To the west of Armagh City lies Navan Fort, the ancient 'Emain Macha' of Irish history and legend and the earliest capital of Ulster.
This ancient site sets the tales of Macha, Cu chulainn, Deirdre and heroes of the Red Branch Knights. According to the early Christian scribes, Irish history began with the founding of Emain Macha. Archaeologists have made many fascinating discoveries at Navan, including the traces of a giant Celtic temple.
Navan Fort is a large earthwork of circular plan surrounding the summit of a drumlin in pleasant rolling countryside. The site, a pagan sanctuary, is some 240m in diameter. Where best preserved on the west, the ditch is 4m deep and the external embankment 15m wide and 4m high. The impressive earthwork encloses two monuments on the hilltop, a ring barrow (Iron Age burial site) and a large mound. Excavations in the 1960s revealed that the mound was a composite structure built in 95BC at the end of a long sequence of earlier activity. Recent excavations demonstrated that the main enclosure was also built in the around 95BC.
To learn more about one of Ireland's most important ancient monuments visit the adjoining Navan Centre.
