Newgrange

Newgrange

Newgrange is a Stone Age monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland.

Newgrange & Boyne Valley Tour

Newgrange was built about 3,200 BC (5,200 years ago) during the Neolithic period, which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. Newgrange is a large circular mound with a stone passageway and chambers inside. The mound is ringed by large stones known as kerbstones some of which are engraved with artwork.

Archaeologists classified Newgrange as a passage tomb, however Newgrange is now recognised to be much more than a passage tomb. Ancient Temple is a more fitting classification, a place of astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance.

The passage and chamber is aligned with the rising sun on the mornings around the winter solstice. It is the best know monument within the Brú na Bóinne complex, alongside the similar passage tomb mounds of Knowth and Dowth, and as such is a part of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site. Newgrange also shares many similarities with other passage tombs in Western Europe, such as Gavrinis in Brittany, Maeshowe in Orkney and Bryn Celli Ddu in Wales.

After its initial use, Newgrange was sealed and it remained so until the passage and chamber were rediscovered in 1699. In the 1970s, the front of the monument was reconstructed.

The Neolithic people who built the monument were farmers, growing crops and raising animals such as cattle in the area where their settlements were located; they had not yet developed metal, so all their tools would have been made out of stone, wood, antler or bone.

Newgrange & Megalithic Tour

Access to Newgrange

Access to Newgrange is by guided tour only. Tours begin at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre from which visitors are bussed to the site in groups of up to 24 per shuttle bus.

To experience the phenomenon on the morning of the Winter Solstice from inside Newgrange, one must enter a lottery at the interpretive centre. At the end of September each year, 50 names are drawn by local school children, 10 names for each morning the chamber is illuminated, 2 places in the chamber are awarded to each of the lottery winners.

A reserve list is also drawn, the reserve list is there in case someone whose name is drawn for the initial list is not contactable or else finds it impossible to travel to Newgrange on the date they have been assigned. Places allocated by lottery are non-transferable. Lottery winners cannot offer their place in the chamber to someone else.

Newgrange & Boyne Valley Tour

This location features in the following tours

When you book with Boyne Valley Tours you will experience over 5,000 years of Irish Culture and History. Choose from our tours across the Boyne Valley as well as popular Wicklow Tours and Highlights.

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