar arrangement would have been in place at Crew Hill. The sacred tree at Crew Hill could plausibly have been either planted in an isolated position on the hill or associated with the Crew Stone (SMR No. ANT 063:057; see Section 3.5), the burials recorded on the summit of the hill, especially if they were associated with a now destroyed mound (SMR No. ANT 063:057; see Section 3.7), or even the nearby bivallate rath (SMR No. ANT 063:020; see Section 3.9).

3.5 The Crew Stone

3.5.1 O'Laverty recorded the local tradition that the large basalt boulder, known locally as the Crew Stone, was used for the purposes of inauguration (1880, 295). Early literary sources suggest that standing upon an inauguration stone (leac or lecc) formed a significant part of the procedure of legitimising the authority of a king (FitzPatrick 2004, 99-100). The primary meaning of leac is a flat slab of rock, flagstone, paving stone or even bedrock, and inauguration stones probably had a variety of forms (FitzPatrick 2004, 104-105). The use of hallowed stones in inauguration ceremonies is not restricted to just medieval Gaelic societies and its origins may be connected with wider concerns and taboos of a king not being able to touch the mundane earth in his royal condition (FitzPatrick 2004, 100).

3.5.2 The Crew Stone is a glacial erratic whose upper surface slopes markedly and which is set within a small, but marked, hollow formed by cattle using it as a rubbing stone (see below). The surface of the stone contains several areas of greasy polish consistent with its continued use by cattle, and a photograph published in 1980 shows that the hollow around the monument had not formed at that date cf. Totten 1980, 30. These observations suggest that the development of the erosional hollow is both of relatively recent date and still on-going.

3.5.3 Writing in 1892, Watson noted that the stone was no longer 'in its original position' (1892, 52), however, it is uncertain whether he meant that the stone had been moved a significant distance or had simply fallen over. McKavanagh offered some explanation for Watson's comments, derived from an anecdote told to Canon McEvoy by Francis McCorry in 1935. Apparently by 1880 the stone had sunk so much that little of it was visible. Consequently, a number of youths raised it and placed supporting stones underneath the erratic. Subsequently, youths from Stoneyford visited the spot and when they had left it was observed that the supporting stones had been removed (McKavanagh 1968, 8).

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