Dún Ailinne

Did You Know?

• Dún Ailinne should not be confused with the Hill of Allen (Cnoc Alúine), which is to the northwest.
• If there are no cattle on the hill, you may ask the landowner for permission to stroll around the site.

History and purpose

The site is circular, about 13 ha in area, ringed by an earth bank and ditch with the ditch on the inside, suggesting a symbolic rather than defensive purpose. It is believed to have been a royal centre and inaugural or ceremonial site for the Kings of Leinster. Indications of earliest use are from the Neolithic period, but the main activity occurred during the Iron Age. It does not appear to have been inhabited year-round, but was used for short-term activity including ritual, with occupation during spring and summer months. Evidence of cooking includes bone from cows, sheep, pigs, deer and horses. A La Tène style sword and Roman bronze fibulae have also been found. The site was mostly abandoned around the time the nearby early Christian settlement at Old Kilcullen was established in the 6th century.

Structures

Digging in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered that wooden buildings once stood inside the ring. Builders raised upright timber posts in three separate phases. The Rose phase arranged these posts in a figure-eight shape, joining a large ring with a southern annexe and a wide, funnel-like entrance. The Mauve phase replaced this with a stakewall that enclosed a timber ring and a smaller, closed round structure. The final phase involved ceremonial feasts, shown by many animal bones left behind.

Study

Archaeological research was conducted between 1968 and 1975 by a team from the University of Pennsylvania led by Bernard Wailes. A more recent geophysical survey of the interior by a joint American and Irish team revealed many new subsurface features whose character is unclear. A book on the site was released by an American university publisher in 2007 by Bernard Wailes and Susan Johnston. In 2008, an interpretative site opened at Nicholastown, just south of Kilcullen, featuring a bilingual information panel and a small-scale reproduction of the mound topped by a sculpture.