Heritage Week in Laois brought a rare opportunity for a guided tour of the Rock of Dunamase by the previous Director of Excavations at the site - Brian Hodkinson. CONTINUE READING BELOW PHOTO
There was a good attendance at the tour on August 22 when Brian shared some fascinating facts.
There have been fortifications at Dunamase since the ninth century. Plundered by Viking raiders in 843AD, it became the dowry of Aoife, the bartered daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada, when she married Richard De Clare, Strongbow, as the price for the Anglo-Norman invader restoring Diarmait as king of Leinster. The fortress continued to play a significant role in subsequent power struggles between Gaelic Irish and invading forces - it was fought over, occupied, fortified, reinforced, seized, abandoned, and blown up! However the ruins remain to tell the story of this site, which can still captivate the imagination.
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