July 15, 3rd & 4th visits..

Newgrange & Knowth. These were the oldest ruins that we visited so far. This area and possibility was brought about due to the glaciers that once covered this land. Left behind was literally a landscape of rocks. This area in the Boyne valley was home to the 5 great kings of Ireland. The center point to roads from their 5 kingdoms, the story starts much earlier. These grand ruins had their origins 3000 to 5000 BC. At a time when the wheel didn’t exist the people populating this region brought in large stones weighing 20 tonnes to form the base of these passageways. First excavating the top of these hills, carefully surveying and orienting these areas, this people put in place worship and grave sites that are closely connected with the solar movements and seasons. In deed in Newgrange the passageway is in the shape of a very large cross with a rounded dome 8 meters high near the peak of the cross. It is completely dark there until the 5 days of the winter solstice and then only for 10 minutes each day does the sun flood the chamber. Such has been the home of varied people since that time with a variety of walls and homes built around the sides to give home to the peoples here. The kings reverenced this area as well and in fact from not too far away was one of the key battles of the English vs the Irish… Battle of the Bonyne valley .. near the slane river.

Shown below are the pictures of the passageway near Knowth… Notice the rock carvings done. This is the highest concentration of rock carvings anywhere in the world.

Built from wood, this settlement built an equivalent to Stonehenge that predates Stonehenge by centuries.

The Newgrange site. I am standing at the entrance to the passageway. The cross shaped passageway shows light inside only during the winter solstice. These grass covered mounds of rock provide strong, waterproof shelter.