http://www.discoveryprogramme.ie/news-a-events/news/156-the-discovery-programme-and-the-tara-conservation-plan.html

The Discovery Programme and the Tara Conservation Plan

Written by Brian Lacey  

The Discovery Programme is delighted that it has been selected by the Minister of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to prepare a Conservation Plan for the Hill of Tara. Since its inception in 1991 the Discovery Programme has been, almost continuously, conducting research on the Hill of Tara and its environs, and into both the ancient and modern history of the site, its associated kingship, cultural significance and role in Irish affairs generally. It is probably true to say that the Discovery Programme has conducted more research on Tara than every other person and official body put together. For example, when the Discovery Programme commenced fieldwork at Tara in 1992 about 30 to 35 monuments were known on the hilltop. As a result of our work that figure is now at least four times the original number (depending on how they are counted). In addition there was no chronology for the evolution of the complex of monuments on the Hill; that lacuna has now been filled by a model for the sequence of monument construction which can be tested and refined through future excavations. Neither was there any real understanding of the historic relationship of the Hill of Tara itself and the monuments and landscape surrounding it. That gap has also been filled to a great extent by the work of the Discovery Programme and its collaborators and associates.

The Discovery Programme has amassed a huge amount of data about Tara and has an excellent record of publishing this material. Four academic books, a major excavation report, a large number of research articles and several popular, educational or tourist publications have been issued, and another book on recent discoveries through various forms of remote sensing is currently in preparation. For instance, in the summer season of 2010 the Discovery Programme and its partners at NUI Galway doubled the amount of geophysical survey on the hilltop, revealing in the process what is almost certainly the previously unknown whereabouts of the medieval manor of Tara. Discovery Programme surveys of the hilltop are now used as the basis for other work on the site and planning by a variety of interested bodies.

Given this history of research, the Discovery Programme is very well suited to undertake the task of leading the preparation of a Conservation Plan for this most important monument complex and its associated landscape. As the preparation of the plan involves areas of work which the Discovery Programme has not been involved with heretofore, we will be collaborating with Howley Hayes Architects. Howley Hayes Architects has an excellent and well-known track record of preparing such documents.

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