Ireland in Miniature

A place like Tornant can show you how Ireland moved from the Stone Age, to Celtic Iron Age, to Norman invasion, to the radicalising 18th century and the country as it is today, all in one setting.  

‘Tornant Moat’ was on a list of Wicklow historical sites and when in that area I tried to locate it on Google Maps.  After a promising start Google left me stranded on a quiet lane with nothing of interest in sight.  

Not giving up too easy, I tried a farm-turned-timber yard some distance off the road. The young man in charge there was happy to point to an innocent–looking grassy mound not far away, telling me it was the ‘Moat’ but on private land.  Since it was almost level with us I was not impressed.  Only a drone-camera would have done it justice, exposing from above its concentric rings and commanding view of the central plain beyond.

In fact Tornant is a very large rath or hill fort dating back to the Bronze Age that would attract a lot of attention in another country. When the Normans came in 1275 they fortified the ‘moat’ against the Wicklow Irish and the settlement of Dunlavin grew up around it.

From where I stood in the timber yard there was little more to see but I noticed stone ruins among a clump of trees to the south. What were they? I was told it was an old graveyard. Such places usually have a story to tell so I headed off in that direction.  I did not realise I was missing an important part of the picture.  Hidden on a slight hill to my right was a passage tomb that was much older than the rath.

It is covered by gorse so I may be forgiven for not noticing it.  However others have noted it and a stone carving from there, decorate with a spiral motif, is now in the National Museum in Dublin. Such spirals can be found on prehistoric carvings as far away as Korea so Tornant was part of that  age-old and world-wide desire in humans to find meaning in the swirling world of night stars (brighter in earlier times).  

I missed all this on my unplanned visit to Tornant and drove on to a more recent example of keeping memories alive. A newly built stile and sign board indicated active interest.

Tornant cemetery existed before the Normans came but as usual they showed little respect for resident Irish saints and named it after St Nicholas of Myrna, their patron.  There is even a ‘St Nicholas’ Well’ in the area as a reminder of their occupation. What caught my attention was the modern memorial to what is known as the Dunlavin Massacre.  

On May 24, 1798, thirty-six men were shot on the fair green, and nine others hanged from the pillars of the Market House, of the ‘new town’ of Dunlavin which years previously had moved down from its earlier hilltop site. The victims had not been involved in the 1798 Uprising but had been imprisoned beforehand as possible sympathisers. 

Places like Tornant tell part of the stories of those who have gone before us and show how they coped with challenges. Today’s Google Maps can help you get to Tornant but after that I’m afraid you have to rely on your own resources to hear what it has to say.   That’s Ireland today.