Sliabh ne Calliagh
the hill of the witches

from The Road Wet, The Wind Close
             by James Charles Roy, p.33

The day is drawing to its end as I head further west into County Meath,
where the countryside grows more irregular and hilly, a picturebook blend
of field and forest. Beyond Slieve na Calliagh - the final barrier - is
the great central plain of Ireland which stretches on to the Partry Mountains
in County Mayo. Slieve na Calliagh is actually one peak among six in what
is commonly called the Loughcrew Range, but I is the highest, reaching over
nine hundred feet. On the summit and that of a neighbour, Carnbane West,
over seventeen passage graves were built. Scattered on the peaks and slopes
of the other four, eleven more tombs still remain. The entire range runs
about three miles, a vast, largely unvisited ghostland.

A single track runs up the narrow ravine between Slieve na Calliagh and
Carbane West, and I follow it. My guidebook says that all of these graves
have been rifled and partially destroyed, and perhaps their less imposing,
approachable size has something to do with that fact. They certainly exude
a ravaged look, these several miniature Newgranges, and their level of decoration
is far inferior to that which I had seen earlier [Newgrange]. In one tomb,
however, a fine collection of spiral engravings catches my eye

The view is immense as I wander about, the sun just setting, a mist spreading
slowly among the smaller valleys below, dotted with Celtic raths and at
least a couple of Norman mottes, with with the outline of its bailey plainly
visible. The dying light, like blinking shards of glass, reflects from the
wings of ravens flying by, the only movement in an otherwise still and frozen
landscape. I keep thinking to myself on the many contrasts here, these utterly
depopulated hilltops, of no contemporary importance at all aside from pasturage
of sheep and cattle, yet at one time the utter pinnacle of significance
for a people vanished these thousands of years. Such graceful tombs for
their dead ...