Idiot vandals wreck 5,500-year-old Meath monument

Reoil

Has anybody seen this? Feckin' hell.

http://www.joe.ie/news-politics/current-affairs/idiot-vandals-wreck-5500-year-old-meath-monument-0025841-1

An historic monument featuring ancient Irish writing has had the almighty crap beaten out of it by at least one mindless idiot at the Hill of Tara in Meath.

The Lia Fáil stone once served as the coronation place for the High Kings of Tara, but now lies in a much less regal state having been battered at least 11 time with a hammer.

"These monuments are a fundamental part of our shared heritage and history, and I condemn in the strongest terms the damage that has been caused to this monument," he told the Irish Times.

None of the four sides of the 5,500-year-old standing stone were spared and the granite face was severely damaged. The vandalism was discovered last weekend, but it's not known when the moronic act was committed.

Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan has predictably condemned the vandals, but there precious little he can do at this stage. It's not yet clear how serious the damage is, but a archaeologist from the National Monuments Service has examined it and removed fragments.

Gardaí now have the findings of the examination and will presumably use it as evidence if they can find the culprit/s.

Reoil

And from the Independent:

GARDAI are hunting vandals who attacked a 5,500-year-old standing stone at the Hill of Tara in Co Meath with a hammer.

Damage has been caused in 11 places on all four faces of the Lia Fail Standing Stone -- also know as the 'Stone of Destiny' -- which is mentioned in ancient texts about the High Kings of Ireland.

Minister for Arts and Heritage Jimmy Deenihan last night said his department was examining the possibility of increasing surveillance at such monuments.

An archaeologist from the National Monuments Service carried out a detailed examination of the monument after the Office of Public Works (OPW) discovered the damage at the weekend.

Archaeologist Tom Condit said the damage was visible on the stone's surface but a search of the area did not reveal any of the fragments, which may indicate that they were taken away.

Mr Condit said such "obviously wanton" damage was rare.

"It is disturbing that someone would select a site as well known and as vulnerable as that," he said.

But Mr Condit warned that "short of closing sites off" it was difficult to protect them.

He urged anyone with information to inform the gardai.

Under the National Monuments acts, anyone convicted of interfering with a national monument can face a fine of up to €10m or five years' imprisonment.

Dr Conor Newman, chairman of the Heritage Council, said: "So many of our items are out in the open and it is a terrible breach of the trust that we rely on to protect and guard such monuments. It wouldn't be the right thing or possible to police all monuments. We rely on trust, public vigilance.''

GhostInTheRuins

I heard about this on the radio yesterday so I popped over to have a look. I was expecting big lumps to have been taken out of it, but the damage isn't actually that bad. If I hadn't heard that it was damaged I probably would never have been able to tell. I'll upload some pictures later.

Who does stuff like this though? ****ing scumbags :mad:

Dude111

Scumbags dont know real value when they see it

slowburner

It seems that the lunatic who carried out this attack was after 'souvenirs' - there was no sign of the fragments from the eleven blows.
Hopefully, that's all it was - a lunatic with some deranged idea - and not someone with a market for the fragments.

It just goes to show how vulnerable in situ monuments are, and how much we depend on collective respect.

Rubecula

I have only just read this. I am deeply shocked, but not surprised really. Idiots like this are pure scum in my own opinion. The problem is they are totally amoral dur to their mentality or upbringing. They know they did wrong but simply don't care less. These monuments are not ours, just in our keeping for future generations. Vandals like this have no conception of that sort of thinking.

Sadly, the chances of getting justice is very unlikely as the perpetrator will never be found.

slowburner

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

I'll upload some pictures later.

Any chance of an update from our roving reporter? :pac:

GhostInTheRuins

slowburner wrote: »

Any chance of an update from our roving reporter? :pac:

Yeah I'll throw them up later when I get a chance.

Reoil

Any update on the photos?

GhostInTheRuins

Reoil wrote: »

Any update on the photos?

Jesus christ, I'd forget my head only it's stuck to me. Sorry for the massive delay.

Like i said, the damage isn't too obvious, and as far as I can tell it's mostly on the bottom of the stone.









I had a look through some old photos just now to see if there was anything that I could compare it with, this is about all that I could find, one that I took back in 2009. It was taken in roughly the same angle and place as the previous one. It's not ideal giving the lighting, but it's still useful.

BFDCH.

that photo with the sun burst is amazing

Degsy

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say the damage wasnt done by ordinary vandals but some hippy-dippy,neo pagan fruitcake trying to get lumps of the stone to use in some "ritual" or other.

Just a feeling i have shall we say..

Step23

The damage doesn't look too bad, which is good. I was fearing much worse. Whew!

Hopefully this incident will make people more vigilant so this won't happen again to this monument and indeed to other ones too.

Dude111

I think they should put cameras there in case the idiots come back! (Ya dont know,criminals can be quite stupid (And often are!!))

Gee Bag

Degsy wrote: »

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say the damage wasnt done by ordinary vandals but some hippy-dippy,neo pagan fruitcake trying to get lumps of the stone to use in some "ritual" or other.

Just a feeling i have shall we say..

Was discussing this in a pub with a load of archies a while back and that pretty much seemed to be the opinion of everyone. Some lads were linking it to the mysterious hole at Bremore mentioned in an earlier thread. That said, no one knew if there was a proper excavation at Bremore or not.

Hopefully they aren't using it in a fertility ritual that leads to the spawning of further new age morons.

slowburner

Gee Bag wrote: »

Was discussing this in a pub with a load of archies a while back and that pretty much seemed to be the opinion of everyone. Some lads were linking it to the mysterious hole at Bremore mentioned in an earlier thread. That said, no one knew if there was a proper excavation at Bremore or not.

Hopefully they aren't using it in a fertility ritual that leads to the spawning of further new age morons.

What happened at Bremore, is the product of some wannabe flute spending too much time watching 'Time Team'.
What happened to the Lia Fáil is the product of a misguided loony - plain and simple.
Them's my deductions :pac: