Newgrange & Knowth

When we travelled to Ireland 2 years ago we passed through the historical River Boyne Valley.  Found the ruin of Mellifont Abbey (Irelands’ first Cistercian abbey), our first “Round Tower”, which was Donaghmore (dates back to 10th century thought to have been founded by St Patrick) and we had hoped to end our day at Newgrange.  We came up the back way and found the mound known as Newgrange, but were told visitors had to go through the visitor center for entry and we had just missed the last tour of the day 😞 so we saw the outside but were not allowed on the grounds.

So today, we passed by the Mellifont Abbey and the Round Tower of Donaghmore and entered the gates of the Visitors Center of Bru na boinne aka Newgrange.  The center is very nicely done and very well controlled.  We stood in line and were approached by a man with a ‘show & tell’ laminated page – ‘well then what is it you’re wanting to see?”  One side showed stuff and pictures about Newgrange, the other Knowth.  Duh - we bought the tour for both – this time we have all day!  He puts two little round stickers on us, one say’s 12:15 Knowth, the other 2:15 Newgrange.  He say’s “at 12-o’clock just make your way across the bridge, just there, (points) to the bus”. 








So we made our way to the bus, across the bridge taking us over the River Boyne and small section of the path over an active, and fragrant, cow pasture.








Each site is about 3-4 miles from the visitor center so you MUST take a bus and enter the site with the appropriate sticker.  First stop is Knowth.  Our guide explained the artifacts they’ve found, the people that lived here, all the different activities that have taken place on this land over the past 5000 years. This is real stone-age stuff! They can only speculate on the purpose of this mound and the surrounding 17, either burial or ritual sites.  Same goes for Newgrange.

River Boyne

We were able to walk up to the top of Knowth (about 40 feet).  We'd chosen a good day for a visit; the views were remarkable in all directions.  Can't walk on the top of Newgrange.

What I found I appreciated the most were the kurbstones with carvings that are very rudimentary. These are the huge, carved stones that surround the large mound. The most were found at Knowth – 114 in all.  These stones were the sides, or outside walls, of the mound and all had some sort of carvings on them.
















During excavation, a ring of concrete was poured to support the enormous weight of earth.  The kurbstones were then replaced under the concrete ring. 

concrete ring of support

Small mounds no ring of support

At each mound, a massive carved head stone was placed over the entrance, these have since been moved to the ground for safety.   The door at Newgrange actually had an immense flat stone used as a door, it now securely rests to the side of the door.

overhead stone with door stone behind

It was discovered in 1967 that the winter solstice sunrise shines directly through the roofbox (small opening over the door) and into the chamber.  Not sure what significance this holds, but again speculation says it was built in such a way on purpose to honor the returning sun.  There is a lottery each year for 20 lucky folks to be present at the sun rise to watch the light move across the floor and rest at the back of the chamber.  The only chamber available to the public for entry, which is only approx. 1/3 into the mound.   Yes, we both entered our names in the lottery.

To the side of Newgrange is a very unusual little building, dating back to 1880’s.  They called it a folly since its purpose is unknown today.  However, they do know the stones used to construct this ‘folly’ were from the monument itself.

We returned to the visitor center after our wonderful little bus rides, ate a nice dinner and headed home, back to Athlone.

PHOTO ALBUM