NEWGRANGE

By Jane Hillery

Newgrange is one of the best examples in Ireland

and in Western Europe, of a type of monument

known to archaeologists as a passage-grave or

passage-tomb.

It was constructed around 3200BC, this makes it

more than 600 years older than the Pyramids in

Egypt, and 1000 years more ancient than

Stonehenge.

Newgrange sits on top of an elongated ridge within

a large bend in the Boyne River about five miles west

of the town of Drogheda. Two miles or so down

stream in Oldbridge is where the Battle of the Boyne

took place in 1690.

Access to Newgrange is through Bru na Boinne

Visitors Centre, there have been as many as 200,000

visitors to Newgrange each year, making it the most

visited archaeological monument in Ireland.

The entire mound contains an estimated 200,00

tones of material, and it has been estimated

construction would have taken about 30 years using

a workforce of about 300.

Because Newgrange sits atop a ridge, many of the

large slabs would have needed to be brought uphill,

again suggesting a highly organised community was

behind its construction.

Estimates of the original height of Newgrange

have been guessed at in recent centuries. Some

explorers giving estimates as high as 47.5 meters.

Archaeologists believe the height would not have

been more than 11 to 13 meters.

The total length of the passage and chamber

together is 24 meters which means they only occupy

one third the diameter of the mound.

The bones of three dogs were found in the

chamber of Newgrange during excavations, one each

from the east and west chamber and one from just

outside the end chamber. It is not known for sure

whether these bones are ancient or more modern. It

is thought they may have belonged to stray dogs who

got into the passage but could not get out.

Gold objects have been found at Newgrange,

including gold chains and rings which were

discovered by a labourer digging near the entrance

in the 1800.

A number of pendants and beads were found, something

which is common to Irish passage-graves in general.

A chisel made from bone was found and was similar to one

which had been found in the chamber of one of the satellite

mounds beside Newgrange.

About seven-tenths of the kerbstones uncovered during

archaeological work at Newgrange are decorated with

megalithic art.

MEGALITHIC ART

On the winter solstice, the light of the rising sun

enters the roofbox at Newgrange and penetrates the

passage, shining onto the floor of the inner chamber.

The sunbeam illuminates the chamber of Newgrange

for just 17 minutes.

It is believed by some researchers that the colour

of the sunrise on the morning of Winter Solstice was

the original inspiration for the name of the hill over

which that sunrise occurs when viewed for

Newgrange. The hill is called Red Mountain.

WINTER SOLSTICE

An interesting fact to finish on. What happens

when you take a picture of kerbstone 1, the famous

entrance stone, and mirror it. Different people see

different things, some can see the female

reproductive system, which makes sense in light of

the fact that Bru means “womb”. Some people even

see a face.