Grianan of Aileagh
(Stone House of the Sun)

One of the oldest monuments in Ireland and second only to Newgrange in its historic importance, this fort dates back to circa 1700 BC as a temple to the pre-Celt God, Dagda. It also has associations with St. Patrick whom legend has it baptised Prince Owen in the year 443 A.D., (from where Inis Eoghan - isle of Owen gets its name) in a "Holy Well" close to the summit of Grianan Hill.

Twix Foyle and Swilly Chapter XXIV
By Harry Percival Swan

Story of the Grianan

"God bless the grey mountains of dark Donegal
God Bless Royal Ailach, the pride of them all
For she sits evermore like a queen on her throne,
And smiles on the valleys of green Inishowen."
Sir Charles Gavan Duffy

The Grianan of Aileach is a prehistoric enclosure built of dry stones on a hill called Grianan, that rises to a height of 808 feet, some five miles north-west of the City of Londonderry, and commands wide views down Lough Foyle as well as an extensive panorama covering five counties.

A poem written in the 11th century, and preserved in the Books of Lecan and Ballymote, gives us to understand (whatever its testimony may be worth), that the origin of Aileach was contemporary with the Tuatha De Danaan.

Dr. Petrie adduces still further evidence of the antiquity of Aileach, from a poem quoted in Dinseanchus, describing the origin of this name and fort. Dinnseanchus is an early Irish topographical poem. Its date has not been exactly ascertained. but it must have been composed previous to the destruction of the fortress in 1101. If the chronology of this work be correct, the Grianan of Aileach must be dated from upwards of 1000 B.C. It is ascribed to the Tuatha De Danaan King, Eochu Ollathair (better known as the "Dagda" or the "Good God"). The Four Masters, believing this god to have been a man, made his date B.C. 1828-1749, an estimate as good as any other. Other Irish chroniclers tell us that he was contemporary with Dercylus, King of Assyria whom Eusebius dates 1094 B.C.

Dr. Petrie says that whatever may be doubtful in this poem, there is much evidence of the remote antiquity assigned by tradition to the Grianan. We have the Dinnseanchus, and the accounts in the Books of Lecan and Ballymote agreeing in attributing its erection to the Tuatha De Danaan tribes to whom has been ascribed great superiority in skill and power, and the building of all the megalithic structures in Ireland. One story is that when Corgenn of Cruach, having cause for jealousy, killed the son of the Dagda, the chief god of the ancient pagan Irish, the Dagda spared his life, but sentenced him to carry the copse of the murdered man until he should find for it a pillar of stone of its own height. The stone was found at Lough Foyle, and Corgenn heaved it on his back with a groan, "Alas (Ach) the stone (Ail) I shall die of it"; and the weight killed him. "Aileach (stone, alas), shall be the first name of this place, said the Dagda; and he bestowed the place upon his foster brother, the warrior-god, Net, whence it got its name of Aileach Neit.

Another legend is that Fubdaire of the Furious Steeds was the name of the High King of Alba (Scotland); this king had a daughter named Ailech, who left Cantire and came to live in Ulster with Frigiu, a young Irish artisan, who had gone over to Scotland to do some work for Fubdaire. "Frigriu got by forward glances her agreeable conversation", we are told. A concourse of Scottish heroes quickly set out for Ireland on the track of the runaway couple. Fubdaire claimed his daughter with many vindictiveness -or that he would burn the half of Erin around the house of Tara. Eochu Doimhlein the High King told Fubdaire that he would never regain his daughter by such proceedings. Frigriu, the artisan, sought Eochu's protection and asked from him either the Dun of the Dagda or the Fortress of Maeve. "Protect me, O King, against the King of Scotland, who has come against me, and give Aileach to Aileach!" Then the high-king gave Aileach to Aileach: hence the name Aileach-Frigriu, was given to her settlement, the Aileach of Dagda. "The Government of Erin" -it is told to us in books- "on being placed in Aileach-Frigriu, forsook Tara. The oldest of the works of Erin in Aileach-Frigriu".

We have abundant proofs in Irish history (authentic) that the Grianan of Aileach was the Palace of the Northern Princes, from a period long before the introduction of Christianity until the 14th century. We subsequently find the princes of Aileach playing a very important part in Irish history; frequently holding the sceptre and enjoying the title of Ard Righ.

In the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, it is written, "the man of God accompanied Prince Eoghan to his court, which he then held in that ancient and famous seat of the kings, called Aileach, and the man of God hallowed it and its with his blessing, promising that of the seed of Eoghan many kings and princes of Ireland should come; and as a pledge of that blessing he left a stone there, blessed by him, whereon the promised kings and princes should be installed." This stone is now in the garden of Belmont, near Derry.

We have the celebrated Hugh VII of Aileach (reigned 862-878). son of Niall III, who swept the Danish garrisons out of Ulster (875), and after him Muircheartach (reigned 937-943) still more celebrated (surnamed "the Hector of the West") the first of the great Ui Nialls (O'Niall) holding royal state in Aileach, and inflicting terrible punishment on invaders. The later collected at Aileach all the members of the Northern Hy-Niall, and with 1,000 chosen men, equipped with "leathern coats", departed from the fort, keeping his left hand to the sea to make a circuit of Ireland (940). He returned with a number of Irish and Danish chieftains, and princes as hostages, and during the succeeding five months he and his heroes kept a feast at Aileach.

The next great prince of Aileach was Donald IV, Ard Righ (reigned 955-980) who transported armed boats from Grianan to the Inland lakes, and whose reign was remarkable for the adoption of family names, such as O'Neill for Hy-Niall, etc. Succeeding Donald as Ard Righ the princes of the South held sway, including the famous Malachi, who wore the collar of gold", the last King of Ireland of Irish blood that had the Crown, and Brian Boru, the victor of Clontarf.

After 1014 when the Viking power in Ireland was destroyed, there was a prolonged struggle between the North and South for the dignity of Ard-Righ, during which time Kincora was razed to the ground by Donald V of Aileach (1090 - 1121) and Grianan of Aileach was in its turn demolished by Muircheartach O'Brian (1101), who made his men carry off a stone in each of their provision sacks.

"I never heard of billeting grit-stones,
Through I heard of billeting companies,
Until Aileach's stones were billeted
On the horses of the King of the West."
Four Masters

Prior to this Aileach was plundered several times by rival kings, and by Norse rovers. The Irish Annals record: "Aileach-Frigriu was destroyed by Finsneachta, the son of Donough, King of Ireland, 674, and again in 937 Aileach-Frigriu was pillaged by the Danes". But the crowning disaster which marks the end of Grianan as a "Royal residence" was in 1101.

The fortress must have been rebuilt, for we learn that in 1161 Muircheartach MacLoughlainn of Aileach (1156-1166). the last Ard Righ of the Northern Hy-Niall, entered in with hostages from all parts of Ireland. Muircheartach was slain in 1166 by some of his own chieftains and Roderick O'Conor, King of Connaught, assumed the monarchy.

A dark and troubled future lay in store; feuds amongst the several chiefs and families arose, the Norman Invasion occurred, and the noble house of Aileach only appears again in Irish history in the persons of the Lords of Tireoghain. For a prolonged period the Grianan lay in ruins, until, in 1874-78 it was restored through the instrumentality of Dr. Walter Bernard, an enthusiastic local antiquarian.

The story of the Grianan is the history of Ireland. It has seen the bloody rites of Druidism; the rising of the light of Christianity; the preaching of St. Patrick and the baptism of Owen; the going forth of St. Columba to the evangelisation of Scotland; the installation of many a chieftain and tanist of Clan-Owen on its crowning stone, now in Belmont; the departure of many an armed host and its return, laden with plunder of Leinster, Britain or Gaul; the ruthless ravages of the Danes and the still more savage vengeance of the Dalcassians; the long struggle between haughty mail-clad Norman and venomous saffron-kirtled Milesian; the wars of Shane and Hugh and Owen Roe O'Neill; the flight of the Earls; the plantation of Ulster; the sieges of Derry; the conflicts of James and William. All these has it seen,and more, and all survived; aye, and it has seen too, the sturdy sons of its own land rallying round its ruined walls to build them up again with loving reverence and tender care. Enrolled amongst the cherished glories of Erin, in their foremost rank, are the names and the fame of the wonderous old Grianan of Aileach. Buses can approach the Grianan to within one mile of the summit.

From the Derry Standard.
(revised by Dr. R. A. S. MacAlister, F.S.A., M.R.I.A.)

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