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Uphill battle to save Tara
 By
Elaine Sheridan
Classed as one of Ireland’s most venerated prehistoric treasures,
the Hill of Tara has been immortalised in Irish folklore for centuries.
But now the famous location has been deemed among the world’s 100
most endangered heritage sites and added to the crisis list of the World
Monument Fund.
The area threatened by plans to build the M3 motorway is rich in archaeological
sites and was famous as the seat of the Árd Rí Éireann
or High King of Ireland until the 6th century.
Hundreds of protesters in both Britain and Ireland including over 50 senior
academics have now joined the campaign to stop the destruction of this
historic site.
Dennis Harding of the archaeology department at Edinburgh University called
the plans an act of cultural vandalism as flagrant as ripping a knife
through a Rembrandt painting.
The bitter dispute over the plan is evidence that there is a bitter price
to pay for the thriving Ireland of today.
It is a clash between two aspects of progression the commercially-driven
push for development and the older Irish instinct to preserve history.
The motorway is designed to ease the traffic in towns along the Meath
corridor which have become part of the Dublin commuter belt.
The proposed highway through the Tara-Skryne Valley will come within 1.2kilometres
of the Hill of Tara and the authorities are determined to press ahead
with the road.
Darren Delahunty from Bedfordshire is part of TaraWatch UK the British
arm of the campaign to block the motorway.
He said: “When I found out about the M3 motorway and Tara Hill I
was horrified. I grew up in England but went back to Cavan and Carlow
every summer during my childhood so my Irish heritage is very strong.
“I am now part of the campaign to save the hill and get the road
re-routed.
“I’m trying to let the people in England know exactly what
is going on and I want them to join our on-line petition which already
exceeds 200,000 and is growing at over 100 names a day.”
Just last week an ancient burial ground near the Hill of Tara was razed
to the ground and destroyed after machinery moved in.
Known as the Baronstown monument this massive Bronze Age settlement and
burial ground dates back 4,000 years and the Campaign to Save Tara group
claimed it had been recommended for National Monument status by onsite
archaeologists.
A spokesperson for Ireland’s National Roads Authority said: “This
process has been extremely public on our behalf. We are required by law
to publish everything.
“The road is not going through the hill. In fact the new M3 is actually
further away than the existing N3 motorway.
“The vast majority of people in the area want it and there is no
doubt that it is needed. All the findings have been reviewed extensively
by archaeologists from all over Ireland.” |
