Hill of Slane

As a location more recently associated with the presentation of world-class music concerts, Slane village, which is located on the north-eastern bank of the Boyne River, and just 4 km (2.5 miles) west of the important prehistoric burial sites of Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange, has a much earlier ancient connection to the mass gathering of peoples for the purposes of worship.

To the north of the village, at a height above sea level of 153 meters (c.500 feet), stands the Hill of Slane. With its spectacular views in all directions across the surrounding countryside, from its summit can be seen the Hill of Tara, which is 21 kilometres (13 miles) to the south-west. It was on the summit of the Hill of Slane in AD 433 that St. Patrick is recorded as having lit the first Paschal fire, a symbol of Jesus Christ's resurrection, in defiance of an order from the pagan High King, Laoghaire, who resided at Tara. A beautiful fresco painting, from the 1880s, by Vincent Waldré, representing 'St. Patrick Lighting the Paschal Fire on the Hill of Slane’, can be seen on the ceiling of St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle.

A monastery was founded on the hill in the 6th century by St. Erc, the first Bishop of Slane, who was consecrated by St. Patrick and who died, aged 90, in the year AD 514.

The destruction of a round tower on the site, in a raid by the Dublin Vikings in AD c.948, is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster.

St. Erc’s Hermitage, the rebuilding of which, from its earlier friary origins, dates to the 14th century, is located within the grounds of nearby Slane Castle. It is in a ruinous state but, since, 2022, has been the subject of restoration efforts through the Community Monuments Fund (CMF) from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Two gable-shaped stones that stand facing each other inside the graveyard enclosure on the hill, which were drawn by George Du Noyer in the 1860s, are believed to be the remains of St Erc’s Tomb, otherwise known as The Bishop’s Tomb. Tradition has it that in olden days the funeral coffin was carried around this tomb three times and was then set down for a time before burial. Also present inside the enclosure is a dried up holy well, identified on the old maps as being St. Patrick’s Well.

On the Hill of Slane itself stands a collection of important monuments, including, within the walled graveyard enclosure, the 16th century St. Patrick’s parish church and the well-preserved remains of its tall gothic tower and its intact and elegant three-light mullioned window. An early stone church existed in the enclosure in the 11th century and appears to have been largely reconstructed in the 13th century. Outside of the enclosure are the handsome ruins of an ecclesiastical college, possibly erected on the site of St. Erc’s early monastery.

Following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, which occurred between 1169 and 1171, the monastery was plundered by Dermot McMurrough (1110-1171), the King of Leinster, and the English under Richard 'Strongbow' de Clare (1130-1176). The site was granted by Hugh de Lacy (1135-1186) to Richard Fleming, one of his knights, whose family were Barons of Slane between the 11th and the 17th centuries.

In 1175, a defensive motte and bailey fortification was erected by Richard Fleming over the reputed ancient burial mound of the Fir Bolg king Sláine. According to the historic annals, just one year later, in 1176, Fleming and more than one hundred of his followers were killed at the site by Maol Sheachlainn Ó Lochlainn, king of Cinéal Eóghain. The surviving motte earthwork is clearly recorded on 19th century Ordnance Survey maps, though today, sitting in adjacent private lands, it is practically invisible to the eye as a thick stand of trees has grown over it.

The college, of which the impressive remains can still be seen to the north-east of the enclosed graveyard, was founded in 1512 by Sir Christopher Fleming and was built to house a Franciscan community of four priests, four lay brothers and four choristers. With the priests’ quarters located on the northern side, it was designed around an open quadrangle and amongst the ruins can still be seen staircases and fireplaces, window mouldings and a number of garderobes.

Small carved details can also be seen, including decorative Tudor roses, gutters sculpted in human and animal imagery, and the coat of arms of the King of England and France above the entrance doorway. The Fleming family’s coat of arms, whose crest shows "a mortar-piece firing out a bomb with flames all proper, chains and rings" is displayed on the west wall of the quadrangle. Their pro-Jacobite motto was 'Bhear na Righ Gan' ('May the king live for ever').

In existence for less than three decades, the college, along with the older monastery church, was dissolved and its land and wealth were appropriated about the year 1540 by King Henry VIII. The Flemings restored the monastery in 1631, at which time it became home to Capuchin monks. In 1651 the monks, along with the Fleming family, were driven out by Oliver Cromwell’s forces.

At the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, fought between the armies of the deposed Catholic King James II and those of the Protestant King William III and his wife Queen Mary II, King James II’s daughter, Colonel Christopher Fleming, 23rd Lord Slane and 17th Baron Slane (1669-1726), backed the losing side of James II. Exiled to France but restored to his titles, though not to his estates, by Queen Anne, he died in 1726 and was buried in the tomb of the McDonnells, Earls of Antrim, in the Abbey of Bonamargy, near Ballycastle. His was the last true generation of the Flemings to hold the titles of nobility associated with Slane.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014