Hill of Tara, Tara-Skryne valley, Co.Meath, Ireland

The Hill of Tara is a hill and ancient ceremonial and burial site 7 miles south of Navan in the Tara-Skryne valley in Co. Meath. According to tradition, it was the inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland and it also appears in Irish mythology. Tara consists of numerous monuments and earthworks dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. These include a passage tomb (the "Mound of the Hostages"), burial mounds, round enclosures, a standing stone (believed to be the Lia Fáil or the "Stone of Destiny", the coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland) and a ceremonial avenue.

Saint Patrick's Church is located on the eastern side of the hilltop. The modern church was built between 1822 and 1823 on the site of an earlier one. The earliest evidence of a church at the Hill of Tara is a charter dating from the 1190s. A stump of wall marks the site of the old church today but some of its stonework was re-used in the current church. The building is now the Hill of Tara visitor centre.

The Hill of Tara is part of a larger ancient landscape in the Tara-Skryne valley and the Hill of Tara itself is a protected national monument under the care of The Office of Public Works, an agency of the Irish Government.

Date: 3rd February 2020

Location: Hill of Tara, Tara-Skryne valley, Co.Meath, Ireland