School: Milltown (roll number 942)
- Location:
- Milltown, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: Sean O'Casey
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0742, Page 030
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Milltown
- XML Page 030
- XML “Notes on the Probable Site of the Battlefield of Gairech and Ilgairech”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- (continued from previous page)Notes on the probable site of the Battle of Gaireach & Ilgaireach.
as being the conspicuous hill called Clare hill about 2 miles from Newbristy school. Clare hill commands a view of the entire county for miles around. From Slanemore to Clare hill the distance if about 10 miles. The great battles of the Táin must have taken place in the intervening space. I give my reasons for the viewIII Gaireach and Ilgaireach
The actual site of the battlefield is not definitely identified. I have my opinion on a close examination of the district between Sleamhain and Clathra and on the topography of the battlefield as narrated in the tale and on the tradition of a great battle which lingered in the district about 40 years back. The late Fr Hogan S.J. believed that Corr, one mile from Milltown school, would represent the ancient name of Gaireach. An army encamped in Slanemore and moving towards Clathra would stream across the table land of Slanemore, cross the townlands of Coolnahay, Balgarret & Kilpatrick. In leading towards Corr and after passing Kilpatrick, the army would meet with the townlands of Rathtrim (rath of the elder trees), Ballyglassm Ballinlug, Farthingstown (a short distance from Milltown School) and Corr. Quite a number of earthworks are to be found in these townlands, in Kilpatrick 6, in Rathtrim 2, in Ballyglass 6, including the well known Moate of Rathconrath. In Ballyglass is a grave(continues on next page)
