User:Daithí ófrithile

Tara, the seat of Irish High Kings, was a city complex, located in the Tara-Skyrne valley, County Meath. It is often mistakenly located on the Hill Of Tara, but there is evidence there of only a small construction, possibly a watchtower, guarding approaches to the royal palace. It's likely that the city complex came under attack, after the Norman Invasion of Ireland, in 1169, and it may have been looted and destroyed. The High King, and his supporters, may have made their last stand on the Hill Of Tara, in a much reduced camp, or may have been allowed to set up home there, as a peace concession. The Hill Of Tara was, though, a place of inauguration, on which was found Lia Fáil, the stone of destiny.

The Tara complex is close to both the Boyne and Blackwater rivers, and a convenient water supply would have been essential to it. The Boyne Valley is often said to be the most fertile land in Ireland. County Meath, in which it is situated, is very flat, and low lying, and therefore not ideal for defence against attack. Oliver Cromwell, who conducted a war of conquest in Ireland, in the 17th century, famously said: 'if all of Ireland was as flat as Meath, the conquest of Ireland would have been easy'. The obvious inference is that the Irish of that time were an open, welcoming, peace loving people, easy meat, perhaps, for the fierce Normans, and other later English armies.