>> Thanks FW, is there a decent 50k scale map of the area online at all?

No. I could scan it in for you, but the Irish Ordnance Survey would charge you 300 quid to use it on line. Unlike the UK bunch they're really bad like that.

>> I'm particularly intested in the ring of Waths that surround the hill - there is an interesting >> parallel between these and the settlements that surround Thornborough.

I presume you mean 'Raths'. There isn't really a ring of them as such. There is Rath Maeve at the southern end and Realtoge to the north. There's one big one, the name of which escapes me, to the SW. These are all hillforts rather than raths though. Raths are really just fortified homesteads - mini-ringforts for one family if you like. The raths that are dotted about don't really form a ring, but a spread that you would expect to find around any capital. As Meath was the centre of the British farming society (known as King's County during occupation) most of the archaeology has been ploughed away in the area anyway. However, what does remain is stunning and more and more is coming to light through survey and observation of cropmarks etc. Out of the 30+ monuments recorded in the Annals that made the Tara complex only 10 or so remain and the others can not be traced, even with modern geophys methods.

Speaking Irish was illegal in the 1700s in Meath (it was within the Pale) and most Irish families were kicked out and replaced. This means that hardly any local history or lore is known from the area and why Tara was only recognised as being 'The' Tara in 1837 after some very clever detective work by George Petrie and (mainly) John O'Donovan. This means that the relationship of the surrounding monuments with Tara will never really be known - it is not a good plan of defence to try to justify preservation of monuments in the area by association with Tara - you just couldn't prove a link. Each one must be taken individually, but as part of a wider scheme at the same time (if you know what I mean).

I'm not sure you can compare Tara and Thornborough. Their roles and lifespans are totally different. Tara was in almost continual use from 4500 bce until 700ce. The original structure - the 150m diameter rock cut henge with 1m thick timber poles around its circumference was undoubtedly ceremonial in the same way that Thornborough was, but not enough is known about the earliest life of Tara because only the more modern, more visible monuments have been excavated. The henge mentioned above was only rediscovered 5 years ago through geophys, although, now that you know it is there, you can trace sections of it on the ground.

Email me direct and ask any questions you like. I spent 18 months in the National Library researching Tara and have materials at hand that most people haven't even heard of. Having said this you still won't find answers to more than 25% of your questions, because at the moment they just don't exist.