Newgrange Passage Tomb

One of my must-sees in Ireland was Newgrange, the 5,000 neolithic tomb complex northwest of Dublin in the Boyne Valley. I took the Mary Gibbons Tour, which also includes the Hill of Tara. Mary is the guide and is very knowledgable and quite funny. The hill offered wonderful views of the Irish countryside. Newgrange though was amazing! We actually got to go inside the 5,000 year old burial chamber of this stone age tomb. If you're clausterphobic this is not for you. The pathway was tight and low, and during the visit the lights are off for a spell. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. But the sense of timelessness is unforgetable. Really a very special place. Older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids. The people who created it and similar tombs are a mystery, but you had to respect their engineering skills, as out of only earth and stone they created a tomb that is completely waterproof for 5 millenia. No small feet in rainy Ireland. The tour returns you to Dublin inspired by the ancient wisdom.

Newgrange was constructed over 5,000 years ago (about 3,200 B.C.), making it older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Newgrange was built during the Neolithic or New Stone Age by a farming community that prospered on the rich lands of the Boyne Valley. Knowth and Dowth are similar mounds that together with Newgrange have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Archaeologists classified Newgrange as a passage tomb, however Newgrange is now recognised to be much more than a passage tomb. Ancient Temple is a more fitting classification, a place of astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance, much as present day cathedrals are places of prestige and worship where dignitaries may be laid to rest.

Newgrange is a large kidney shaped mound covering an area of over one acre, retained at the base by 97 kerbstones, some of which are richly decorated with megalithic art. The 19 metre long inner passage leads to a cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof. The amount of time and labour invested in construction of Newgrange suggests a well-organized society with specialised groups responsible for different aspects of construction.

Newgrange is part of a complex of monuments built along a bend of the River Boyne known collectively as Brú na Bóinne. The other two principal monuments are Knowth (the largest) and Dowth, but throughout the region there are as many as 35 smaller mounds.

I have also reviewed the linked site at fourknocks for TravBuddy and find it hard to better the texts in the guides and archaeological descriptions. I do, however, have a distinct childhood recollection of being taken to the site just a the excavations were beginning in 1962 and sneaking in to peer into the damp spookiness of the now famous passage. My uncle who took me there didn’t know the mound’s provenance and told me it was a fairy fortness and that there were soldiers inside the hill waiting the call to come out to free Ireland…. And every time I see pictures of the site my memory goes back to that frightened little boy trying to catch a peek of the fairy soldiers – the Fianna of mythology!