Newgrange

Over 5,000 years old, the great tomb at Newgrange rises by the river Boyne just to the East of Slane. The tomb is the passage grave which on the morning of the winter solstice becomes filled with the dawn sunlight for one memorable moment every year. At all other times of the year the tomb of a shrouded in darkness.

Known as the Bru Na Boinne, the tombs at Newgrange and at the neighboring sites of Dowth and Knowth were built during the stone age, long before the pyramids of Egypt. In all there are thousands of stone age monuments and structures surviving in Ireland, and these "palaces by the Boyne" are among the grandest. During pagan times, the sites were viewed with awe, indeed as palaces of the gods. Lore called Newgrange the residence of Aengus, the great god of love. These sites were associated with the Tuatha De Dannan, the race of the goddess Danu. These people were believed to have ruled Ireland before the arrival of the Celts. Today superstitions still survive that this early race concealed themselves in the fairy mounds and fairy forts that dot the landscape. The greatest of all the Celtic Warriors, Cuchulain, hero and chief of the Red Branch Knights was served the King of Ulster, was said to have been conceived at Newgrange.

The walls of the recesses are carved with intricate, swirling designs evoking the sun, solar radiance, waves and perhaps the river. Perhaps the waved lines repeating signify a medium through which the spirits could travel or be transmitted to the next or other world. It is hard not to conjecture vivid imaginings when beholding the markings hidden for thousands of years within the great mound. These carvings are illuminated by the sun during the winter solstice. Today and electric light at the entrance of the passage simulates the effect for visitors. The waiting list for the real event is decades long and the list has been closed for some time.

One Martin Brennan studied the stones for two and half years and concluded that they contain the geometry that the ancients applied to understanding the sun and the stars. The stones were therefore a repository of the ancients learning, cotaining the secrets of the heavens, powerful information for a people of farmers. The synbols may represent a sun-dial, calendars, a map of the heavens and other scientific tools discovered by the elders.

Newgrange and sister sites of Knowth and Dowth are among the greatest surviving megalithic works in all of Europe. Any modern builder might appreciate that the corbelled roof, with its overlapping stones weighing tons and cut with channelling grooves, have not let a drop of rainwater into the chamber in five thousand years. The exterior is covered in a brilliant white quartz, as reconstructed according to the opinion of certain scholars.

The quartz was quarried many miles away in the Wicklow mountains. Indeed nearly 1600 granite boulders are used in the structure, most of which had to hauled from nearest source--the Mourne mountains also many miles away. It is estimated that just one stone would take eighty men four days to haul a few kilometers, given the crude inventions available which did not include the wheel.

Bru Na Boinne Visitors' Center

The visitors center, situated for some reason across the river, is an interactive modern learning and interpretive center that should not be missed. Stones surrounding the mounds at Newgrange also bear intricately carved designs. Some of the larger standing boulders are known to be fertility stones emanating great energy. From personal experience, these stones work. ; - )

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By the Author "Slane"

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