Walk of the Week: Clash of the ash in the land of a Goddess

KNOCKAINEY WALK, CO. LIMERICK

From our trailhead, we return to the junction and walk north on L1502, signposted Holycross 5km. Our route takes us clockwise around Knockainey Hill – in Irish Cnoc Áine, hill of Áine, the legendary goddess who endorsed the rulers of Munster. When the Norman Geraldines became Munster’s overlords, their Gaelic poets praised Maurice Fitzgerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, as ‘Áine’s king’. His son, Garret, 1338-1398 was called Gearoid Iarla Mac Gearailt, testimony to the Gaelicisation of Norman nobility.

The Annals of Clonmacnoise describe him as “ . . . a nobleman of wonderfull bounty . . . a witty and ingenious composer of Irish poetry, a learned and profound chronicler. . .” The Four Masters make reference to him as a magician.