3rd Battle Of Moytura

Last week I was with a group visiting one of our most dramatic megalithic remains, the Labby Rock, a dolmen that many call a wedge tomb and some call a portal tomb.

This is said to be the resting place of Nuada who fell during the second day of the Second Battle of Moytura. Its name comes from a later Irish Epic telling the tale of the eloping Dermaid and Grainne being hunted by Finn McChuill. Labby is derived from Leab, an ancient name for bed, their bed for a night on the run.

On our arrival I was mystified by lengths of cooking foil stuffed between the stones and wondered what kind of strange ritual had been afoot here. The mass of heather wilderness on the top was trimmed too.

A few days later I was shocked to hear the news that appeared in Irish newspapers, some world newspapers and several blogs.

Labby Rock was reported as being totally covered with baking foil by the new owners of the land it sits on as a “work of art” …… and this has opened the “Third Battle Of Moytura”.

The pre-story, as I was told, starts with the former owner of the land that Labby Rock is positioned on. The wonderful Historical Trail worked its way from Labby Rock and along a track in front of a Farmhouse and then up a hill to the cairn of “Lugh’s Seat”. The owner of the cottage loved to invite walkers into his home for tea and snacks while he shared his stories. Meanwhile, his daughter had left him at a young age seeking a “better life” in the USA.

Alas, the day had to come when this gentleman passed on and his daughter inherited the cottage, along with her new found USA born husband. It was time to return a bit of USA culture back to this Ireland cottage. Land ownership in the USA is perhaps the most aggressive in the world and that was applied to the land around Labby Rock.

As I walked along the farm track, as I had often done, I was aggressively asked to turn back. There was no recognition of any right of way. This was their land and for nobody else. From what I have heard from local folk, no community with the neighbourhood either.

A couple of years later, a week or so ago, headlines everywhere, “Historic Irish dolmen has been wrapped in tin foil”,  “looks more like a baked potato".

This upset both locals and visitors alike to witness and hear of a sacred ancient construction being converted into a work of “modern art”.

Even more shocking has been the realization that the land owner currently has every right to prevent the public from visiting this wonderful remains of ancient spirit.  

Labby Rock is one of the largest dolmens in Ireland, with its capstone weighing around 70 tons plus it is mentioned in guidebooks. There’s a lovely stile over the wall leading to it, with a path marked by an “official” right of way yellow arrow and walker icon.

Recent visitors to the dolmen have apparently been confronted by the angry “all American” ball-capped owner trying to protect his creation of 'installation art' and demanding that they were trespassers.

Labby Rock is protected under Ireland’s 2004 Monuments Act but any landowner is entitled to carry out work on or around a recorded monument as long as no damage is intended, but two months' notice is required, and this was not asked for.

Sligo Heritage Officer, Siobhan Ryan, reminded us that "People don't have the right to roam and it is with the goodwill and permission of the landowners that we access those sites."

A team of “experts” appointed by Rural Affairs Minister Eamon O Cuiv has brought out a report suggesting legislation to rule on open access rights to the countryside, but this is not very welcome by many farmers and landowners.

Fortunately, we have support through the coalition of greens with the ruling Fianna Fail party including Minister for the Environment John Gormley who is demanding a better code for protection and access to Irish Heritage 

At this point I hope that a little USA culture does enter the mix, the culture of taking advantage of opportunity. The news has brought tremendous publicity to an ancient construction that few previously knew of, and this will probably mean a huge increase in visitors, and probably an anarchy to enter the land that Labby Rock sits upon.

Rather than fuel the Third Battle of Moytura here’s a wonderful opportunity for the land owners to charge a small entrance fee and perhaps include a nicely produced booklet of stories of Labby Rock so the charge is seen to be returned with value.

However, I hope these landowner folks realize that visitors want to experience the real Labby Rock and the spirits of nature surrounding it rather than a baco foil costume in the name of art but is really an insult to nature. Fortunately, when we visited it seems that the baco foil was gone, as it will probably go everytime Labby Rock is covered with it.

As locals may be currently be mumbling, “you don’t mess with the fairies”.