Dún Ailinne

Dún Ailinne (pronounced [ˌd̪ˠuːnˠ ˈalʲən̠ʲə]; sometimes anglicized Dun Aulin) is an ancient ceremonial site on the hill of Cnoc Ailinne (Knockaulin) in County Kildare, Ireland. It is southwest of Kilcullen, near the R418 road to Athy. It is a large circular enclosure covering most of the hilltop; about 13 hectares. While there is no longer anything visible on the ground surface, archeological investigations show that there were once circular timber structures (or rings of upright timbers) inside the enclosure during the Irish Iron Age (ca 400 BCE – 400 CE).

According to Irish mythology, Dún Ailinne was one of the great royal sites of early Gaelic Ireland and was believed in the early medieval period to have been where the Kings of Leinster were inaugurated. These documents were written long after the site was in common use, however, and the site's relationship to early medieval kings remains unclear. It is similar to the other royal sites of Tara (Kings of Meath), Navan Fort (Kings of Ulster) and Rathcroghan (Kings of Connacht).

The site is on private property and is not open to public access. The hill is 183 metres (600 ft) above sea level and so visible from many places in the surrounding area. The best view of the site is from the Old Kilcullen churchyard in Old Kilcullen (where there is also a round tower), which is free and open to the public. Dún Ailinne should not be confused with the Hill of Allen (Cnoc Alúine), which is to the northwest.

Text adapted from “Dún Ailinne” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Dún Ailinne ranks #151 of 6,412 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #5 of the 168 mapped in Ireland. See how Ireland compares in the castle statistics.

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