Index

Newgrange, Meath County

Anne Marie Fayen

The Newgrange passage tomb is located in Meath County, 1 km north of the Boyne River, in an area called the ‘loop of the Boyne’ (O’Kelly 1983:13) or the ‘Bend in the Boyne’ (Stout 2002:2). Newgrange sits at the focal point of more than 40 passage tombs located in this area. The three main sites here are Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange. From anyone of these tombs, the other two can be seen. (O’Kelly 1983:13)

Characteristically of all passage tombs, the structure of the Newgrange tomb consists of a passage leading to a burial chamber. The passage is created by two parallel lines of large stones. The height of the passage gradually increases as it leads back to the burial chambers. The passage has been waterproofed by caulking the roof stones with burnt soil and sand. Halfway through the passage, there is a kink where it weaves to the southwest and then to the northeast (Stout 2002:44). Stout describes the chamber as “cruciform in plan”; there is one large chamber with three side chambers or recesses off to the sides (Stout 2002:44). The interior of the tomb is made of slabs of stones configured without mortar (O’Kelly 1983:13). The roof of the central chamber is corbelled, narrowing gradually to a single capstone. A flat-topped cairn of stone layered with sod creates the mound covering the entire tomb (Stout 2002:44). Ninety-seven kerbstones surround the base of the cairn. Great effort was taken to construct the kurbstones so that they created an even topped line. This effect was made by placing the larger stones in sockets and elevating the smaller stones on boulders (Stout 2002:44). The tomb is also surrounded by a circle of standing stones. The stones are irregularly placed around the structure. However the three stones located across from the entrance are evenly spaced (O’Kelly 1983:13). Additionally, three smaller, satellite passage tombs are clustered around the main Newgrange passage tomb at some distance (O’Kelly 1983:13).

The most notable feature of the Newgrange passage tomb is the positioning of the passage entrance. The entrance is constructed so that at 8:20am on the Winter Solstice the rising sun shines directly through the roof-box, a carefully constructed slit above the door, illuminating the tomb for 17 minutes (Downs et al. 2003:507). To this date, Newgrange is the oldest known astronomically aligned structure. It was built 1000 years before Stonehenge and 400 years before the Egyptian Pyramids. The detailed alignment of the roof-box at Newgrange is unparallel in Europe. However, similar effects have been discover in the chamber at Maes Howe and the Crantit chamber tomb in Orkney, a series of islands in Northern Scotland (Stout 2002:44).

Many of the stones that create the structure are carved with geometrical designs. Spirals are the most prominent patterns, but other configurations are present on hidden surfaces. Most of the stones were carved prior to being placed in the tomb. However, some stones were carved after the tomb was constructed. For example, the carvings on the entrance stone are believed to have been made after it was placed over the entrance due to the fact that the designs stop at a straight line at the base of the stone. Presumably this is where the stone met the ground when it was positioned in front of the entrance (Stout 2002:45).

The Newgrange Passage tomb was discovered in modern Ireland in 1699AD by Charles Campbell, the man who owned the land at that time. Campbell was looking for stones and found a great pile under the sod of a grassy hill. He instructed his workers to remove the stones from the area. As the stones were removed, the entrance to the tomb was uncovered. The discovery of the tomb attracted a lot of attention. A Welsh scholar, Edward Lhwyd, was traveling in Ireland at the time and came to Newgrange to look at the tomb. Lhwyd took careful notes of what he saw as the tomb was uncovered (O’Kelly 1983:24). He described in detail a flat, broad stone that was placed edgewise at the base of the mound. This entrance stone became buried under other rocks for some time, but was rediscovered in 1845 (O’Kelly 1983:25). It currently sits upright to the right of the door (Stout 2002:44). Another ornately decorated stone has been found at the rear of the tomb. There is a vertical line on the stone which usually indicates an entrance, but a second entrance has not been found (Stout 2002:46).

The next scholar to examine the site was Sir Thomas Molyneux, a physics professor at the University of Dublin. He was the fist to note that two un-burnt human skeletons where found on the floor of the tomb (O’Kelly 1983:38). Following Molyneux and Lhwyd, Sir Thomas Pownall was the third scholar to explore Newgrange (O’Kelly 1983:33). Although many scholars came to the tomb after Lhwyd, Molyneux and Powall, many of the early Newgrange writings are based on the writings of these primary scholars (O’Kelly 1983:34).

In 1882 the Ancient Monument Protection Act placed the sites of Newgrange, Dowth and Knowth under the care of the state (O’Kelly 1983:38). The Board of Public Works became the authority responsible for them. The board began to expose some of the kerbstones located in the rear of the site in the late 1800s. This created the bank and ditch that can still be seen behind the monument (Stout 2002:42). George Coffey’s book, Newgrange, published in 1911, was the first “modern archaeological treatment of the monument” (Stout 2002:41). In the 1930s R.A.S. Macalister, Robert Llyod Praeger, and Harold Leask exposed 54 more of the kerbstones. O Riordain and O hEachaidhe did a trail excavation on the outer stone circle in 1956 (Stout 2002:42). Around this time, Paddy Hartnett discovered flint and an adze (a tool used to smooth roughly cut wood) at the site. This caused Harnett, the Archeological Officer in Bord Failte, the Irish Tourist Board, to initiate further excavations at Newgrange (Stout 2002:42-43).

These excavations began in 1962 and lasted until 1975. The work was lead by Michael J. O’Kelly. It was during these excavations that the astronomical alignment of the roof-box was discovered (Stout 2002:43). Due to centuries of disturbances, few original artifacts were found in this excavation. However, a major excavation of the floor in 1967 exposed the burnt and un-burnt remains of 5 humans. Grave deposits of clay marbles, beads, pendants, and bone objects were also discovered with the remains (Stout 2002:45). A Carbon 14 of 3200BC date was obtained from the burnt soil and sand mixture used to waterproof the roof (Stout 2002:43).

Although archeologists continue to learn more about the structure of the tomb, questions about its significance remain. O’Kelly suggests the fact that the builders made sure the tomb was waterproof by caulking the roof stones indicates that the structure was more than a tomb, it was meant to be a house for the dead (O’Kelly 1983:126). He also suggests that the slit in the roof box may have been used to place offerings in the tomb (O’Kelly 1983:123). The builders must have been aware of the alignment of the passage with the sun, but what was the significance of this setup?

These questions attract many tourists to the site each year. Today the site appears in a largely restored form. A wall made up of quartz and granite cobble stones that were found during the excavation surrounds the front of the tomb. O’Kelly believes that this wall accurately portrays a revetment wall that was originally constructed on top of the kurbstones (Stout 2002:44). However, Stout questions this idea and states, “It is highly unlikely that such a steep profile was ever maintained using a quartz revetment” (Stout 2002:44). The restorations also included reshaping the mound and some modifications to the entrance to accommodate the many tourists who visit the tomb (O’Kelly 1983:23).

References Cited

Downs, Tom, Fionn Davenport, Des Hannigan, Etain O'Carroll, Oda O'Carroll, and Neil Wilson
2003 Ireland. 6th ed. Lonely Planet, London, England.

O’Kelly, Michael J.

1983 Newgrange. Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, England.

Stout, Geraldine

2002 Newgrange and the Bend in the Boyne. Cork University Press, Crosses Green, Co Cork.