01/01/2014
Remember MULLAGHMAST - New Years Day, 1577 A.D.
MULLAMAST Rath, County Kildare
Ireland
RMP No. KD036-008
This impressive Rath, is located on a prominent hill, overlooking the NW and west of the new M9 extension in the east of County Kildare. The Uí Meiredaig kings, one of the three septs of the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty that rotated the kingship of Leinster between c.738 & 1050 AD. were based at the Great Rath of Mullaghmast, ‘Máistín’. The huge rath is over 70m in diameter, with enormous banks 4m in height and a ditch 3-4m in width & up to 3m in depth. The main entrance to the rath is at the NE, up a steep slope from the valley below. In the Metrical Dindshenchas, or ‘Lore of Places’, a collection of poetry purporting to explain the origins of Irish place names, claims that Mullaghmast is named for Maistiu, wife of Dáire Derg, who was killed by the sorcery of the malicious faery Gris, who, in turned was killed by Dáire Derg. Geoffrey Keating, in his ‘History of Ireland’ writes of the retreat of Donnchadh, foster-son of King Brian Boru, from Clontarf after the battle in 1014 A.D., and their journey past the Rath of Mullamast:- ‘Now when the Battle of Cluain Tarbh was over and Brian and Murchadh with many Gaels slain, and the Lochlonnaigh and the Leinstermen defeated and the majority of them slain in that battle, and when the Dál gCais and race of Fiachaidh Muilleathan, had reached Mullach Maistean on their return journey, then the race of Fiachaidh formed themselves into a distinct host and separated from the Dál gCais; and as the Dál gCais were weak in hosts and contingents, they formed the resolution of sending envoys to Donnchadh, son of Brian, to ask hostages from him and to point out to him that his father and his father's brother had hostages from them’. The Rath is also synonymous with a brutal and treacherous massacre by government forces of the Irish nobility of Leix & Offaly, then at peace with the English, that took place here at this large rath at the summit of the hill known as Mullamast, ‘Mullach Maistín’. It occurred on New Years day 1577, when Sir Henry Sidney was Lord Deputy of Ireland. The Annuls of the Four Masters under the year 1577, give the following account of the massacre:-‘A horrible and abominable act of treachery was committed by the English of Leinster and Meath, upon the people of Offaly and Leix that remained in confederacy with them, and under their protection. It was effected thus: they were all summoned to show themselves, with the greatest numbers they could be able to bring with them, at the great Rath of Mullach Maistain; and on their arrival at that place they were surrounded on every side by four lines of soldiers and cavalry, who proceeded to shoot and slaughter them without mercy, so that not a single individual escaped, by flight or force’. In the Annuls of Ireland, there is also a vivid account of the massacre at the Rath:-‘1577, Moris mac Lasy mac Conyll, Lord of Marggi, as he asserted, and successor of the Barony of Omergi , with forty of his followers, after his confederation with Rory O’More, and after a certain promise of protection, was slain at Molagh-mastyn, in the County of Kildare, the place appointed for it, by Master Francis Crosby and Robert Harpoll, having been summoned there treacherously, under the pretence of performing service’. The Barony bears the name of Slieve-Maugue, or the ‘Hills of Mourning’ to this day. John Murry in his ‘Handbook for travellers in Ireland’, on a journey through the area in 1906, describes the Rath:- ‘About 2 m. to the E., by a cross-road, is another historical spot, the Rath of Mullamast (Mullach-Maitteaiun), the Hill of Maistin. who was the daughter of Aengus, the builder of the Great Dun. named after him in the Island of Inishmore (Aran). It is 503 ft. in circumference, and was formerly a great stronghold of the Leinster chiefs, and suffered repeatedly in tribal wars. It is a spot specially detested to this day from a horrible massacre in 1577, by the English in alliance with the O'Dempseys, on the chief families of Leix and Offal; who were invited to a friendly conference at this spot. Four hundred are said to have been put to death on this occasion. A deep hollow, known as the " Blood Hole," is pointed out as the spot where the wicked deed was done. To the S. about a quarter of a mile on the opposite side of the road is a Standing Stone 7 ft. high. It is in Mullamast that Gerald the Wizard. Earl of Kildare, lies with his knights in an enchanted sleep.’ (Murry, J., p.371). During his campaign for repeal of the Act of Union in the 1840s, Daniel O’Connell, the ‘Liberator’, held one of his ‘Monster Meetings’ here at the Rath. An estimated 100,000 people attended the meeting on 1st October, 1843, and close to the east side of the road, there is a stone plaque to commemorate the event.
From ‘Antiquities of Kildare (Guide to)’ (Powell, P., pp115-117 -2013) - Available from Amazon @ https://www.amazon.co.uk/ANTIQUITIES-KILDARE-Guide-Philip-Powell/dp/1490441859/
And also from Createspace @ https://www.createspace.com/4295093
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ANTIQUITIES of KILDARE: Guide To
