Newgrange

Newgrange is a great Neolithic passage tomb in the Boyne Valley, built around 3200 to 3100 BC (datings differ), older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt. A vast mound of stone and earth ringed by carved kerbstones, its inner chamber is aligned so that at the winter solstice the rising sun floods the passage with light. Part of the UNESCO Bru na Boinne complex, it is seen on a guided tour.

History

Newgrange was built in the Neolithic, around 3100 BC, which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids; Michael O'Kelly's team reckoned it took at least thirty years to build, and by around 2000 BC, in his words, it was in decay, with squatters living around its collapsing edge. In 1699 the local landowner Charles Campbell had labourers dig into what then looked like a large earth mound to take stone, they found the entrance to the tomb, and the Welsh antiquarian Edward Lhwyd, staying nearby, wrote the first account of it. In 1882 Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth were placed in state care, and from 1962 to 1975 O'Kelly led the first thorough excavation, reconstructing the white quartz front in a way that is still debated; on 21 December 1967 he became the first person in modern times to see the winter solstice sunrise light up the chamber (Wikipedia, Newgrange).

What to look for

• The great mound - the vast Neolithic tomb ringed by carved kerbstones.
• The entrance stone - the famous carved spirals at the passage mouth.
• The inner chamber - the passage and chamber, with a simulated solstice light.
• Bru na Boinne - the wider complex including Knowth and its carved stones.

When to go

Year-round; the winter solstice sunrise in the chamber is the famous event, but access to it is by a heavily oversubscribed lottery, so most see a simulation. Book the guided tour ahead in the busy season.

Before you go

It can only be visited on a guided tour from the Bru na Boinne centre, with limited places, so book ahead. Seeing the real solstice illumination is a lottery of thousands, so almost everyone sees the recreated version. It is a monument of profound age rather than dramatic ruins.

Nearby

Knowth and the Hill of Tara are in the same Boyne Valley; Dublin is under an hour away.

Key facts