Location: 3 miles south-east of Slane; signposted. (() 00 72)
The beautifully can ed stone at the entrance to Netcgrange passage-tomb.
Newgrange is the most famous and impressive of the passage-tombs in the barrow cemetery at the Bend of the Boyne. It has been restored, some say unsympathetically, and in becoming a tourist attraction it has lost much of its atmosphere. But it still remains impressive, especially the many carvings, both inside and out. The tomb consists of a large mound about 250 feet in diameter and originally 50 feet high. All around the edge stand ninety-seven kerbstones, many elaborately decorated, the entrance stone (illustrated here) being one of the most beautiful. Its spiral motif is repeated in other carvings inside the tomb. Behind the entrance stone a passage 60 feet long leads to three
Small chambers containing massive stone basins, which presumably held offerings or burials or both. Carvings of spirals, lozenges, chevrons, triangles and meanders decorate a number of the stone slabs in the passage, the chambers and the corbelled roof (the famous triple spiral is illustrated in Chapter 6).
Other tombs in the Boyne Cemetery worth visiting include Dowth and Knowth. Dowth is one of the earliest passage-tombs in Ireland, and like Newgrange there are decorated stones, but not so impressive. There are three passages at Dowth, two leading into tombs and the third into a souterrain (see Chapter 9 for an explanation of this term) which was added much later. .At Knowth the carvings rival those at Newgrange and are again found inside and outside the tomb. 'I'he large mound contains two passage-graves (the passages, over 100 feet long, are the longest in any tomb in Europe) and several souter-rains, and fifteen or sixteen ‘satellite’ passage-graves stand around the tomb. The Bend of the Boyne is truly an amazing place to visit!
World History
