MEGALITHIC

It may perhaps seem odd to commence a history of one of Ireland's leading country clubs with the actions of mysterious nomadic Stone Age men five thousand years ago. But to understand the true value of anything, a broad perspective often helps. Rathsallagh lies in a region where megalithic remains have been found in abundance; more than 400 recorded and protected monuments lie between the Wicklow Mountains and the borders of Counties Kildare and Carlow. The oldest may date as far back as 6000 BC. "Megalithic" is a term to describe the manmade stone formations erected in an unrecorded time by an unrecorded people for an unrecorded purpose. These magnificent structures continue to baffle the broadest of archaeological minds to the present day. How can we relate to the ancient cairns and perfect stone circles on mountain tops? Or the gigantic dolmens and carefully chiselled long stones that stand alone and aloof by rivers and sea? What can we do but gape in bewildered awe as we enter passage graves bedecked with symbolic spirals and strange coralesque motifs?

The 12th century Book of Invasions maintains that Ireland was first occupied by a magical people from the north of Europe, known as the Tuatha de Danaan, Children of the Sun Goddess Dana. Some believe these were masters of the occult, educated in the great, mysterious cities of Falias, Gorias, Murias and Finias. Others suggest they arrived from the Middle East in the wake of the Great Flood, an argument most strongly voiced in the Kingdom of Kerry where Noah's granddaughter is said to have died. Fictional or not, that the Tuatha de Danaan honoured the Sun should come as no surprise. The ancients understood nature as we have failed to do. For them, the Sun dictated Seasons and the Seasons dictated Life. Thus the Sun was the source of Life.

The only thing we can say with any certainty is that the architects of the megalithic structures of Ireland had a profound understanding of both mathematics and astronomy. Stone circles - of which there are more than 200 in Ireland - were definitely created with the assistance of astronomical learning. Each one seems to have been designed to coincide with an important lunar or solar event, such as Midwinter or Midsummer's Day, or on one of the Equinoxes between. Many of these stone circles lie upon ley-lines, powerful beams of magnetic energy that are in existence all around us. The Castleruddery Stone Circle near Donard is a particularly fine specimen, featuring a pair of sizeable white quartz portal stones. There is a sense of quiet magic here that compels one to concur with those who can't sleep unless they've got small quartzite pebbles in every corner of their bedroom. At Athgreany, on the Baltinglass - Blessington Road, a signpost points the way to the piper's stones. The archaeologist Peter Harbison tells the legend of "a piper (a standing stone) and his dancers pirouetting in a circle … turned into stone for having dared to amuse themselves so frivolously on the Sabbath". Harbison believes this version probably emerged during the puritanical days of the 17th century. An older story runs that this was simply the result of a stone-throwing contest between giant-sized pipers. A smaller stone circle is to be found at nearby Brewel Hill, perhaps the work of a junior league of piper stone-throwers. Another stone circle - known as the Griddle Stones - lies at Boleycarrigeen near Kilranelagh. In fact, there was probably a good deal more stone circles across Ireland than exist presently but many were broken up by farmers seeking to clear land or by Christians eager to extinguish any festering beliefs in pagan Gods.

The townland of Baltinglass, which lies on the River Slaney to the south of Rathsallagh, appears to have been occupied since earliest times. Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) states "this place, in the opinion of most antiquaries, derives its name from Baal-Tin-Glass, signifying, according to common acceptation, the pure fire of Baal, and is thence supposed to have been one of the principal seats of Druidical worship". Could this be the same Baal whom the ungrateful Israelites persistently flock to in the Old Testament? Or could this be the legacy of occultist refugees in the time of the Tuatha de Danaan? Recent scholars have denounced the Lewis definition as Victorian Satan-mongering and prefer to attribute the pure fires to the Celtic Feast of Bealtan (now May-Day). Either way, the silent passage grave on the summit of Baltinglass Hill no doubt contains the truth. Golden Fort, near Tuckmill Cross, is the setting for two ancient circular ring-forts or raths. In one, a number of golden coins were found, hence giving rise to the name. In the other, 19th century archaeologists found a kistavaen containing an urn of rude pottery in which were ashes, with a number of human bones scattered around. An ancient cemetery lies in the same demesne.

Such monuments to the ancients continue to rise from the ground to the north and west of Rathsallagh. At the entrance to the Punchestown Racecourse, a 23 foot standing stone, the second highest such stone in the British Isles, fell over in 1931. During its re-erection a Bronze Age burial site was discovered at its base. More of these grooved granite long stones, unique to Kildare, have been found at Craddockstown, Mullaghmast, Harristown and Ballycore. The Celts seem to have adopted (or perhaps rebuilt) these stones as meeting points for sporting occasions such as wrestling matches and chariot racing. In a stone-henge at the Curragh, archaeologists found a pit containing the skeleton of a young woman buried alive. A more cheerful discovery was that of a 6-foot high holed stone at Crehelp, outside Dunlavin, a device associated with the celebration of marriage in megalithic times. At Tournant Moat, south of Dunlavin, a large stone was found bearing similar spiral-shaped markings to those found at Newgrange. It has been suggested that the burial ground at Rathsallagh itself has pagan origins. Prehistoric burial sites have also been identified locally at Crehelp and Friar Hill (Dunlavin), Golden Fort and Lathaleere (near Baltinglass), Carrig and Blackrock on Mount Lugnagun and Killeen Cormac (Colbinstown). At Kilashee. 2 miles south of Naas, archaeologists are presently investigating a remarkably complex passage grave or souterrain hollowed out of sandy clay. Another passage grave is sited at Rathcoran on the summit of Baltinglass Hill, enclosed within the twin banks of a once substantial ring-fort.

One of the more remarkable feats of ancient engineering was the construction of the dolmens. Two excellent dolmens (or "Druid's Altars") are to be found in County Carlow, one at Haroldstown near Rathvilly, the other outside Carlow Town at Brown's Hill. The capstone of the latter is a phenomenal 100 tons, making it the largest of its kind in Europe. In the legends, these dolmens served as nocturnal bedrooms for the lovers Diarmuid and Grainne in their flight from the wrath of Grainne's old and troublesome husband, the once mighty warrior Finn MacCool. In happier times, Finn and Grainne are said to have slept on the slopes of Mount Keadeen, by Kiltegan; the imprints of their substantial bodies may be seen on the mountains' north west slope to this day.