‘Antiquarians on the Hill of Uisneach’

‘Antiquarians on the Hill of Uisneach’ – address by Angus Mitchell, historian, to Meath Archaeological and Historical Society, February 29, Navan Library;

Meath Archaeological and Historical Society opened its 2024 programme with a talk on the ancient Hill of Uisneach and its links with cultural nationalism, delivered by historian Angus Mitchell in Navan Library on 29 last February.

Recipient of a 2023 Royal Irish Academy Decade of Centenaries Bursary to carry out research into Uisneach, Dr Mitchell had previously addressed the society in 2019 on the life and work of Kells-born historian Alice Stopford Green. There was a large attendance at the lecture, including several who had travelled from the Uisneach area.

Summary

In August 1906, the chosen destination for the annual excursion by the Gaelic League was the Hill of Uisneach, the ancient site in Westmeath, associated with gatherings reaching all the way back to druidic times. A special train was laid on from Broadstone Station to take Dubliners to Castletown Geoghegan and into the heart of Westmeath.

Several thousand attended, and proceedings kicked off with a series of short speeches by well-known antiquarians: notably, James Woods, James Tuite and PT McGinley, followed by music, song, dance, and recitals.

From the many references in early Irish literature, Uisneach was heralded as a symbolic site of unity and a place where mythological time merged into historical time through the figure of Tuathal Teachtmar, high king of Ireland in 76-106 AD.

Three Feis Uisnig were held between 1910 and 1912, organised with the enthusiasm of the most noted antiquarian of the day, the Belfast solicitor, Francis J Bigger.

Professor Eoin MacNeill gave the main address in 1910 and Alice Stopford Green spoke from Athlone in 1911.

As the Home Rule crisis deepened, however, Uisneach shifted from being a place for cultural exchange, and was quickly politicised. A large gathering of Irish Volunteers assembled there in January 1919, shortly before the meeting of the first Dáil.

The future president, Séan T O’Kelly, and Laurence Ginnell, MP, made speeches during a tense confrontation with the RIC.

In the 1920s, the Hill of Uisneach became the site for the Irish Free State’s first archaeological excavation and the RIA published a report on the excavations by RAS Macalister and Robert Lloyd Praeger in 1928.

The excavation coincided with the work of the Boundary Commission to delineate the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, and, following the publication of its report, the symbolic importance of Uisneach as a place for unity and shared cultural purpose retreated once more into the background until its contemporary revival began with the Bealtaine Fire Festival.

The next event in the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society calendar is the launch of the 2024 volume of Ríocht na Midhe on Wednesday 27 March in the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan (7.30pm), followed by a talk by Clare Tuffy, former manager of the Bru na Boinne visitor centre.