Dinn Ríg, (the King’s Fort), Co. Carlow. (Illustration of ‘Dinnree’ from Hall’s ‘Ireland’, 1845. Where it all began. The origin legend of the O’Byrnes and Kavanaghs begins with the conquest of the royal hillfort of Dinn Ríg by a group of warriors from overseas led by Labraid Loingsech, ‘The Seafarer’ in circa 250 BC. Perhaps these were the tribe known as the Gáileóin. DNA confirms that the O’Byrnes and Kavanaghs are indeed of the same lineage. King Bressal Bélach, who would have ruled from here, had two grandsons, Dúnlaing and Enna, fathers of two dynasties that were to control Leinster for 700 years. Enna’s people, the Uí Cheinnselaig (ancestors of the Kavanaghs) conqured Rathvilly in Co. Carlow, and eventually ruled south Leinster and Dúnlaing’s people (ancestors of the O’Byrnes) conqured Mullaghmast from the Laigin and controlled north Leinster. The ancient tale ‘the burning of Dinn Rig’ says, ‘Dinn Ríg, Strong Tuaim Tenbai, Thirty nobles died there in anguish, Labraid, the fierce champion, Crushed and burned them, The warrior of Eire’.
Mullaghmast, (Mullach Maistean) near Ballitore, Co. Kildare, the Long Stone. (Photo and copyright Brian T. McElherron, Irish Antiquities website). About 1.8m high by 70cm wide and 60cm thick, slightly tapering with three long grooves. About 300m NW of the stone is the Rath of Mullaghmast. The fortress consists of a large inner bank surrounded by a broad shallow ditch. There are no traces of an outer bank. There is a good entrance causeway in the east. The total diameter including the ditch could be 85m. This was the early home of the Uí Dúnlainge, the ancestors of the O’Byrnes of Leinster. The Uí Dúnlainge king, Ailill, is believed to have been buried in the ramparts, standing upright in battle gear, facing his enemies forever. Although long abandoned, Mullaghmast was a landmark, a meeting place, and the scene of a massacre in 1577. The ‘Annals of the Four Masters’ record: ‘A horrible and abominable act of treachery was committed by the English of Leinster and Meath upon that part of the people of Offally and Leix that remained in confederacy with them, and under their protection. It was effected thus: they were all summoned to shew themselves, with the greatest number they could be able to bring with them, at the great rath of Mullach-Maistean; and on their arrival at that place they were surrounded on every side by four lines of soldiers and cavalry, who proceeded to shoot and slaughter them without mercy, so that not a single individual escaped, by flight or force.’
Dún Naas, Co. Kildare. (From ‘A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland., P.W. Joyce, 1906). This base of the Uí Dúnlainge Kings of Leinster was a palace complex of two earthworks later known as the North Mote and the South Mote. Little remains of the South Mote (Fairgreen) except traces of an 18th century army barracks. The North Mote still stands proud but has a private house on the top of it. Saint Patrick is supposed to have baptised the Uí Dúnlainge brothers Illann and Ailill at their palace at Naas but in fact they were still based at Mullaghmast, and the Uí Dúnlainge had yet to conquer Naas from the Uí Garrchon. However, they were there by at least 727. It is not known how much remains from the time of the Kings of Leinster as there has been no archaelogical dig, but legend has it that the site was held by the Vikings for a time. As the tribe of Uí Dúnlainge divided into the Uí Muiredaig (O’Tooles) and Uí Fáeláin, (Mac Fáeláins and O’Byrnes), Naas marked the boundary between the two territories – almost certainly because whoever was King could occupy it without actual intrusion upon the territory of their kin. This was for a long time the capital of Leinster and an assembly place for the clans and tribes to meet in council and pay tribute. An ancient poem reads: ‘Honoured is the unique youngest son, Fiacha, a man in many hundreds, Fortunate child of the ardent River Barrow. His brothers will serve him. He will seize the pleasant land of Ailenn, He will hold assembly of nobles at famous Carman, He will rule the ancient hill-fort of Allen, He will strengthen Naas with splendour, And provide the steersman of Ladru with plenteous cargo. Splendid salmon over Airgetros, (the royal sites of Leinster). He will seize Mullaghmast of the kings’. The O’Byrnes may later have held a fort upon the Hill of Allen as well as gaining a foothold in south Wicklow, while their cousins, and enemies, the Mac Fáeláin family, descendants of King Cerball who died in 909, kept a grip upon Naas as their personal stronghold after the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Maurice fitz Gerald, ancestor of the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare and later Dukes of Leinster, displaced the Mac Fáeláins and constructed a motte and bailey castle upon the existing earthworks in the late 1170s.
The Hill of Allen, Co. Kildare. (Courtesy of Eoghan888, Wikimedia Commons). Also known as Dun Aillinne, Cnoc Alúine, and Cnoc Almaine, or Almu in ancient poetry. According to mythology the hillfort was occupied by Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) and the Fianna. It encloses some 20 acres and was protected by a circular wall up to 15 feet high in places, with a ditch inside. It became in time the Uí Dúnlainge powerbase. In 721 the Uí Néill invaded leinster but Murchad of Uí Dúnlainge routed them at the fiercely fought Battle of Allen. This finally established Uí Dúnlainge as a dynasty and gave them control of the plains of Kildare as they pushed the Uí Enechglaiss and Uí Garrchon into the Wicklow Mountains. In 727 the Uí Cheinnselaig attacked the Uí Dúnlainge at their hillfort of Mullaghmast but were defeated. Then in the following year Fáelán of Uí Dúnlainge challenged his own brother for the kingdom, the conflict again being played out at Allen. The hillfort is assumed to have fallen out of use by the 770s but this now seems doubtful. The fort itself has a number of smaller forts within the enclosure, including one called Dun Byrne, or Dunbyrne. The clan may have made their first settlements in south Wicklow from this hillfort. Comerford in his ‘Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin’ (1883) said that the name of the Dun which crowned the hill was Dun-mor-na-thian, and that Alymer’s folly was construncted in the middle of this. There are two other circular duns, one on each side of the hill. One is called Dunbyrne, and lends its name to the whole townland. Dunbyrne was very large and has the remains of considerable earthworks. Was Dunbyrne, the Fortress of the Byrnes, a royal site belonging to Braen mac Maolmórdha (d. 1052) ancestor of the O’Byrnes of Leinster? In 1859 Sir Gerard George Aylmer, Baronet of Donadea, Co. Kildare, began building a folly in the form of a circular tower on the summit. An ancient grave was discovered during the construction and the remains carefully replaced. The Dun has never been investigated archaelogically, and since 2008 Roadstone Dublin have been quarrying the site. This has extensivily damaged the hillfort, especially on the western side, to the extent that the profile of the ancient hillfort has changed. Promises to restore the site will not preserve the archaelogy of one the most important sites belonging to the heretage of the Clan O’Byrne of Leinster.