The Forrad and Tech Cormaic consist of two conjoined earthworks. Tech Cormaic, regarded in the medieval period as being the royal residence of the heroic king of Tara, Cormac mac Airt, is a ringfort consisting of a circular area (about 70m in diameter) defined by two banks and an intervening ditch. The original entrance is in the northeast and is aligned, deliberately or otherwise, on the eastern entrance to Ráith na Ríg. Slightly off-centre is a low mound with a small hollow in the middle which may be the foundations of a house or perhaps the outline of a small barrow. Tech Cormaic is attached to the east side of the Forrad. The Forrad consists of a prominent, flat-topped mound surrounded by a ditch with two outer banks and an intervening ditch. It is possible to suggest three phases in its development. Before the present monument was built there may have been up to three small barrows here, arranged in the form of an equilateral triangle. When the large central mound and the middle bank were built the three barrows were incorporated into the bank. Two of them are clearly visible, one as a prominent protrusion in the north-eastern quadrant, the second as a small round-topped mound in the south-eastern quadrant. This may be Múr Tea, ‘Tea’s wall’, the burial place of a mythical queen, described in the medieval account as being a little hillock located between the Forrad and Cormac’s royal residence. The third is evidenced as a bulge or widening of the bank in the western quadrant. The outer bank is considerably narrower than the inner bank and appears to have been a later addition. It seems to be an extension of the outer bank of Tech Cormaic, the result, perhaps, of a deliberate attempt to associate this clearly important burial complex with the later habitation site. A stone pillar in the centre of the Forrad is reputed to be the Fáil. It is clear from its phallic shape that it is a fertility symbol and this concords well with the role ascribed to it in the description of the inauguration ceremony. It was moved here from its original position near the Mound of the Hostages to mark the grave of those who fell in the 1798 rebellion and had a small cross and the letters RIP carved into it. It is white granite and may have been quarried from outcrops in the north of Ireland, the nearest source being at Newry, County Down. SMR No.: ME031-033009- ME031-033010-

Metadata	Information
Source	The Discovery Programme
Contacts	Mr Anthony Corns Technology Manager The Discovery Programme 63 Merrion Square Dublin D2 Dublin Dublin Ireland +353 1 639 3039 +353 1 639 3710 info@discoveryprogramme.ie The Discovery Programme
Copyright Credit Line	Copyright ©The Discovery Programme
Europeana Rights	Creative Commons - Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (BY-NC-ND)
Spatial	Tech Cormac & The Forrad, Tara Castleboy County Meath Ireland
Protection Type	National Monuments in State Care
Start Date	Uncertain
End Date	Uncertain
Period Name	Uncertain
Materials	Earth
Heritage Asset Type	Ringfort - rath, Barrow - unclassified