placenamesKilcullen
Cill Chuillinn
Research on Knockaulin Hill reveals ceremonial structures while leaving some discoveries open to interpretation.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Cill Chuillinn · Irish · main form
- Kilcullen · English · main form
Place & story
A hilltop used for ceremony
Dún Ailinne occupies Knockaulin Hill within Kilcullen electoral division. A large bank with an internal ditch surrounds the summit. George Washington University’s excavation project describes activity beginning in the Neolithic, with the site’s principal importance in the Iron Age. Successive wooden structures are interpreted as serving ceremonial purposes connected with religion and political authority. The earthworks and excavated traces support that interpretation without identifying every ritual performed there. [2] [3]
Two intersecting circles
Susan Johnston’s 2018 fieldwork investigated two circular features detected by geophysical survey. Measuring approximately eighteen and fourteen metres across, they intersected north of the timber structures uncovered in earlier excavations. The northern feature had two ditches in the excavated area; the southern had one. Johnston proposed ring ditches but stressed the preliminary nature of the work. [4]
Burnt bone without a certain burial
Small fragments of burnt mammal bone occurred with charcoal in the ditch fills. The excavator could not determine whether these were scattered funerary remains, accidentally incorporated animal material, or both. Their presence should therefore not be presented as proof of cremation or human sacrifice. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kilcullen. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Dún Ailinne: project and earlier excavation overview · George Washington University, Department of Anthropology
- Dún Ailinne: earthworks and timber structures · Royal Sites of Ireland project, county-council initiative
- 2018:148DúnAilinne, licenceE0004689/C000748 · Susan Johnston, original excavation report
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2014-05-21. How this page was prepared.