A special podcast this time! This is a 90-minute talk I gave to a live audience in Drogheda this week, focusing on Amergin Glúngeal, bard of the Milesians, and his links with Drogheda and the River Boyne.

In this completely unscripted talk, I wanted to focus on Amergin and the peculiarity of the fact that it was he – not his elder brothers – who was the chief negotiator with the Tuatha Dé Danann when the Milesians arrived in Ireland.

The most remarkable aspect of Amergin's story is that he was able to single-handedly quell the magic of the Tuatha Dé Danann which had caused a huge storm in the ocean, scattering the fleet of ships in which he, his brothers and their army had come to Ireland.

Lebor Gabála Érenn, popularly known as the 'Book of Invasions', tells us that Amergin's boat (called 'High Ship Ériu') managed to pull into the Boyne river estuary (Inver Colpa) and he was the first of the Milesian brothers to put foot on the soil of Ireland on their return.

The Book of Invasions also tells us where Amergin was killed, and who killed him. Absent, however, is information on where he was buried.

In Drogheda, folklorists of the 20th century claimed that they knew something that had not been written down in the medieval manuscripts containing Irish mythology – the place where Amergin had been laid to rest.

That place occupies a commanding view over the city of Drogheda today, and is a monument strongly associated with military defences erected by the Anglo-Normans and later the British.

However, beneath the remnants of early 19th century stone fortifications lies a great earthen mound whose secrets may be hinted at in mythology and folklore. That folklore claims it is an ancient burial mound, linked not only to the Milesians, but to the earlier Tuatha Dé Danann, the ancient gods and goddesses of Ireland.

Listen to this recorded talk as I relate the mythological past, and Amergin's place of importance in the legendary history of Ireland, and indeed his significance to Inver Colpa, Drogheda and the Boyne Valley.

I hope you greatly enjoy it.

Anthony