Touring the Boyne Valley in Ireland: Newgrange (Bru na Boinne)

Our third stop on our day tour from Dublin along the Boyne Valley with Tour Dublin, was at Newgrange (Bru na Boinne), and this was the site I was most excited to be visiting.

Imagine a spiritual site older than the Stonehenge, older than the Pyramids!  Newgrange is over five-thousand years old.  Newgrange was built during the Neolithic or New Stone Age by a farming community that prospered on the rich lands of the Boyne Valley.  People of the area knew about the mound throughout history, and it was not disturbed after it was originally sealed eons ago.  It wasn’t until 1699 that a farmer decided to dig it up for stones to use on his farm and it became the focus of antiquarians and archeologists.

The mound, while looking circular from the ground is actually Kidney shaped and the interior is the location of what Archeologists label as a “Passage Tomb”.  Some of those who continue to research the tomb believe that it was also a place of astrological, spiritual and ceremonial importance; almost temple-like.

Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the winter solstice sun. Above the entrance to the passage at Newgrange there is an opening called a roof-box. Its purpose is to allow sunlight to penetrate the chamber on the shortest days of the year, around December 21, the winter solstice.  I find it amazing that Neolithic architects in 3200 B.C. were able to perfectly line up the opening to the suns December rays!

The tours of the tomb are by guide only so we joined our small group (again the benefit of traveling off season!) and entered the extremely narrow passage into the tomb.  If you are at all claustrophobic, this tour is not for you.  Jim remained outside while I squeezed inside with others who couldn’t wait to see what was inside.  Even I felt a little thrill of fright during this experience, but once you are standing inside the round tomb all is ok again.

The center chamber has a high corbeled (stones stacked and fitted together into a vaulted ceiling) roof and has three small attached chambers that surround the larger space.  Each of the smaller chambers has a large flat "basin stone", which was where the bones of the dead were  possibly originally deposited, although whether it was actually a burial site remains unclear. No Photos of the interior.... Sorry they are not allowed inside the tomb.

As we all huddled together in the room, we were told to prepare for the light to go out, so that they could perform a simulation of the solstice rays entering the tomb.  Let me tell you it was pitch black for a minute, but the rays suddenly projecting through the opening to where we stood in the center of the tomb was incredible and really made you aware that you were feeling a similar awe as that of the ancient priests in stone-age times. 

It is an experience you shouldn’t miss, but if you can’t make yourself go deep inside the tomb, there is a replica in the museum that is on the site.  It is an exact replica of the main part of the tomb and is fun to really take a good look at it in good lighting!

The standing stones around the site are from a later Bronze Age period, but the stones that line the exterior of the tomb were brought there during tomb construction.  It is amazing to think that they were able to move those huge stones UPHILL most likely from the river terraces between Newgrange and the Boyne river area.  Humans are capable of pretty incredible feats! 

It is believed that the carvings on the stones display symbolic meanings, but nobody really knows what they may have meant.  There are many circles, spirals, chevrons, dots and other beautiful forms.

A visit to Newgrange will give you a wonderful glimpse into the Neolithic age and as you walk all the way around the tomb and gaze out at the rolling farmland dotted by other ancient mounds, you can actually begin to sense the sacredness of this grand tomb.