In the Cattle Raid of Cooley/Táın Bó Cúaılnge, the hero Cú Chulaınn, the main figure in the stained glass above, single-handedly defends Ulster by engaging in series of Queen Medb’s men in hand-to-hand combat as they attempt to secure the famous Ulster bull, which Medb wants in order to match her husband in possessions. Cú Chulaınn is eventually vanquished and the bull taken but, as can be seen at the bottom of the glass, the bulls fight each other and both die.
The piece is by Martin Donlin from East Sussex (pictured here at the unveiling in March 2012). According to Donlin’s Fb page, the old Irish at the bottom (“bendachtar cech óen mebraıgfes go hındraıc táın amlaıd seo ‘s ná tuıllfe cruth aıle furrı”) can be translated as “a blessing be upon all such as faithfully keep the Táın in memory as it stands here and shall not add any other form to it”. Here is a Flickr set of the piece in development.
Previously-featured City Hall stained glass: One Big Union | Famine Window | Centenary Window
See also the Visual History page, In The Shadow Of Cú Chulaınn.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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