Mullaghmast

Mullamast
Mullach Maistín
Standing stone on Mullaghmast
Highest point
Elevation	179 m (587 ft)
Coordinates	53°00′36″N 6°51′08″W / 53.01000°N 6.85222°W / 53.01000; -6.85222
Naming
Translation	Broad crown (summit) of Maistiu (Irish language)
Geography
Mullamast Location in Ireland
Location	County Kildare, Ireland
OSI/OSNI grid	S770961

Mullaghmast (Irish: Mullach Maistín), (modern spelling in English is Mullamast) is a hill in the south of County Kildare, Leinster, near the village of Ballitore and near the borders with Wicklow, Laois and Carlow. It was an important site in prehistory, in early history and again in more recent times. It is classed as a National Monument by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

The Metrical Dindshenchas, or Lore of Places, a Middle Irish collection of poetry purporting to explain the origins of Irish place names, claims that Mullaghmast is named for Maistiu, wife of Dáire Derg, who was killed by the sorcery of the malicious faery Gris, who was in turned killed by Dáire Derg.

A standing stone from Mullaghmast, decorated with a triskele, thought to belong to the very end of the prehistoric period, or perhaps to the early Christian period, is now in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.

Mullaghmast was the royal residence of the Uí Muiredaig kings (later to become the O'Toole family), a sept of the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty of the Laigin.

The 40 lords of Laois and Offaly and their families were invited to a peace conference by Sir Henry Sidney on or around New Year's Day 1578; Sidney rose and left the unarmed lords and their wives, children and followers, and all except one were killed by Sidney's men, leaving the castle strewn with body parts and drenched in blood. This genocidal killing, reputedly of 400 people including 120 O'Mores, virtually the whole O'More family, emptied the country of authority, allowing for the foundation of the English plantations of the counties that were subsequently named Queen's County and King's County.