121-487: The Grianan of Aileach ( / ˌ ɡ r iː n ə n ə v ˈ æ l j ə ( x )/ GREE -nən əv AL -yə(kh) ; Irish : Grianán Ailigh [ˌɟɾʲiənˠaːnˠ ˈalʲiː] ), sometimes anglicised as Greenan Ely or Greenan Fort , is a hillfort atop the 244 metres (801 ft) high Greenan Mountain at Inishowen in County Donegal , Ireland . The main structure is a stone ringfort , thought to have been built by
242-540: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
363-697: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
484-560: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
605-435: A breadth varying from 4.6 metres (15 ft) to 3.5 metres (11 ft). While not perpendicular, it had an inclination inwards indicating its similarity to most other Irish stone forts. Petrie suggests that it was probably originally between twice and four times as high as it was when he surveyed it. 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) up on the interior side of the wall, the thickness was 0.76 metres (2 ft 6 in) due to
726-599: A circular formation linked the site and its occupants with the circular burial mounds of their ancestors. About a third of all Irish hillforts have mounds or cairns within them. The Aileach is no exception. He also puts forward the idea that a circular form was favoured because corners could act as a dwelling-place of evil spirits. He bases these claims on ethnographic comparisons. Ringforts housed families of varying degrees of wealth, so that some of them are more impressive than others. Ringforts do not normally occupy dominant or commanding positions. The only exception to this are
847-733: A corresponding increase in its functional area demonstrates either a greater need for defence or a display of status. Therefore, a ring fort with two ramparts (bivallate) acts a status symbol. The rarity of trivallate hillforts, such as that at the Grianán, shows the importance and status of its occupants rather a need for defence. Stout gives several examples to indicate their symbolic importance simply due to their impracticality as defensive structures. In general, they were little more than fences to prevent stock from straying and to protect against wild animals. As siege tools, they were useless. If anything they were built to repel cattle raids. This might not be
968-472: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
1089-541: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
1210-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
1331-464: A later investigation was completed, it was noted that during the reconstruction, Bernard did not have enough of the good-quality stone that he was using on site. The only way for the state to improve the structure is if they improve what Bernard had already built on top of it. This means that the architecture and what we see comes from a second-hand account of what Bernard thought Grianan of Aileach would have looked like from his deductions whilst looking at
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#17328767259981452-574: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
1573-554: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
1694-611: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
1815-526: A three hundred-year period from the beginning of the seventh century to the end of the ninth century AD. Lacy concludes that Aileach was inhabited by the northern Ui Néill dynasty from 789 to about 1050. This was a period when many of the local kings in Ireland were moving to the towns founded by the Vikings or into more important ecclesiastical sites which by this time seemed to have been functioning as towns following
1936-516: A whole is 0.55 per square kilometre. The density goes from below 0.20 per square kilometre in Donegal, Kildare and Dublin to above 1.0 per square kilometre in Roscommon, Limerick and Sligo. The regions of highest density are north Munster, east Connaught/ northwest Leinster and east Ulster. Areas of low density are in northwest Ulster and most of Leinster. Donegal is an area of low ringfort concentration. It
2057-537: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
2178-504: A ‘mere ruin.’ The height from the best surviving walls were given as approximately 6 ft, whilst having an obvious batter, and sloping inwards like Staigue Fort in Kerry. From this, Bernard concluded that he would look to another monument for reference on design and scale: Staigue Fort in County Kerry in Ireland is where he deduced the architecture for the monument. This led him to reconstruct
2299-474: Is 4.65 metres (15.3 ft) long, 1.12 metres (3 ft 8 in) wide and 1.86 metres (6 ft 1 in) metres high. Before the restoration, the gateway's lintel was not in place. It was1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) wide and 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) high. It leads into the fort from the east. Slight recesses on either side of the entrance way have been filled in. They were probably to allow double leaves of an original doorway to fold flush against
2420-448: Is 45 centimetres (18 in) wide, 69 centimetres (27 in) high and 1.4 metres (4 ft 7 in) long. It turns through a right angle where it becomes 50 centimetres (20 in) wide,85 centimetres (33 in) high and 20.4 metres (67 ft) long. Near the north end there is a recess on the west side 50 centimetres (20 in) wide, 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) and 75 centimetres (30 in) deep. The northeast gallery entrance
2541-453: Is 65 centimetres (26 in) wide, 97 centimetres (38 in) high and 1.55 metres (5 ft 1 in) long. It meets the main part of the passage in a T-junction. To the north, the passage is 70 centimetres (28 in) wide, 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) high and 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) long. To the south, the passage is 60 centimetres (24 in) wide, 1.4 metres (4 ft 7 in) high and 8.6 metres (28 ft) long. Near
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#17328767259982662-511: Is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as a result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish
2783-448: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
2904-456: Is an inbuilt defensive nature. Therefore, hillforts as a subcategory of the ringfort are defined by their location and style of construction. Hillfort consist of ‘large hilltop areas on which the summit is enclosed by one (univallate) or multiple ramparts (multivallate) of earth or stone’. A good example would be Dún Aengus on Inishmore . Its defensive nature is explicit due to the system of stone slabs, known as chevaux de frise , planted into
3025-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
3146-469: Is given at length in a poem preserved in the Book of Lecan which has been printed with an English translation (verse 38 Ordnance Memoir of the parish of Templemore, Dr Perie). The verses regarding the building of this rath follow: "Then were brought the two good men In art experts, "Garbhan and Imcheall", to Eochaid [Daghda], The fair-haired, vindictive; he ordered these a rath to build, Aileach." Around
3267-540: Is in the presence of a king, one will always be in a sunny place. The best summary one can contrive from the etymological breakdown of the name is that it means "The Stone Palace of the Sunny View". In the historic period, from the middle of the sixth century, the Grianán of Aileach is always thought of as the capital of the northern Ui Neill, the dynasty descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages . It acted as such up until
3388-485: Is much wider although we are a long way from knowing the exact number which still survive. Ringfort distribution is not even. Areas of low ringfort density correspond to intensely tilled, highly- Normanised areas. The assumption is that during the last eight centuries of tilling, many ringfort sites were destroyed. On this basis, Stout states that there are 45,119 ringforts in Ireland of which 41% have been positively identified as of March 1995. The mean density for Ireland as
3509-456: Is one of the few spots in Ireland that is marked in its proper place by the geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria, who some say lived in the second century, nearly two hundred years before the time of Frigrind. Ptolemy distinguishes the Rath as a royal residence. The town of Burt is the nearest community and the fortress stands mainly intact insofar as its main walls and features are concerned. Portions of
3630-567: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
3751-529: Is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on
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3872-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
3993-511: Is therefore odd to find a hillfort of the size and scope of Aileach in this area. The ringfort density of Northwest Ulster as a whole is 0.16 per square kilometre. Northwest Ulster includes all of Donegal and the western portions of Londonderry and Tyrone. Ringforts are virtually absent from the areas of Derryveagh, the Blue Stacks, Slieve League and Inishowen. Ringforts are rarely found in similarly elevated areas of Londonderry and Tyrone, including
4114-445: Is unlikely that Aileach was used in such a fashion during or after it ceased to function as a royal fort. The entrance is too low and narrow for cattle to move through. This narrowness of the entrance may be for defensive purposes. The only building foundation in the fort, besides the walls, was that of the penal church. Bernard mentions no other foundations. He does mention the finding of some fluted columns which may indicate that there
4235-659: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
4356-508: The Early Christian period. Finds from ringforts typically include items which date from the second half of the first millennium: a hand-made, bucket shaped pottery style called 'Souterrain Ware', which uses local clays and can be decorated or undecorated; glass beads; bone, bronze and iron pins; and artefacts of bone and metalwork. The artefacts, which Dr. Bernard found during his excavation of
4477-587: The Northern Uí Néill , in the sixth or seventh century CE ; although there is evidence that the site had been in use before the fort was built. It has been identified as the seat of the Kingdom of Ailech and one of the royal sites of Gaelic Ireland . The wall is about 4.5 metres (15 ft) thick and 5 metres (16 ft) high. Inside it has three terraces, which are linked by steps, and two long passages within it. Originally, there would have been buildings inside
4598-619: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
4719-565: The Sperrin Mountains and west of the Roe River. Due to the inhospitable nature of these areas due to blanket bogs and thin rock, they were sparsely populated. There were pockets of settlement such as southwest Donegal. Ringforts can be found along the eastern slopes of Derryveagh Mountains, the Roe River valley and the Mourne River basin. Although some Early Christian settlement is present,
4840-591: The Wrath of the Druids DLC expansion for Assassin's Creed Valhalla . 55°01′25.66″N 7°25′39.33″W / 55.0237944°N 7.4275917°W / 55.0237944; -7.4275917 Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It
4961-417: The anti-Catholic religious persecution that began under Henry VIII and ended only with Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Substantial restoration work was carried out in 1870. Today, the site is protected as a national monument and is a tourist attraction. The Grianán is located on the western edge of a small group of hills that lie between the upper reaches of Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle . Although
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5082-611: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
5203-769: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
5324-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
5445-563: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
5566-463: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
5687-536: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
5808-455: The Kings. The word Aileach has a long history and is found both in Ireland and Scotland. Both Petrie and Lacy suggest that it comes from an adjective derived from old Irish "Ail", which means a rock, stone or boulder. Lacy conduces that Aileach, therefore, means either stony or stone place. Petrie goes further by saying it means stone house or habitation. In the same vein, Lacy suggests the etymology of
5929-597: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
6050-535: The Staigue Fort in Kerry. The Grianán of Aileach, at its broadest description, is a ringfort. More precisely it is a multivallate cashel hillfort . A ring fort can be described as a space, usually circular, surrounded by a bank and ditch or simply a rampart of stone. The bank is generally built by piling up inside the fosse the material obtained digging the latter. Ringforts vary considerably in size and style. In more elaborately defended examples, such as Aileach,
6171-630: The areas as a whole was relatively sparsely settled with ringforts despite the Mourne and Foyle river valleys being extremely suitable for agricultural exploitation. Other forms of secular settlement are also thinly distributed in the area although several souterrains have been found. Northwest Ulster maintained a low population density throughout the Early Christian Era. Barrett examined ringforts in southern Donegal. She identified 124 ringforts in an area reaching from Glen Head to Lough Ekse and south along
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#17328767259986292-731: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
6413-401: The building's architecture has occurred, nothing about it has been published yet. There are some visible signs of its restoration. Large sections of the wall have been replaced. These sections are easily visually differentiated from the original wall by their shape and colour. Some of the upper parts of the wall have been cemented, probably to prevent falling stones. An iron gate has been set into
6534-448: The case with the Grianán of Aileach While the original structure for which the ramparts were built does not exist any more, the cashel of Aileach, while formidable, was probably designed with less of a defensive function in mind but rather it was built as a symbol of royal power. Stone structures appear both eternal and immovable. The cashel was built on this site for the panoramic view rather than for defence. This could be seen as changing
6655-410: The cashel based on the architecture found in County Kerry rather than the county that the original site was in, which was County Donegal. The reconstruction by Bernard has impacted the site as it is a reconstruction done in a more modern time. The reconstruction resulted in poor and crude engineering, with the site left crumbling after being taken over by state care 30 years after the reconstruction. After
6776-562: The cashel interior, seem to correspond to the above list of typical items. Indeed, in a recent publication, Brian Lacy comes up with an exact date for its construction which corresponds with this period. He argues that Aileach is the name of a specific site in antiquity and also the name of the Cenél nEógain 'homeland' kingdom of Inis Eogian, derived from the place now known as Elagh More or Elaghmore (Aileach Mór) in County Londonderry. After
6897-446: The cashel was nothing more than a mere ruin. He gives a description of the hill and the monument. The eastern ascent of the hill is described as gradual but within 30 metres (98 ft) of the top, it terminated in a circular apex. An ancient road between two ledges of natural rock led to the summit. The cashel was surrounded by three concentric ramparts. Petrie suggests that, in the fashion of other monuments of this type such as Emania ,
7018-433: The county boundary to Bundoran. Thirty-two of the ringforts were cashels and 15% were bivallate sites. Ringfort builders avoided land below 30 metres preferring land between 30 and 60 metres. Soil quality was statistically proven to be a key determinant of settlement density. Brown earth and grey-brown podzolic soils were particularly favoured explaining the concentration of sites west of Donegal Bay. The brown earth soils and
7139-434: The decisive battle of Cloítech in 789, when the Cenél nEógain won total control of the over-kingdom of the northern Uí Néill, the successful kings relocated to the Grianán, building it inside the pre-existing prehistoric hillfort as a visual symbol of their new mastery of all the landscape visible from that commanding view. Stout comes to the conclusion that the majority of Ireland's ringforts were occupied and constructed during
7260-405: The defences of a hillfort of the late Bronze Age or Iron Age. Between the two outer banks on the south side of the hill, is the formerly covered spring well which is dedicated to St Patrick. Petrie describes the tumulus, between the second and third wall, as being a small mound surrounded by a circle of ten stones. These stones were laid horizontally and converged towards the centre. In Petrie's time,
7381-448: The defences take up a much greater area than the enclosure itself. Matthew Stout gives many examples of why the people who built these structures chose a circular formation. First of all, they had strategic advantages. Circular sites allowed for a broad perspective of the surrounding area and allowed the maximum area to be enclosed relative to the bank constructed. He also comes up with some much more metaphysical theories. He suggests that
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#17328767259987502-433: The early Irish to mean a place with a view. This is probably the sense in which the word was used to describe the Grianán under discussion. An earlier theory was that the word meant "temple of the sun". This theory has not been substantiated. There is much evidence that the word was constantly used in a figurative sense to signify a distinguished residence or palace. Perhaps, if interpreted in this sense it may mean that if one
7623-468: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
7744-494: The entrance. In 2007, the entrance corridor was supported by iron girders which have since been removed. The filmmaker Gerard Lough used the fort as a location for his 2015 film Night People by filming a sequence there over the course of a two-day period at Blue hour . Armand Gatti filmed a scene at the fort in his 1983 film Nous étions tous des noms d'arbres ("And our names were names of trees"). The fort appears in video games such as Total War: Thrones of Britannia and
7865-404: The entrance. These two wall-passages, one on the south and another from the northeast run towards the gateway, but stop short. Near the north end of the south passage is a small recess in its west wall. At the south end of the north passage there is a seat-stone. The current hillfort, after the restoration of 1874–1878, is substantially different but much of the old structure remains intact. During
7986-545: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
8107-510: The fortress were destroyed over time but much was rebuilt in the nineteenth century with a view towards retaining the historic nature and aesthetics of the fortress. Dr. Walter Bernard is recorded as having directed the restoration work. The site is now owned by the Irish government. More restoration work has taken place since 2001 by the Office of Public Works due to a wall collapse and is the subject of public controversy. If any dimensional change in
8228-491: The fortress. It is believed that a preserved flagstone at Belmont House School in Derry, called St Columb's Stone, is the inauguration stone. On one side of the stone, which is 2 metres square, are carved two feet marks. However, there is no substantiating evidence to back this up. Grianán of Aileach was the secular centre of northwest Donegal while the ecclesiastical settlement at Derry was the religious centre. Together, they acted as
8349-470: The gentle youth: That it should be a rath of splendid sections— The finest in Erinn. Neid, son of Indai, said to them, [He] of the severe mind, That the best hosts in the world could not erect A building like Aileach. Garbhan the active proceeded to dress And to cut [the stones]; Imcheall proceeded to set them All around in the house. The building of Aileach's fastness came to an end, Though it
8470-405: The ground outside the fort structure itself. The Grianán of Aileach, as described in the introductory section, is encircled by three enclosures and is therefore trivallate. The actual living space of ringforts often forms less than 60% of the total monument area. Contemporary law tracts described a king's principal dwelling to have been a univallate ringfort. Increasing a site's defences without
8591-470: The hill is a stone cashel , restored in the nineteenth century, but probably built in the eighth century CE. The summit's use as an area of settlement may go back much further. A tumulus at the Grianán may date back to the Neolithic age. A covered well was found near the cashel in the early nineteenth century. Irish antiquarian George Petrie first surveyed the Grianán of Aileach in the 1830s. At this time
8712-513: The hill is comparatively not that high, the summit dominates the neighbouring counties of Londonderry , Donegal and Tyrone . Located at the edge of the Inishowen peninsula, it is 11.25 kilometres (7 mi) northwest of the ecclesiastical site of Derry . The histories of the sites are closely linked. There is much legend and historical material related to the Grianán of Aileach. The Irish annals record its destruction in 1101. The main monument on
8833-698: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
8954-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
9075-472: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
9196-441: The main function of this particular hillfort was that of a royal capital, ringforts in general in Ireland functioned as a native version of the common European settlement pattern known as einzelhöfe: dispersed individual farmsteads. However, hillforts are of communal rather than single-family importance. It is possible that some ringforts functioned throughout their existence only as cattle enclosures, or with no domestic function. It
9317-563: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
9438-633: The model set by the Vikings. Based on the morphology of hillforts, Raftery estimates that there are forty hillforts in Ireland. However, Lacy suggests that there are fifty forts remaining in Ireland. Multivallate hillforts are suggested to be confined to the West and South of the country; univallate forts are to be found in the north and east. The Grianán of Aileach is seen as an exception to this pattern. Raftery suggests that this simple division of distribution might be more blurred after further hillfort study and discovery. The distribution of ringforts, in general,
9559-494: The mound had been excavated but nothing to explain its meaning was discovered. It was subsequently destroyed but its former position is marked by a heap of broken stones. During the excavation work of the 1870s, Bernard documented the discovery of many artefacts. Behind a niche in the doorway, a large stone 40 centimetres (16 in) wide was found. It had a round hole in the centre, 7.6 centimetres (3 in) deep and 3.8 centimetres (1.5 in) in diameter. A rotten piece of wood
9680-771: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
9801-463: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
9922-543: The nineteenth century suggested that one of the two sites marked as Regia (or royal place) on Ptolemy's map of Ireland, may be identified with the Grianán. The site itself is ancient. Some early texts refer to Aileach as metaphorically being the oldest building in Ireland. Perhaps the best way to discover the function of this hillfort is to break down its name. The site of the Grianán of Aileach has been known by many names over its long history: Aileach; Aileach Neid; Aileach Frigrinn, Aileach Imchell; Grianán Ailigh and Aileach of
10043-409: The north of end of the south passage is a small recess in its west wall. At the south end of the north passage there is a seat-stone. The interior of the cashel is fairly level but Petrie recorded the remains of a small oblong church measuring 5 metres (16 ft) by 4.3 metres (14 ft). The walls were 61 centimetres (24 in) thick and not more than 62 centimetres (24 in) high. The structure
10164-639: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
10285-619: The number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to the 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
10406-498: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
10527-417: The podzolic soils of St John's peninsula also attracted a high proportion of sites. The distribution of ecclesiastical sites corresponds broadly with that of ringforts. Theories accounting for the function of hillforts range from their use as defensive sites to ceremonial enclosures. The Grianán of Aileach could possibly have served both of these purposes and served even more functions. A number of writers in
10648-411: The political hub of the region. Aileach's political and strategic importance was such that the annals report that it was attacked at least three times during its existence. In 674, Fínsnechta Fledach , King of Ireland, destroyed the fort. Perhaps, this was the earlier hillfort that stood on the site before the cashel was built. In 937, during the reign of Muirchertach mac Néill , Viking raiders demolished
10769-539: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
10890-404: The presence of terracing. The terrace is reached by flights of steps on either side of the entrance gateway. Fallen stones had covered any other existing stairs. Petrie suggests that there were originally three or four such terraces ascending to the top of the wall. On each side of the entranceway, there are "galleries" within the wall. Their precise purpose is not clear and they do not connect with
11011-487: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
11132-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
11253-494: The restoration, it was found that parts of the original drystone masonry had been preserved under the collapse. The workers marked, in tar, the undisturbed portions of the cashel and used the collapsed stone to build on this foundation. They supplemented these with other stones from the area to replace those 'removed by King Murdoch O'Brien in 1101'. The internal diameters of the cashel are 23.6 metres north to south and 23.2 metres (76 ft) east to west. The lintel-covered entrance
11374-625: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
11495-575: The ringfort is said to have been originally built by the Dagda , a god and the celebrated king of the Tuatha Dé Danann , who planned and fought the battle of the second or northern Magh Tuireadh , against the Fomorians . The fort was erected around the grave of his son Aedh who had been killed through jealousy by Corrgenn, a Connacht chieftain. The history of the death of Aedh, and the building of Aileach,
11616-501: The ringfort. Just outside it are the remains of a well and a tumulus . By the 12th century, the Kingdom of Ailech had become embattled and lost a fair amount of territory to the invading Normans . According to Irish literature, the ringfort was mostly destroyed by Muirchertach Ua Briain , King of Munster, in 1101. According to Tony Nugent, the Grianan was also used as a Mass rock during
11737-526: The ringforts built in areas of bad drainage where high places are the only suitable spots for habitation. Raftery names three monuments which he finds hard to categorise as being either a ringfort or a hillfort: Cahirciveen; Carraig Aille; and Lough Gur. While the places where they sit are areas of natural defence, they may have been built there for drainage purposes. The buildings themselves are not militaristic or defensive in themselves. They were probably family homesteads. The defining characteristic of hillforts
11858-436: The same area have an average internal diameter of 20 metres. The Grianán of Aileach, with an average internal diameter of 23.4 metres is larger than the latter and therefore this must be an indication of the wealth and importance of its inhabitants and perhaps it is also an indication of the size of its occupant population. Lacy suggests that the innovative nature of the stone fort of Aileach must have been an unusual site when it
11979-413: The second about 1.6 hectares (4.0 acres) and within the third about 4 hectares (9.9 acres). Currently, the innermost bank is very low, worn and heather-covered but traceable for almost its entire circuit. The other two banks are in a similar state but are untraceable for long sections. Between the inner most rampart and the cashel, the road dwindles in its width and curves slightly to the right. This "path"
12100-584: The site. Vikings had settled at Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle during this period. In 1006, Brian Boru , marched through the territory of the Cenel Conail and the Cenel Eogain and probably came to Aileach. In 1101, another king of Munster, Muirchertach Ua Briain, came to Inishowen where he proceeded to plunder and ravage the region. He destroyed the Grianán of Aileach in revenge for the destruction and demolition of Kincora by Domnall Ua Lochlainn in 1088. While
12221-459: The twelfth century. However, as it was destroyed in 1050, it was the capital in name only. It was the site where the Kings of Aileach held their inauguration ceremonies. It is written in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick that Patrick blessed the fortress and left a symbolic flagstone there prophesying that many kings and clerics would come from the place. This flagstone can no longer be found at
12342-705: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
12463-559: The visual emphasis of the ramparts from being defensive terraces to enclosures of royal power and influence. Hillforts are known throughout western Europe but Irish hillforts were not as well developed and never attained the standard of the so-called Celtic Oppida of Continental Europe and Britain. They vary in size but are of a communal rather than single-family residence. Cashels (stone-built ringforts) tend to be much smaller than earthen examples. The average earthen ringfort has an internal diameter of 22 metres in south Donegal; cashels in
12584-443: The wall. The interior rises in three terraces accessible by stairways which are previously mentioned. The outer wall is a dry-stone construction. On each side of the entranceway, there are "galleries" within the wall. Their precise purpose is not clear and they do not connect with the entrance. These two wall-passages, one on the south and another from the northeast run towards the gateway, but stop short. The south wall passage entrance
12705-413: The whole hill may have been enclosed by many other ramparts. There is no physical or historical evidence for this. The ramparts that remained were made of earth and stone and follow the natural form of the hill with an irregular circular pattern. They ascend above each other creating levelled terraces. The circular apex of the hill within the outermost enclosure contains about 2.2 hectares (5.4 acres), within
12826-402: The word might derive from "Ali Theach" meaning stone house. However, Lacy's primary translation seems more plausible due to the name Aileach originally coming from Aileach Mór which is mentioned in the chronology section. The name may have come from the rocky nature of the area or possibly acts as a description of the stone cashel itself. The word Grianán means sunny place. It was appropriated by
12947-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
13068-458: Was "a slab of sandstone , chequered into thirty-six squares", which Lacy believed to be some kind of gaming board. Among the miscellaneous items found were a plough socket, an iron ring, some coins and a bead. Between 1835 and 1874, the hillfort was going through a state of reconstruction under Walter Bernard of Derry. Bernard, before construction, only had evidence of the base layer of the monument, with other pieces still present being described as
13189-475: Was a famous builder who claimed the protection of the monarch Fiacha Sraibhthine who was slain in the battle of Dubh Chomar, in Meath, a.d. 322; the monarch gave him the ancient fort of Aileach for his dwelling-place. Here Frigrind built a splendid house of wood for his wife from red yew, carved and emblazoned with gold and bronze; thick set it with shining gems. It appears clearly from this very ancient poem that not only
13310-449: Was a laborious process; The top of the house of the groaning hostages "One stone closed". In a subsequent verse of this poem (verse 54), the author says that Aileach is the senior or father of all the buildings in Erinn. It also states that in later times it was called Aileach Frigrind. According to another poem written by Flann of Monasterboice and preserved in the Book of Leinster, Frigrind
13431-445: Was a stone structure within the fort walls. There is no evidence for any house-like structures though. Circular houses, which are directly associated with the main phase of ringfort occupation, tended to be located towards the centre of the enclosure placing them furthest from an outside attack. If such a house stood in the fort, any trace of it would have been destroyed while the church was being built. In Irish mythology and folklore,
13552-523: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
13673-426: Was constructed of mortar but nothing remains of it today. A drain runs through the cashel wall at ground level on the northwest side. It leads from a midden in the western side of the enclosure that was 1.7 metres (5 ft 7 in) in diameter and one foot deep. There are many clues that the Grianán of Aileach is a multi-period site. Brian Lacy suggests that the earthen banks surrounding the fort probably represent
13794-643: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
13915-454: Was first constructed. The names Garvan, Frigru/ Rigriu are found in many Irish authorities to be the names of the builders of Aileach. These characters are linked to the Formorians and therefore may be nothing more than mythological creations. Lacy believes that the builder may have been Áed Oirdnide , the victor at the battle of Cloíteach. It is widely accepted that most ringforts date from
14036-505: Was found in the hole. Bernard was unable to decipher its use suggesting only that it could have been a sundial. Bernard discovered many animal bones including sheep, cattle, goats and birds. He found stone items including "sling-stones", "warrior's clubs" and a "sugar-loaf-shaped stone with a well-cut base" 25 centimetres (10 in) long, 38 centimetres (15 in) round base, 36 centimetres (14 in) round centre and 25 centimetres (10 in) round top. The most interesting stone object
14157-465: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
14278-678: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
14399-412: Was strengthened on either side by walls. At the time of the survey only the foundation stones of these walls remained. Petrie's plan of the site shows a line of stones leading up to the entrance. These are now gone. The ruins of the cashel itself are described as being a circular wall enclosing an area of 23.6 metres (77 ft) in diameter. The wall had a height of 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) with
14520-555: Was the outer Rath, or protective circle, of Aileach built of stone by the two masons Imcheall and Garbhan, but the palace and other houses within the enclosure were also built of stone (nay, even of chipped and cut stone). According to the chronology of the Annals of the Four Masters, Aileach was built seventeen hundred years before the Christian era. Also worth noticing is the fact that Aileach
14641-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
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