Sligo surf champion explores 6,000 years of Irish mythology and history

Seamus Mc Goldrick published Waking Maeve: an excavation of Sligo’s landscape, myth and history
The book brings together 6,000 years of local history
Mc Goldrick grew up at the foot of Knocknarea in Strandhill, County Sligo
Around 70 of Ireland’s approximately 250 passage tombs are found on the Coolera Peninsula
Mc Goldrick established Sligo Surf Experience at the National Surf Centre in Strandhill

Seamus Mc Goldrick has brought together 6,000 years of local history in his new book, Waking Maeve: an excavation of Sligo’s landscape, myth and history. The Sligo surf pioneer and three-time national champion explores the mysteries of a landscape he has known since childhood. From Stone Age tomb builders to surfers, saints and rebels, the book tells the story of a county whose past is as dramatic as its Atlantic coastline.

For Seamus, who studied physics at Trinity College Dublin before building a life around the sea and surfing, the journey began on his own doorstep. He grew up at the foot of Knocknarea in Strandhill, County Sligo, beneath the huge cairn known locally as Queen Maeve’s Grave, and learned to surf on the world-class waves of nearby beaches. While the waves became his livelihood, the ancient monuments overlooking them continued to fascinate and left him with questions he wanted to answer. At the heart of the book is Queen Maeve, the formidable warrior queen of Irish mythology whose name has become inseparable from Knocknarea. Local tradition places her grave beneath its great summit cairn, Meascán Méadhbha. Thought to conceal a passage tomb, the enormous Neolithic monument remains unexcavated.

The concentration of ancient monuments is remarkable. Around 70 of Ireland’s approximately 250 passage tombs are found on the Coolera Peninsula, according to the book. Knocknarea, Carrowmore and nearby Carns Hill offer clues to the lives and beliefs of the people who built them thousands of years ago. The writer explores what these monuments reveal about Sligo’s place in ancient Ireland, and how the same landscape later helped fire the imagination of W.B. Yeats. The story moves through the centuries, introducing kings and queens, saints and Vikings, poets and rebels. Shipwrecks, surfing and the era of rock ‘n’ roll also feature in a book that connects the county’s distant past with more familiar chapters of its history. Seamus joined the Irish surfing team at 15 and went on to become a pioneering figure in Irish surfing. He established Sligo Surf Experience, based at the National Surf Centre in Strandhill, and has ridden some of the Wild Atlantic Way’s most challenging waves, including the huge swells at Mullaghmore Head.

Seamus Mc Goldrick shared “I grew up in the orbit of Knocknarea in a village that was the hub of nineties surfing in Ireland. The landscape was as extraordinary as the waves, but I became hungry to know more about the mysterious cairns built by my ancestors at Knocknarea, Carrowmore and Carns Hill. Writing Waking Maeve led me to better understand the people who built these monuments and how they shape how we see Sligo today. Now it is time to share these stories.”