Newgrange is a large Neolithic monument located in Ireland that was built around 3200 BC, making it older than both the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge. It sits atop a ridge along the Boyne River and consists of a large mound covering an inner chamber and passageway. During the winter solstice, sunlight enters through a small opening and illuminates the interior of the chamber for approximately 17 minutes. The complex construction suggests it was built by a highly organized community and may have had astronomical or religious significance.

1. NEWGRANGE
By Jane Hillery

3.  Newgrange is one of the best examples in Ireland and in
Western Europe, of a type of monument known to
archaeologists as a passage-grave or passage-tomb.
 It was constructed around 3200BC, this makes it more
than 600 years older than the Pyramids in Egypt, and 1000
years more ancient than Stonehenge.

4.  Newgrange sits on top of an elongated ridge within a large
bend in the Boyne River about five miles west of the town of
Drogheda. Two miles or so down stream in Oldbridge is
where the Battle of the Boyne took place in 1690.
 Access to Newgrange is through Bru na Boinne Visitors
Centre, there have been as many as 200,000 visitors to
Newgrange each year, making it the most visited
archaeological monument in Ireland.

5.  The entire mound contains an estimated 200,00 tones of
material, and it has been estimated construction would have
taken about 30 years using a workforce of about 300.
 Because Newgrange sits atop a ridge, many of the large
slabs would have needed to be brought uphill, again
suggesting a highly organised community was behind its
construction.

7.  Estimates of the original height of Newgrange have been
guessed at in recent centuries. Some explorers giving
estimates as high as 47.5 meters. Archaeologists believe the
height would not have been more than 11 to 13 meters.
 The total length of the passage and chamber together is
24 meters which means they only occupy one third the
diameter of the mound.

9.  The bones of three dogs were found in the chamber of
Newgrange during excavations, one each from the east and
west chamber and one from just outside the end chamber. It
is not known for sure whether these bones are ancient or
more modern. It is thought they may have belonged to stray
dogs who got into the passage but could not get out.

10.  Gold objects have been found at Newgrange, including
gold chains and rings which were discovered by a labourer
digging near the entrance in the 1800.

11.  A number of pendants and beads were found, something
which is common to Irish passage-graves in general.
 A chisel made from bone was found and was similar to
one which had been found in the chamber of one of the
satellite mounds beside Newgrange.
 About seven-tenths of the kerbstones uncovered during
archaeological work at Newgrange are decorated with
megalithic art.

12. MEGALITHIC ART

13.  On the winter solstice, the light of the rising sun enters the
roofbox at Newgrange and penetrates the passage, shining
onto the floor of the inner chamber. The sunbeam illuminates
the chamber of Newgrange for just 17 minutes.

14.  It is believed by some researchers that the colour of the
sunrise on the morning of Winter Solstice was the original
inspiration for the name of the hill over which that sunrise
occurs when viewed for Newgrange. The hill is called Red
Mountain.

15. WINTER SOLSTICE

16.  An interesting fact to finish on. What happens when you
take a picture of kerbstone 1, the famous entrance stone,
and mirror it. Different people see different things, some can
see the female reproductive system, which makes sense in
light of the fact that Bru means “womb”. Some people even
see a face.