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104 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
nasty and to compound the situation further, it also had enormous pagan associations. Con- sequently, the High-Kings of the Uí Néills who were now Christians, refrained from visiting it, and in time the storied buildings crumbled, leaving nothing but the traces of some forlorn grass-grown mounds. Another reason for the desertion and decline of Tara is also extant, it maintains that St. Rowan placed a curse upon the place because of a quarrel which arose between him and the High-King Diarmuid, but as we already mentioned, there is no evi- dence to support this story, despite it being a good yarn. But a fact which can be verified is that up to the year 734 the succession to the High-Kingship was not fixed, but from then until 1002, it was held alternately by the Uí Néill of the north and the Uí Néill of the south.
The shortest distance between Ireland and Scotland, across Sruth na Maoile –‘The Straits or Sea of Moyle,’ from the Antrim coast to the Mull of Kintyre, is about 12 miles.
From the year 400 onwards it was customary for those Irish who hailed from the north- ern part of Ulster, namely Dal Riada or Dalaradia, an ancient area which extended from Newry to the Ravel Water in Antrim, to cross over to Scotland and settle there. In this man- ner they formed a colony in Scotland which was also named Dal Riada. About the year 470, Feargus Mac Eearca in the company of his brothers, all sons of the King of the Irish Dal Riada, formed the Scottish colony into a regular tribal kingdom subject to the rule of their father. So it came about that part of the Kingdom of Dal Riada was in Ireland and part in Scotland, and both parts were ruled by one king. Let us not forget that it was the king of the Dal Riada who granted Iona to Colm Cille, his kinsman, in 562. As a result, it is told that despite being commanded never to return to Ireland, Colm Cille made his way to Drom Ceat which is near Limavaddy, in county Derry, in 573 where he attended, as a prominent guest, a convention held to settle a dispute about the relationship between the Dal Riada and the High-King. The members of the convention decreed that from that day forward the terri- tory of Dal Riada which was in Ireland should give military assistance to the High-King, while naval assistance should be given by the colony in Scotland. It was also decreed that the influence of the Bards be curtailed and the Boromean tribute scrapped.
From the third century onwards, the kingdom of Munster was ruled over by kings de- scended from Eoghan Mór, eldest son of Ailill Olum, the celebrated third century king of that region, and their royal residence was settled at Cashel, in what is today county Tipperary. Consequently, kings of this line are referred to collectively as Eoghanacht Chaisil –‘The Eo- ghans of Cashel.’ During the years of the fourth century, the Eoghanacht monarchs extend-
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