Outrage over destruction of Celtic fort

Manchegan

Irish Examiner

Heritage experts today condemned the destruction of part of a 3,000-year-old Celtic fort in Co Kerry.
The 700 metres of earthen works that surrounded the ancient Dun Mor Fort on the Dingle Peninsula were levelled at the weekend by an excavating machine. An entrance and a standing stone with an ogham (Celtic writing) inscription were also removed.
...It is understood the man responsible is from the local area.
...According to a Heritage Council survey, around 10% of all national monuments have been lost in the last 10 years. The vast majority of this destruction is carried out by farmers who are reclaiming land. Mr Gibbons said that changes in Irish farming had accelerated the process.

The mind boggles.:(

chewy

yeah i just read that in the times...

serious money and resources needs to put int protecting heirtage sites

was looking for pics of it couldn't find any ...

Johnmb

Hopefully some very severe charges will be brought against the local in question, and an example made of him. While such removing some monuments may be necessary for progress, it cannot be left up to individual landowners to destroy such monuments without any consultation whatsoever.

valen

Well, the least they can do is charge him the cost of having archeologists put it all back together, as far as they can tell.

There was talk at one stage of using compulsory purchasing to buy all land with monuments on it, to stop this happening. Alas, they realised that it would be a signal to farmers to level all monuments ASAP.

john

Manchegan

Originally posted by valen
Alas, they realised that it would be a signal to farmers to level all monuments ASAP.

It appears that that is the case in this instance: legislation is being drafted that would impose fines of up to €10m for an act such as this.

What's needed is a supplemental terzina in Dante's Inferno, with our culprit condemned to lie prone, shatting 700 metres of a Celtic Fort boulder-by-boulder for 3,000 years which, when finished, will be excavated, so that he has to start again. On either side - cheek-by-jowl so to speak - are Herostratus and a member of the Taliban who are working on the Temple of Artemis and the Bamiyan Buddhas.

The Beer Baron

In fairness the government should protect them better- although had they wanted to build a road thru it themselves I'm sure the result would be the same- hell aren't they building a road right thru the hill of Tara or something?

Once again the "only in Ireland" maxim applies.
I mean- imagine they doing it in Britain or someplace?
As opposed to here where ****ing farmers think nothing of demolishing an ancient stone castle for raw materials so's they can build their ****ing wall!

Hang 'em from the highest tree I say.