Skryne: Little Tara

Skyrne is Royal Tara’s counterpart across the Gabhra Valley. Slightly higher than Tara, its tower is a landmark but it attracted little attention until involved in a proposed motorway (the M3, mentioned previously) between the two hills.

Unlike Tara,  Skryne has no ancient mounds or royal relics. It was originally known as Achall after a legendary princess who died there of grief because her brother Erc had been killed in battle.  Its more recent name, Skryne, derives from Scrin Choluim Chille – Columcille's shrine, the relics of St Columba (of Derry and Iona).

However there is no record of Columba (Columcille) ever visiting Skryne (while he was alive!). So how did his relics end up there, even if only for a short time? 

Columba died in 597 on the Scottish island of Iona and was buried there. When Viking raids became threatening his highly-valued relics were divided between Scotland and Ireland.  In 875 the Irish relics are recorded as arriving at Kells, recently built for refugees from Iona.  Later the relic were moved to Skryne for greater safety.  Eventually they were moved north to Downpatrick. 

The Vikings can be seen as the villains in all this. But what if it was the Norsemen who built the church on Skryne and placed the relics there?

Some historians believe that is what happened. Thanks to them I was introduced to Amlaib Curan, one of the forgotten notables in Irish history. Olaf, as he was called in his own language, was a Norseman born in York in 926 and died in Iona in 981.  Between those dates he was twice King of Northumberland and twice King of Dublin. During his time the Vikings in Dublin began settling down in Ireland and extending their territory into Meath and Kildare. In the process they became involved in the religious culture of the people.

Olaf (or Amlaid) was a renowned warrior and ruthless pillager of monasteries. He had been baptised in 943 in York to further his dynastic ambitions but when they failed to progress he returned to Viking ways and Dublin. Yet when he retired it was to Iona, the great monastic centre founded by St Columba.   

In Meath he had plundered monasteries, sometimes in the company of Irish chieftains. One such centre was Kells where Columba’s relic were stored.  Some historians believe that his purpose was not to steal but to further his claims to the area.  By building a church for the relics at Skryne (near Tara) he showed he was associating himself with Columba and the area, creating a bond. 

Obviously this is a complex story which I got to hear about when trying to find out more about Skryne. However I came across the Vikings and Olaf again when visiting a Columba-associated church in Kildare and hope to return to tracing the connection again.

In the meantime, Skryne remains a quiet hill-top village with a church ruin and a prominent tower where Columba’s relics had once been stored. It is a contrast to busy Tara and its tourist buses. However it is worth going the extra mile to visit Skryne and imagine another era of Irish history.