Page 2 - A Ancient East (complete)_Neat

Filling a Gap in Ireland’s

Ancient East Initiative

There are two ways to draw an object. Either concentrate specifically on the
item or—alternatively—on its surrounding area. In both cases an outline of
the subject will begin to take shape.

Fáilte Ireland’s almost exclusive focus on monastic sites, castles, big houses
and other material remains in its Ancient East tourism initiative has, inad-
vertently, created a shadowy outline of the old native territories of counties
Carlow, Kildare, Wexford and Wicklow. But the tourist body has not filled
the blanks within the silhouette. This omission has left unattended one of the
most intriguing portions of the
Ancient East itself.

The objective of the present
pamphlet is to peer into the
lost world of the Gaelic tribes
of the south-east and suggest
how Fáilte Ireland might fill
this conspicuous gap.

A territory shaped by
ecology

The area we are about to exam- Focus on material remains in the An-
ine was first moulded by the cient East initiative omits many key
Gaelic sites
Anglo-Normans who landed in
Ireland at Bannow Bay in south
County Wexford in 1169. They had been invited by local chieftain, Dermot
MacMurrough. This native leader, who had his principal seat at Ferns in
County Wexford, is often regarded as an arch-traitor because, once the for-
eigners had achieved a foothold on this island, they became colonisers and
set out to conquer the whole country.

But the Anglo-Normans soon learnt an important lesson. Irish warfare was
superior to that of the invaders when executed in dense forest, in the moun-
tains and on the boglands where the landscape was unfavourable to foreign

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