AILECH
County Derry, could also have been the location of the
historic Northern Uí Néill capital. The chronicles note
the destruction of the Grianán of Ailech by the army
of Muirchertach Ua Briain, king of Munster, in 1101.
It was demolished in revenge for the destruction of the
Uí Briain stronghold at Cenn Corad (Kincora), Killaloe,
County Clare, which had been destroyed by Domnall
Mac Lochlainn of the Northern Uí Néill in 1088.
The reputed site of Ailech on Greenan Mountain
commands extensive views over Lough Foyle and
Lough Swilly, and its lofty location, combined with
the fact that it can be seen for a considerable distance,
suggests that it was as much to be viewed as to view
from. It consists of a triple-ramparted hillfort at the
center of which lies an early-medieval caiseal, or
stone fort. In addition, there are the vestiges of a
mound or tumulus of possible Neolithic or Bronze
Age date, the site of a ceremonial road approaching
the fortification, and a holy well. The three earthen
ramparts that enclose and predate the central caiseal
appear to constitute a hillfort of the Late Bronze Age
or Iron Age period. The caisealwas an early medieval
addition to the hillfort and its construction perhaps
signified the appropriation of Ailech as the headquar-
ters of the Northern Uí Néill in the sixth century. Its
present-day form is the result of significant rebuilding
undertaken in the 1870s by Dr. Bernard, the Bishop
of Derry. The caisealis a very fine drystone structure
with an elegant external batter. It has an internal
diameter of circa 24 meters and rises internally in
three terraces, with each tier accessible by means of
inset staircases. The walls are about 4 meters thick
and rise to a height of 5 meters. An entrance passage-
way,which is roofed with stone lintels, leads from
the east into the interior. Additional stone passages
run into the fort from the south and the northeast.
Outside the caiseal, at a distance of 25 meters, one
meets with the inner rampart of the hillfort, which
survives as a heather-clad earthen bank. A low cairn
of stones, possibly representing the mound or “tumu-
lus” that George Petrie noted on his plan of Ailech
(1835), is situated midway between the inner and
middle ramparts of the hillfort. Both of these ram-
parts survive as quite eroded features that follow the
contours of Greenan Mountain. A holy well dedicated
to St. Patrick lies on the south side between the mid-
dle and external banks of the hillfort. Parallel
breaches in the three ramparts of the hillfort, at the
east, and a corresponding entrance in the caisealwall,
indicate the former presence of a ceremonial roadway
that was apparently lined by stone settings, leading
into the heart of the site. The road ran between two
upstanding ledges of rock as it approached the sum-
mit of Greenan Mountain. The appropriation of such
a multi-period site as a royal residence and as a place
of king-making would have been in keeping with the
typical exercise of royal authority and royal display
of power by early-medieval Gaelic ruling families.
Ailech is the subject of three dindshenchaspoems
that account for the origin of the name, the deeds of
the legendary heroes associated with it, and the bless-
ing of the site by St. Patrick. According to the text
Vita Tripartita, compiled circa 900, Patrick went to
Ailech and blessed the fort, and left his flagstone
(lecc) there, and prophesied that kings and ordained
persons out of Ailech would have supremacy over
Ireland. The flagstone was subsequently called Lecc
Phátraic, and it was upon this that future kings of the
Northern Uí Néill were to be inaugurated at Grianán
of Ailech. A local tradition in Derry identifies Lecc
Phátraic with “St. Columb’s Stone,” a large flagstone
engraved with two shod footprints that lies in the
garden of Belmont House near the city of Derry. This
identification, however, cannot be supported.
The expansionist policy of the Northern Uí Néill saw
them encroaching on the territory of the Airgialla as early
as the tenth century. They specifically targeted Tulach
Ócin Airgialla, which was colonized between 900 and
1000 by the Cenél mBinnig, a branch of the Ailech
dynasty. By 1000 the ruling branch of the Cenél nEógain
had established their royal headquarters at Tulach Óc.
They had apparently set their sights on the kingdom of
Airgialla as early as the ninth century. Their first success
came in 827 when Niall Caille defeated the combined
forces of Airgialla and Ulaid at the battle of Leth Cam.
In the aftermath of Leth Cam the chronicles for this
period reflect the hold that the Cenél nEógain had over
Airgialla. The attraction of Tulach Óc for the kings
of Ailech lay in the probability that it was the tradi-
tional inauguration site of the kings of Airgialla. To gain
control of it would have struck at the very core and
source of the kingship of Airgialla. That Tulach Óc was
chosen as the preeminent inauguration place of CenélAerial view of Grianán of Ailech, Co. Donegal. © Department
of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin.