Well Tara has finally arrived on the Unesco Tentative List site alongside other royal sites of Ireland; (Cashel, Drin Ailinne, Hill of Uisneach, Rathcroghan Complex and Tara Complex): The Royal Sites represent unique expressions of lrish society as places of royal inauguration, ceremony and assembly, representing each of the five provinces of Ancient Ireland.
It is of course all a bit late in the day, the landscape has been severely damaged by the impact of the motorway that is almost built; the Green Minister Mr. Gormley having inherited the poisoned chalice of ’growth at all costs’ sold his ‘green’ values down the road for political expediency and then, surprise, surprise, the so called ‘celtic tiger’ economy unfortunately lost its roar.
There is a long and well thought out presentation on Tarawatch in response to this news, a proposal and citing of the archaeological and historical importance of Tara and its surrounding landscape…
A common misunderstanding exists that Tara simply consists of the ridge known as the Hill of Tara. Recent research, following the most modern theories of archaeological landscape and surveying techniques, shows that the central ceremonial complex on the hill was surrounded by settlements, religious monuments, ceremonial entrances and route-ways and strategically-placed fortifications. Extended ritual and settlement complexes, or landscapes, are a recognised archaeological phenomenon known elsewhere in Ireland. Other examples include Navan Fort (Emain Macha), Co. Armagh and Rathcroghan (Ráith Crúachain), Co. Roscommon. In the medieval period (7th to 12th century), the prehistoric landscape of Tara translated into a royal demesne defended by the local kings.
Whether or not the Hill of Tara and its surrounding monuments will make it as a World Heritage Site remains to be seen but the proposed Tentative List for Ireland – 2009 can be found here.
5 comments
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13/11/2009 at 21:45
steve white
are any uk groups for campaigning around these issues, have any in particular taken in interest in navan fort, Emain Macha, if ireland was going to make a serial nomination why not make it a joint transboundary submission with the uk and included with the The Royal Sites of Ireland (Cashel, Drin Ailinne, Hill of Uisneach, Rathcroghan Complex and Tara Complex):
it would fit with them wouldn’t it? im not sure,im not barking up the wrong tree am I.
navan fort isn’t on their tentative list and im not sure it was suggested recently, it hard to find out how the come up with these lists.
Transboundary properties
134. A nominated property may occur:
a) on the territory of a single State Party, or
b) on the territory of all concerned States Parties having
adjacent borders (transboundary property).
Decision 7 EXT.COM 4A
135. Wherever possible, transboundary nominations should be
prepared and submitted by States Parties jointly in conformity
with Article 11.3 of the Convention. It is highly recommended
that the States Parties concerned establish a joint management
committee or similar body to oversee the management of the
http://whc.unesco. org/archive/ opguide08- en.pdf
but
Navan Fort
Navan Fort has been nominated in the past to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List, but doesn’t feature anymore on the country’s current Tentative List.
Year Decision Comments
1989 Rejected Does not meet WHS requirements
1988 Rejected Important for UK but does not meet WHS requirements
1988 Tentative list Submitted as tentative site by State Party
can’t find the actually docs on that… can you?
http://whc.unesco. org/archive/ repbur88. htm
Navan Fort 490 United Kingdom
Although the Bureau recognized the importance of this property for the cul-
tural heritage of the United Kingdom, it considered that Navan Fort did not
possess the outstanding universal value which would justify its inscription on
the list.
14/11/2009 at 15:22
heritageaction
Thanks Steve, give us a few days and we’ll look into it, but to answer one of your questions, I do not think that there is any groups here in England campaigning for Navan Fort, or Tara even, sadly.
19/11/2009 at 12:10
steve white
im thinking that navan fort was rejected precisely because it wasn’t submitted as joint nomination with all the other royal sites in Irelan
25/11/2009 at 00:50
Gordon
Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you, Steve. It’s an area that I’m both familiar with and interested in, but by no means expert on. Just trying to look at it as objectively as I can and hopefully come out with some sort of sense.
Certainly, Emain Macha would seem to be compatible with a number of the other sites, namely Tara, Knockaulin and Rathcrogan, as regards definition as ‘royal’ in the early literature. I’m not so sure about Uisneach, which seems to get the occasional mention, but more usually in a different context and Cashel, which, in the ‘royal’ sense, is surely a later site. When I make reference to the early literature I do so because it is there that the identification as ‘royal’ and the connection as such, between the four main sites, seems to be made.
If the heritage site proposal is to have any chance of success then I think that it may be important that Emain Macha, as you suggest, is included and that their collective importance as centres of European Iron Age society, as uniquely attested in an accompanying literary tradition, is stressed. But then, of course, you have the problem of how much reliance you can place on that literary tradition.
This is not to dismiss their incredible importance both archaeologically and in their day, but this importance may well prove difficult to negotiate to ‘universal’ value, without that ‘window on the Iron Age’ hook to hang it on.
01/02/2013 at 07:37
heritageaction
Not sure if your message is commercial spam but if not, no we don’t. Although, being out to raise awareness of heritage we don’t mind quite a lot of our written content being reproduced!