Meath had ancient games long before the Olympics

Teltown predated Greek meetings

Meath is renowned for its rich tapestry of historical and mythical sites, some of worldwide acclaim and significance but just outside Navan there is a lesser-known ancient landscape with rock art older than Newgrange that once was the site of medieval games, predating the Olympics.

Renee Clarke has lived at Teltown House, an ancient 17th century country house on the northern banks of the River Blackwater situated between Oristown and Donaghpatrick which she has run as a guest house for the past 20 years. As is the story with many business owners, the onset of covid and lockdown turned Renee’s usually thriving B&B and wedding venue upside down, it was during this time that she put the wheels in motion to open this mythical area for the public to enjoy.

Teltown is an ancient royal assembly site and nearby the historical Tailteann Games were held for centuries, which were believed to be an inspiration for teh current Olympics. That along with a 17th century burial site, ancient rock art dating back to 2,000 BC and the ruins of a medieval church tells a fascinating story of a bygone time in our heritage that deserves to be recognised.

According to legend it is named after the goddess Tailtiu, Queen of the Fir Bolg who became Queen of the Tuatha Dé Dannan when the Fir Bolg were defeated. She was buried at Tailteann and her foster son, the god Lugh, inaugurated games in her honour.

The Tailteann festival survived into historical times, with kings presiding over them until 1168.

The Táilteann Games were revived in 1924 following the Irish Civil war. The games would showcase an independent Ireland and communicate to foreign visitors that Ireland was back on its feet.

The opening ceremony of the new Games was held in Croke Park in front of 20,000 spectators. The ceremony paid homage to the legend behind the ancient games when Queen Tailté entered the stadium accompanied by 11th century Gaelic warriors, carrying spears and accompanied by Irish Wolfhounds. The games drew competitors from all over the world. Renee believes that the lockdown was an omen that Teltown House and its surroundings should be a part of Irish history for people to appreciate and visit.

"We had a very successful b&b and through Covid we didn’t open and last year was so depressing with no one coming around the place, so we decided we’d like to do something this year and I'm so glad that people can now enjoy this magical and mystical area," she says.

"There is a pre-Christian cemetery literally three minutes from our back door. We have rock art dating back to 2,000 BC. We had a professor working with us and he brought down a geologist, a Greek professor from Trinity College and they verified it. There is an old run of a medieval church that was burnt down and and we are lucky that the ruins remain.

"The druids like to come and have rituals in the rock art and someone just yesterday booked for August 1st to mark Lughnasa to do a pagan ritual."

The estate owner says she feels "sad" that there are so many unmarked graves on the burial site but believes giving the cemetery significance pays tribute to the unknown deceased.

"Most of the burials in the cemetery that have headstones would be from the 1700s. You would know from their headstones that they were noble people. If they were a farmer, a bullock was engraved on the top of the headstone, if they were a sheep farmer, one sheep was engraved into the stone. It’s amazing the things we have learned ourselves through the years from different historians visiting the area. "There is an Irish soldier with the surname Reilly who joined the British Army, buried there marked with a military stone. The family come every year to pay their respects to the young man. When we decided to open on Easter Sunday we got a little story made of the cemetery and we have everything marked well so people are finding it fascinating to come in and find a storyboard.

"I’m so thrilled that people are visiting this because in their own little way they are visiting the people that have gone before them."

Renee hopes to one day revive the ancient Tailteann games. She added: "The whole Teltown area was very involved with the Tailteann Games and it would be just lovely if we could re-enact them again there was everything from high jumps with horses and chariots and swimming in the river to ancient traditions and old sports. There was also always plenty of banqueting in Teltown because the High Kings lived in Tara.

"Our coffee shop in called Tailtiú and it’s the old-fashioned name for Teltown Queen Tailtiú is supposed to be buried here in a mound although the exact site hasn’t been identified."

It seems like the term "hand in marriage" took on a life of its own at Teltown in the 1800s and if you changed your mind, you could just come back the next year and continue the search for a suitable suitor as Renee explains: "The famous marriage at Teltown was when there was a stone wall with a hole in it and in pagan days marriages were arranged at this famous festival of Lughnasadh.

"If you decided to get married you put your hand through the hole in the wall and the gentleman stood the other side and you felt his hand, if you liked it you got with it, if you didn’t you passed him on.

"Then you were on what they would call a trial marriage for a year and a day and if it didn’t work out, a year and day later you could come back to the festival the next summer and stand back and do what they call the deed of separation and walk away from each other. We also have a mystical tree which is now called a wishing tree and that is planted outside the burial ground which was very common in those days.

"Children love to sit in it and have their photographs taken and walk around it a number of times and wish for whatever they want.”