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Where is the Brehon's Chair on Kyle Hill on the Offaly / Laois border

 


Does anyone know the location of Kyle Hill on the Laois / Offaly border just to the east of Roscrea or even better still the location of the Brehon's chair that is said to be located on the hill.

I have not been able to find the exact location of the hill to date.

John Feehan in "The Landscape of the Slieve Blooms" pgs 212 & 213 says the following

"The hills here, rising to over 275 metres in Laughil and to nearly 250 metres in Ballyduff to the south-west, were called Slewnemoronty, which is probably sliabh na mórdhala (-áltaí?), the mountain of the assembly, which is not unlikely in view of the traditions associated with Saint Thomas' Seat which is a conspicuous outcrop of Old Red Sandstone at the top of the mountain in Ballyduff. Known as the Fairy Chair (the hill is called Fairy hill), this outcrop is described by Seward in Topographica hibernica (1795) as the judgement seat where the brehon of the Fitzpatrick held his court. Tradition attributes a group of small round impressions on top of the rock to the saint's fingertips. On a flagstone below the seat itself is a mark resembling a horse's hoof, marking the spot whence the animal leapt away south into the bog of Monelly. A stone circle occurs near the summit of Kyle hill in Kilcreman and beside it is a standing stone, a little over a metre high."

This "stone circle" does exist - it is a ring-barrow that may have had a number of stones standing in its ring at one stage.

Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland by Elizabeth Fitzpatrick pg 135 says broadly the same thing except it gives a location that it "is found adjacent to a small stone enclosure at the northern end of Kyle Hill on the Offaly-Laois border."

John Gleeson in "History of Ely O'Carroll Territory" pg 619 says it is located on "the slope of the Slieve Bloom mountain".

& On pg 640 he references Seward's Topographia Hibernica 1797 "it is near the top of the hill on its east side, and formed from solid rock." He goes on to say

"The MacGeoghans, or MacEgans were brehons of the Fitzpatricks. This chair is situated near a point where three counties meet, King's Co. and Tipperary in Ely O'Carroll, and Queen's Co. in Osory. It is situated near the ancient road which led from Cloncourse Castle to the King's Co. The Brehon's Chair is a rock on a sharp eminence within a circle of mountains, with a small plateau in front. Underneath the chair there is a small round cavity in the rock, which is known as the Ink Bottle. In Christian times it was given the name by which it is known in the locality at present, St. Thomas's Seat".

Rev. Gleeson was based in Knock and Kyle as a priest there for a time, so his knowledge should have been fairly accurate.

I've marked the "stone circle" and two of the townlands mentioned - Ballyduff & Kilcreman. There is a peak (757) on the border of the two townlands. There is however a higher unmarked peak to the east of here (which I have marked). That seems to be the highest point.



 


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