Album of Celtic Ireland

[Note: The images on this page are personal selection of thousands which commemorate or imagine the stories and traditions of Celtic Ireland. Some are older, dating from the centuries before and after Christ, while others are modern such as those created by the painter Louis le Brocquy who gave us an iconic version of the “massing” of the Connacht army when Maeve and Aillil, queen and consort of that ancient province, embarked on their famous “cattle-raid0 to steal the Brown Bull of Cooley [Cuailgne] only to meet with the prowess of the Ulster hero Cuchulain who single-handedly defends his province at the cost of his own life, while the other warriors lie asleep under the influence a magic potion.]

Index

The Passage-tomb at Newgrange (Co. Meath) The Táin Bó Cuailgne, or Cattle-raid of Cooley Celtic Treasures held in the Irish National Museum

[ All about the Book of Kells ]

The Irish Language

Newgrange Passage Tomb (Boyne Valley)
Newgrange is a vast burial mound dating from 3,500BC. On front of it lies a portal stone whose pattern is known as the triskelion
Newgrange was rebuilt by archaelogists in the 1960s	The sun strikes centre of the tomb at winter solstice
The light-box above the portal is astrologically aligned

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Images from Táin Bó Cuailgne [Cattle-raid of Cooley], trans. Thomas Kinsella, ill. Louis le Brocquy (Dublin: Dolmen Press; Oxford University Press 1969).
Massing of the Connacht Army against Ulster	Chariots of the Army

Morrigan the War Goddess	Queen Mebdh Pissing	A Warrior in Battle
Cuchulain’s riastrid (warp-spasm)	Mounted Warrior	Ferdia’s Death

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Historical Artefacts from Gaelic Ireland held in the National Museum (Dublin)
The Roscrea Broach	The Petrie Crown
The Tara Broach	The Ballinderry Broach
The Corrlick Head	The Kavanagh Horn
The Gleninsheen Gorget	The Broighter Boat
Castlederg Caudron	Keshcarrigan Bowl
St Patrick’s Bell (by legendary belief)	Shrine (or reliquary) of St Patrick’s Bell
The Ardagh Chalice	The Moohaught Hoard
Domnach Airgid (Silver Sunday)

The Irish Language - Some Prompts & Records
The position of Irish (Gaelic) on the World's Map of Languages
The Decline of the Irish Language
Reputedly Queen Elizabeth I’s Irish Grammar Book
Irish Classics - Tiomna Nua (The New Testament)	Irish Classics - An Béal Bocht (The Poor Mouth)