The Tipperary Antiquarian

Fig.1 Laghtea Hill from the top of Tountinna The walk out to the the Millenium Cross near Portroe in North Tipperary is probably one of the best kept secrets in the county if not the country. Not only do you get wonderful views over Lough Derg into County Clare but unbeknowst to most people, you also walk through one of Bronze Age Ireland's most interesting and enigmatic monument types, the hill-fort.  The hill-fort here at Laghtea was only discovered in the 1990s from aerial photographs as it is not immediately obvious from the ground.  Fig. 2  (Conduit, 1995, 34) with additional highlighting in red It was described by (Conduit, 1995, 37) as   "situated c. 10km north-east of Killaloe on the northern foothills of the Arra Mountains around the summit of Laghtea Hill, about 1.6km north of Tountinna, the highest peak in the range. Laghtea Hill itself rises to a height of 1088ft, from where there are extensive views over Lough Derg to the ...

By www.germot-keller.com shared under CC BY 3.0  Its amazing what stories you come across randomly, like this one about plans to build a replica of the above Warwick Castle outside Thurles at a place called Brittas. It seems that there was an original castle here that was burnt down around 1820 and that the landowner, Major Henry Langley, then intended to build a full scale replica of Warwick Castle in it's place. Work was started but was abandoned in 1834 when Major Langley was struck by a stone on site and died. What remains on site are the uncompleted works and a residence has now been built on the site of the castle. From www.buildingsofireland.ie Some more photos of the uncompleted works here . Such a pity that it wasn't completed, it would have been an amazing sight in the Irish countryside and surely a big tourist attraction for the area. A bit about Warwick Castle from wikipedia "Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from a wooden fort...