Tara Deserted

Tara became deserted as a royal residence, in the sixth century, and some earthen ramparts and mounds are all that now remain of its ancient magnificence. The circumstance which caused its abandonment by the kings, were as follows:—Dermot, Monarch of Ireland, having taken prisoner and punished a brother or relative of St. Ruadhan or “Rodanus,” who was abbot of Lothra, now “Lorra,” in the county Tipperary, St. Rodanus “laid a curse on Tara;” and after the death of the monarch Diarmot, A.D. 565, no other king resided there. Though several of the kings were afterwards styled Kings of Tara, they did not reside at that royal residence, but only took their title from it, as the ancient residence of the monarchs. In subsequent times, some of the monarchs resided at Tailtean, now Teltown, in the county Meath; and it is mentioned that the Irish monarch, Flann Sionna, died at Tailtean, A.D. 916. Some of the ancient monarchs resided at the palace of Croaghan, in Connaught; some of the Kings of Ulster, when monarchs, resided at Emania or Armagh; the princes of Ulster, of the Hy-Niall race, when monarchs of Ireland, had their chief residence at the fortress of Aileach, in the county Donegal; Brian Boru, when monarch, resided at his palace of Kincora, in Thomond, on the banks of the river Shannon, near Killaloe, in the county Clare. The southern Hy-Niall race, who were kings of Meath, had their chief residence (called Dunna-Sciath or the Fortress of the Shields) on the banks of Lough Ainnin, now Lough Ennel, near Mullingar, in Westmeath, where Malachy the Second, Monarch of Ireland, died, A.D. 1023; and the Kings of Meath also had a fortress where they resided, situated on a hill above a mile from Castlepollard, and within two miles of the Ben or Great Hill of Fore.