place

Dún Ailinne

Archaeological sites in County KildareEngvarB from October 2013KilcullenLocations in Celtic mythologyMountains and hills of County Kildare
Pages with Irish IPARoyal sites of Ireland
Dún Ailine ditch
Dún Ailine ditch

Dún Ailinne (pronounced [ˌd̪ˠuːn̪ˠ ˈalʲɪn̠ʲə]; sometimes anglicized Dun Aulin) is an ancient ceremonial site on the hill of Cnoc Ailinne (Knockaulin) in County Kildare, Ireland. It is southwest of Kilcullen, near the R418 road to Athy. It is a large circular enclosure covering most of the hilltop; about 13 hectares. While there is no longer anything visible on the ground surface, archeological investigations show that there were once circular timber structures (or rings of upright timbers) inside the enclosure during the Irish Iron Age (ca 400 BCE - 400 CE). According to Irish mythology, Dún Ailinne was one of the great royal sites of early Gaelic Ireland and was believed in the Early Medieval period to have been where the Kings of Leinster were inaugurated. These documents were written long after the site was in common use, however, and the site's relationship to Early Medieval kings remains unclear. It is similar to the other royal sites of Tara (Kings of Meath), Navan Fort (Kings of Ulster) and Rathcroghan (Kings of Connacht). The site is on private property and is not open to public access. The hill is 183 metres (600 ft) above sea level and so visible from many places in the surrounding area. The best view of the site is from the Old Kilcullen churchyard in Old Kilcullen (where there is also a round tower), which is free and open to the public. Dún Ailinne should not be confused with the Hill of Allen (Cnoc Alúine), which is to the northwest.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Dún Ailinne (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 53.115 ° E -6.775 °
placeShow on map

Address

Dún Ailinne

R418
R56 YK64 (Kilcullen ED)
Ireland
mapOpen on Google Maps

linkWikiData (Q524928)
linkOpenStreetMap (48244719)

Dún Ailine ditch
Dún Ailine ditch
Share experience

Nearby Places

Gaelscoil Chill Dara

Gaelscoil Chill Dara (GSCD) is a coeducational Irish language primary school situated on the Green Road in the Curragh, County Kildare in Ireland. The school was founded in 1995 with the vision of delivering primary education through the medium of Irish (a Gaelscoil) while following the standard national school curriculum, allowing pupils to gain full proficiency as Gaeilge. Gaelscoil Chill Dara was originally based in Herbert Lodge on the Curragh, moving to a much larger purpose-built premises at Curragh Grange in the early millennium due to the increasing demanding for primary Irish-speaking education in the County Kildare region. The school serves the surrounding urban centres of Newbridge, Kildare Town, Naas, Kilcullen and Rathangan.Gaelscoil Chill Dara has a Catholic religious ethos and is under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta na Scoileanna LánGhaeilge Teo. "Chill Dara" (singular Cill Dara) is the Irish name for Kildare, meaning "church of the oak". Pupils range in age from 4 to 13 years of age. Its main education focus is on English, Irish, Mathematics and Drama subjects.The number of pupils enrolled in the school for the 2015/16 school year was 444, with an even breakdown in the number of girls and boys, and 16 classes spanning the 8 years from junior infants to sixth class. The school has been oversubscribed for a number of years.The current principal is Niamh Uí Chadhla, who was appointed in 2019 after the resignation of former principal Seán de Paor, who had been principal since the school's establishment in 1995.