

Looking
east from Fionnabar's Castle on Knockma to Ceasair's Cairn. |
|
Knockma is a little known site west of Tuam and east of Headford in County Galway. Knockma is the largest of a small series of limestone hills running east - west, each of which was once capped with a neolithic cairn. Several are now gone, but a large monument remains on the east side of the summit of Knockma. This is called Ceasair's Cairn, and is associated with Ceasair, said to be the first women to set foot in Ireland. She is also credited with being a granddaughter of Noah, and introducing sheep to Ireland; Ceasair is said to be interred within the great unopened cairn which bears her name. Nearby is another monument called Fionnabar's Castle, a seeming cashel which is said to be another cairn which was re-modelled by a local landlord. This is said to be the home of Fionnabar, the King of the Fairies of Connaught. Sir William Wilde, father of Oscar describes Knockma thus: "Cnoc Meadha, or Knockma, the great hill, so conspicuous in the landscape, is about five miles to the west of Tuam, in the barony of Clare and county of Galway; its northern slope is occupied by the woods and cultivated grounds of Castlehacket; and on its summit stands the great carn within which tradition and ancient history say Ceasair, one of the earliest colonists of Ireland, was interred.Tradition, as well as popular superstition, has thrown over it the investiture of fairy legend beyond all other places in the country; for here Finnveara, the Oberon of Irish sylvan mythology, holds his court. "From this point may be obtained one of the grandest panoramic views in Ireland - the great plain stretching beneath and round Cnoc Rua; the beautiful abbey of Cnoc Muaidhe; the towers of Athenry, the Ford of the King; Tuaim of St. Iarlaith; the Round Tower of Cill Beanáin; the ruined keeps of the De Burgos; the ships riding in the Bay of Galway; the Slievebloom and Clare mountains; the blue island-studded waters of Loch Coirib; and, in the far western background, the Conamara Alps, with their clear-cut edges, and their sides momentarily varying in tints from the marvellous atmospheric effects of that region stretching round by the Partraí range to the lofty peak of Cruach Pádraic; and in the extreme north-western distance the bulky form of Néifin, and even some of the Achaill mountains skirting Clew Bay." |
An
aerial photo of Ballymcgibbon cairn
near Cong, which is about 10 km west of Knockma. |
![]()