The History

Stone Age

The first settlers were called Neolithic or Stone Age people, because they had not yet learned to use metal and made all their tools and utensils of wood and stone, including flint axes. They lived in small families or tribal groups and made their homes on the banks of rivers where they were guaranteed plenty of wild life and time, as in Castlehyde. Traces of the first settlers are faint, just a few scattered middens (rubbish dumps) containing shells and the bones of small animals.

Bronze Age

The Copper age was defined by people making copper knives and axes instead of stone ones and when this then evolved to metal, it became known as the Bronze Age. On the Castlehyde estate there were two Cist Graves found dating back to this age, the first one in 1905 when it was the home of Wrixon Beechar and the second on 29th April 2003 when it was the home of Michael Flatley. This grave dated back to about 1800BC. Two food vessels found in the cist are amongst the finest ever recovered, and food residue was found inside each of the pots. For 4,000 years, the two clay Bronze Age food vessels had remained undisturbed. They had been placed in the cist to speed the passage to the next life of perhaps as many as three people whose cremated remains had been sealed in the grave under a huge capstone. It was a remarkable find in perfect condition. The people were identified as Tuatha de Dannan.

Iron Age

The Iron Age and the Celts came around 300BC. Waves of Celtic Invaders from Europe brought a complete change in Ireland. Like the people before them, their religion was pagan and they were druids. While Ireland was never unified politically by the Celts, they did generate a cultural and linguistic unity. They introduced their language, which today we call Gaelic or Irish and their own code of law – the Brehan Law. The Celts developed the Clan System, and named the provincial Kings, the O’Neills, O’Donnells, McCarthys and the O’Brien, who were chosen by their clans. The Ardrigh or High King was chosen by the Provincial Kings and lived at Tara. The people of the Clans lived in dwellings called Cashels, Duns, Raths or Crannogs, some of which still remain.

150AD

Ireland was divided into many small Kingdoms called Tuatha. Each was ruled by a Ri (King) and there were about 90 Tuathas in the country at one time. As time passed, some of these Kings became much stronger than others. They conquered each other and took over lands, so in 150AD there were 5 large and powerful Kingdoms. These were called “Five Fifths”. Each Fifth or province contained about 20 small Kingdoms. The King of the Province decided disputes among the lesser kings and presided over the assembly of the Province. One of the most important duties of the King and sub-King was to act as a judge in the law court of the Tuatha, very much the same sort of cases that are in our courts today – theft, trespass, assault, destruction of property and so on. The ruler presided over the court, listened to evidence on each side, and gave a verdict. He got advice from a Brehon, a full trained lawyer who sat near him. A Brehon had a highly specialized skill and spent many years studying law in a special school. According to some scholars these Fifths were what became known as Connacht, Ulster, North Leinster, South Leinster , and Munster.

But these Provinces were often at war. At that time Queen Maeve of Connacht and her armies went to Ulster and Cuchulainn took the leading part in the defence of Ulster with great deeds of valour, which became a subject of song and stories down to this day.

250AD

Cormac Mac Airt became all powerful. About 250AD he broke up the Fifth of North Leinster and made himself King of Tara. He also forced the men of South Leinster to acknowledge him as their superior and he was styled Ard Ri or High King. He won great victories in war but he was greater still in time of peace. Cormac established schools where instruction was given in history, law and other subjects and he built large dwelling houses and assembly halls on the hill of Tara. He is also said to have built the first mill in Ireland.