The Card Players : Paddy Ryans : Horseleap : Ireland : Photography

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Horseleap (Irish: Baile Átha an Urchair) is a town situated upon the Offaly, Westmeath county border in Ireland, along the R446, formerly the main Dublin to Galway road. The village itself possesses a church, primary school, a garden centre, a pub, and a petrol station. Horseleap dates back to the 12th century steeped in Ui Neill, Geoghegan history.

The village’s Irish name (Baile Átha an Urchair or Áth an Urchair) was historically anglicised as Ballanurcher, Athnurcher and Ardnurcher.[1] The name probably derives from the legend that Conchobar mac Nessa was killed here.[2]

Horseleap’s present name dates back to 1192. The Norman lord Brian Fitzgerald had been riding through the lands neighbouring his castle in Donore when he came across members of the Mac Geoghegan clan who had long disputed De Lacy’s claim to the lands. Following a dispute, De Lacy was forced to flee on horseback from the Mac Geoghans. On approaching his castle he discovered that the drawbridge was raised forcing De Lacy’s horse to jump the castle’s moat. De Lacey survived the jump and escaped almost certain death at the hands of the Mac Geoghegan clan.[citation needed]

The battle of Ardnocher took place here in 1329 between the forces of Thomas Butler and William Mac Geoghegan. Mac Geoghegan won and Butler and many of his soldiers were killed.

Modern Day

Apart from the story of how it got its name Horseleap also has a new story of modern day interest. The 12 foot high bronze statue of the prancing horse that stands on the village green was actually made in Italy by Ferrari. In the nineties the Ferrari formula one racing team made a present of one of these statues of its famous logo to each of their F1 drivers. This one was shipped to Ireland in 1999 to be given to Eddie Irvine who had finished as runner up in the World championship for Ferrari that year. It was stored in a barn in County Tyrone and was to be a surprise to Irvine. However just before this was to take place Irvine told Ferrari he was leaving them to join the Jaguar team. Ferrari never told Irvine about the statue and it stayed in the barn for a year until a local farmer from Horseleap was up in Tyrone buying cattle and was told about it. A delegation from the village was then dispatched to make the case that they had the ideal home for this statue and that they wished to purchase it. They bought the statue for a fee less than it cost to make and it was erected in 2000.





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Hill of Uisneach : Bealtaine : 2011 : Ireland

The Hill of Uisneach, or Ushnagh, also Uisnech (Irish: Cnoc Uisnigh),[1] formerly regarded as the centre of Ireland, is a historical site in County Westmeath (National Monument Number 155).[2] The 182 metre hill [3] lies on the north side of the R390 road, 8 km east of the village of Ballymore, beside the village of Loughanavally. The Hill of Uisneach occupies parts of four adjacent townlands: Ushnagh Hill, Mweelra, Rathnew, and Kellybrook.[3]

In Irish mythology, it was considered to be the omphalos or mystical navel of Ireland, upon which rested a great stone (Ail na Míreann, which means “stone of divisions”) which was said to indicate the meeting point of the provincial borders of Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster, and Mide (which was once a separate, fifth province). Tradition tells that the Hill of Uisneach was a site favoured for Beltane fires and Druidical ceremonies, and as a ceremonial site it was regarded as second only to Emain Macha. In the poetic history Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of the Takings of Ireland), the Nemedian Druid Mide lit the first fire there. A fire was also lit on the Hill of Uisneach on the feast of Bealtaine. This fire could be seen from Tara, and when they saw it, they lit their fire.

According to a popular passage from the same record, Ériu, a tutelary goddess sometimes viewed as the personification of Éire (Ireland), meets the invading Milesians at the Hill of Uisneach where, after some conversation and drama, the Milesian poet Amairgin promises to give the country her name. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) claims a common belief that Stonehenge was transported to Britain from the Hill of Uisneach. St. Brigid of Christian legend, who is also notably connected with fire, took the veil at this sacred locus.

Based on co-ordinates alone, some have theorised that this may be the site identified as Raiba or Riba, by Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy), the Egyptian-Greek astronomer and cartographer, writing in his Geographia around the year 140 A.D.

Archaeologically, the site consists of a set of monuments spread over two square kilometres in the closely adjoining townlands of Ushnagh, Kellybrook, and Rathnew,[3] which includes enclosures and barrows, a possible megalithic tomb, and two ancient roads. The largest enclosure was excavated in the 1920s by R.A.S. Macalister and R. Praeger and showed evidence of occupation from prehistory up to the early mediaeval period.



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