Federation visit Boyne & Tara sites:

      North met South at the Boyne on a “Glorious Thirteenth"  on Saturday, 13th September when over 100 members of societies from the Ulster Federation  and the FLHS enjoyed a joint field trip to the Boyne centre after visiting Tara in the morning. The day was the result of the renewal of links between the two groups earlier this year, which will hopefully lead to a number of joint projects and encourage societies to “ twin “ with other groups and have regular exchange visits, as has been done by Kildare and Kinsale with societies in Ulster for many years.  The visit was made possible with the assistance of Co-operation Ireland.

Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre:

      The Battle  of  the Boyne Visitor Centre and the grounds where the battlefield is outlined proved to be of great interest, with excellent OPW guides and a very well presented audio-visual display. The grounds are ideal for walking and there is also an outdoor display of  horsemanship and weaponry from the era of the battle. Indeed, the whole area looked so peaceful that it was difficult to imagine that 65,000 men fought there in 1690, with  1600 casualties.

      Indoors, in Oldbridge House, there are some fine maps, paintings and replicas of the tents and figures of the combatants while the audio visual display is state of the art technology. This provided an automated display of the battle itself shown on a contoured may of the area of the battle on which the different armies and their various manoeuvres were shown to great effect and provided a real understanding of how the battle was fought. There is also a selection of canon and carts on display before the final video show in a purpose-built theatre before visitors can stroll in the walled gardens or relax in the tea rooms.  

Hill of Tara Visit:

      The Hill of Tara may not boast the same facilities as the Boyne Centre but the panorama from the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains to the Cooley and Mournes, swinging round to the Central Plain and the Slieve Bloom Mountains was very impressive. It made it easy to understand why the ancients felt it was the centre of their world and the High King was definitely the “monarch of all I survey “.

      The local OPW guides were excellent in their presentation of the stories of Tara, from the beginning of the Neolithic Period ( 4,000 B.C. ) to the most recent monuments, around 1,000 A.D. The groups visited the main monuments clustered around the summit of the Hill, such as the Royal Seat ( An Forrad ) and the Fort of the Kings ( Rath na Rí).

      These are just a fraction of the thirty visible monuments while the Discovery Programme, using non-intrusive technique, such as magnetic gradiometry, estimates that many others lie under the surface in the wider area, hence the on-going controversy on the new motorway.   

Success of Outing:

      The day was a great success from both a historical and social viewpoint and will hopefully lead to greater co-operation between both federations and help promote their common goal of preserving the past for future generations. Both chairmen, Larry Breen and John Dooher thanked the participants and were congratulated on their work in bringing the FHLS and the FULS together for such a successful event.