You’re staring at the back end of a horse.
The end of the website, beautifully sculpted for you.”
The page you wanted has gone the way of half the O’Dubhda castles — vanished into the bog, the bracken, or the British Land Commission, depending on the century. Whatever you came looking for has bolted.
The Gaelic Chieftain
Less metaphor, more metalwork. The sculpture above is The Gaelic Chieftain by the Derry artist Maurice Harron, perched on a hilltop on the N4 between Boyle and Sligo, in County Roscommon.
It depicts Red Hugh O’Donnell charging into the Battle of the Curlew Pass (15 August 1599) — one of the great Gaelic victories of the Nine Years’ War, fought on the ground just below. The picnic site beside it looks out over Lough Key.
As Irish things go, you come for the view of Lough Key and stay for the back end of a horse. The pose is deliberate: the chieftain is riding into battle, away from the road, charging the English on Curlew Mountain. We’re looking at his rear because his front is busy.
