Boyne Valley brochure [pdf, 8.03MB] - Discover Ireland

Brú Na Bóinne (Newgrange) Brú Na Bóinne (Newgrange)
Brú na Bóinne is one of the largest and
most important prehistoric megalithic
sites in Europe
Brú na Bóinne is the name given to an extensive and hugely important
archaeological landscape situated on the north bank of the river
Boyne, 8 kilometres west of Drogheda. The site is dominated by three
large passage tombs – Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth – which were
declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.
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Passage tombs consist of a burial chamber
reached by a long straight passage lined
with stones, and set within a large mound
known as a cairn. They are usually sited
on hilltops and grouped in cemeteries.
Although primarily burial sites, they also
served as status symbols, focal points for
the community, places to honour dead
ancestors and as territorial markers.
Constructed during the New Stone Age (or
Neolithic Period, from Greek “neo” meaning
new and “lithos” meaning stone) the tombs
at Brú na Bóinne are around 5,000 years old.
Although the people who built these tombs
were primarily farmers they also possessed
expertise in engineering, geology, art and
even astronomy.
At dawn on the morning of the winter
solstice, and for a number of days before
and after, the main chamber at Newgrange
is illuminated by a beam of sunlight for
17 minutes. This alignment is too precise
to have occurred by chance. It is thought
that Newgrange is the oldest surviving
deliberately aligned structure in the world.
Although Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth
were constructed around 3000 BC activity
at the sites continued for many millennia.
Knowth for example, served as a burial site in
the Iron Age, as the royal seat of the King of
Northern Brega in the Early Christian period,
and as an Anglo-Norman Motte in the Early
Medieval Period.
There is no direct access to Newgrange and
Knowth; all admission is through the Brú
na Bóinne Visitor Centre which is located
near the village of Donore. The excellent
exhibitions at the visitor centre include a full
scale replica of the chamber at Newgrange.
Visitors are brought from the centre to the
monuments by shuttle bus.
Art
The art is one of the most important
features of the monuments. Some of it
is spectacular: wonderful combinations
of spirals, lozenges, chevrons, triangles
and arrangements of parallel lines and
arcs. Knowth has about 45% of all the art
known from Irish tombs and nearly 30% of
all the megalithic art in Europe.
Excavation revealed that many stones
are carved on their undersides and on the
sides turned inwards to the cairns. It may
not always have been important for the
whole design to be visible. Perhaps the art
was to be seen by the spirits of the dead or
by the deities. Perhaps the act of carving
transformed the stone into something
extraordinary and that once this had been
done, it was no longer necessary for the art
to be seen. Whatever the significance of
the art to the builders of the monuments,
we can no longer interpret it. No matter
how we try to analyse or make sense of the
art, we cannot see it as our ancestors saw
it 5000 years ago.
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