Waking Maeve

A legend is stirring.

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Stories of Queen Maeve have lingered across Connacht and the Atlantic coast since her death two thousand years ago. A Sligo surfer has heard whispers on the tide that this ancient Irish warrior is waking from her slumber. From the mysterious passage tombs of Knocknarea and Carrowmore to the enormous swells that break at Mullaghmore, Waking Maeve carries readers on a rolling wave from the Stone Age to the era of rock ’n’ roll, tracing the myths, landscapes and people that shaped Ireland's northwest.
Along the way, you'll meet kings and queens, saints and Vikings, poets and rebels, shipwrecks, surfers and dreamers who left their mark on one of Ireland's most extraordinary landscapes.
Guided by the enduring spirit of the Neolithic people of the northwest, Queen Maeve and the poet WB Yeats, Seamus Mc Goldrick reveals the deep connections between past and present, inviting readers to discover why Sligo continues to captivate, inspire and surprise.

“An evocative journey through myth, memory and marine identity, Waking Maeve reconnects us with the ancient relationship between people, place and sea. Seamus Mc Goldrick brings Ireland’s northwest vividly to life through story, landscape and the enduring power of the feminine. Here, Queen Maeve emerges as both wave-rider and warrior of the sea, stirring as if from an ancient slumber beneath the Atlantic tide.”
— Easkey Britton, author of Saltwater in the Blood

From giant waves to ancient graves: Sligo surf champion explores 6,000 years of Irish mythology and history

Seamus Mc Goldrick’s new book lifts the lid on some of Ireland’s most intriguing landscapes, legends and people

He has tackled the towering waves of Mullaghmore and represented Ireland in top-level surfing competition. Now Seamus Mc Goldrick is exploring the mysteries of a landscape he has known since childhood.
The Sligo surf pioneer and three-time national champion has brought together 6,000 years of local history in his new book, Waking Maeve: an excavation of Sligo’s landscape, myth and history.
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, Co Sligo, beneath the huge cairn known locally as Queen Maeve’s Grave, and learned to surf on the world-class waves on his doorstep.
While the waves became his livelihood, the ancient monuments overlooking them continued to fascinate and left him with questions he wanted to answer.

“I grew up in the orbit of Knocknarea in a village that was the hub of nineties surfing in Ireland,” says Seamus. “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.”
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.
But the story stretches far beyond the mountain. In Irish mythology, Maeve ruled from
Rathcroghan in County Roscommon, around 60 kilometres away. Her association with
Knocknarea is one of the threads Seamus follows through a landscape rich in archaeology
and legend.

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.
The writer wants to stir the pot of ancient Sligo stories and help awaken the spirit of the
fierce Maeve of Connacht in the reader to help Ireland blaze a trail through troubled times,
like the queen blazed a trail from west to east during the Cattle Raid of Cooley, the most
famous saga of the Gaelic world.

Seamus’s own story is rooted in that changing coastal life. He 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.
He sees a clear connection between his life in the ocean and his interest in what lies on
shore.

“Surfing teaches you to look closely at the environment and embrace it, rain or shine. You
learn to read the sea, the wind, the tide and the coast. Writing this book was another way of
learning to read the Sligo landscape. Like surfing, my study of local history has given me a
deeper knowledge, which I am keen to share.”