Brugh na Boinne

Brugh na Bóinne

Covering an area of one acre, Newgrange is one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Europe. The entrance, which is almost sixty feet long, leads to the main chamber, which has a corbelled roof and rises to a height of nineteen feet.
The "traditional" name for Newgrange and the grouping of tombs to which it belongs, was "Brugh na Bóinne", and it was regarded as the otherworld dwelling of the divine Aonghus Mac Óg - Aonghus the Youthful.
Older than Stonehenge, the giant megalithic tomb of Newgrange was probably erected about 3,200 BC (in calendar years). It is one of a group of 40 passage tombs including Knowth and Dowth, that are enclosed on three sides by the river Boyne.

Passage tombs are generally found in clusters giving rise to the theory that they were ancient cemeteries, perhaps for leading families. They consist essentially of a round mound or cairn with a long, stone lined passage leading from the outside to a chamber within. As with Newgrange, which can still be seen by the naked eye from the Hill of Tara, some 15 miles away, they tend to be situated on hill tops and commanding sites.
The mound is enclosed on the outside by a circle of standing stones of which twelve remain. This gives the impression that the monument was built and designed to stand out from the landscape - perhaps as a beacon for pagan worship. The present day reconstruction, aimed at restoring the site to its pre-historic appearance, gives this theory further substance.
Many have likened it to a grounded flying saucer, and it is the subject of much controversy. However, during the Newgrange excavations between 1962 - 1965, much research focused on the original shape of the cairn. This information was drawn from the accounts of those who had visited the monument in the preceding centuries: all of them commented on its flat top. And the positioning of the white quartz stones that reinforce the front of the mound is based entirely on meticulous engineering analysis of the cairn collapse.
The white quartz gives the monument a particularly startling facade and it is worth noting that this was only positioned at the front of the cairn, facing the sun. White quartz is known for its energy-dispersing properties and it may, therefore, have been used to absorb and channel its life-giving energy, or it may simply have provided further visibility to those wishing to reach the site.
In addition, there were large numbers of oval granite boulders found amongst the collapsed quartz facade. These have been scattered randomly through the reconstructed facade, without acknowledgement to any possible use for these dark stones as patterning elements within the quartz. The twentieth century restorers were not prepared to risk a spiral pattern.
The reasons for the use of quartz and granite, and their design, must have been of consequence because the builders of the Newgrange went to great lengths to put the stones there. They are not found locally.
The nearest place that they could have collected the quartz was from the Wicklow Mountains to the South, and such a journey would have taken them seven days going by canoe along the Boyne and down the coast. The granite was probably collected around the Mourne Mountains, some days to the North.

The cairn itself is reinforced at its base by a continuous circle of stones, called kerb stones. Many of these are ornamented. The most spectacular of these are the entrance stone, and the stone opposite the entrance on the other side of the mound.
There is much speculation as to the meaning of these complex designs and many consider them to have solar symbology as sun worship was the most widely spread cult in pre-historic Europe.

One of the most interesting features of the mound, particularly in view of the fact that it is a feature unique to Newgrange, is the roof-box above the entrance to the passageway. It consists of two low side-walls, a back corbel and a roofstone, and it is through this gap that the dawn sun beams on the winter solstice. Its purpose is unknown, but some have speculated that the builders: must have held the sun in such high regard that they gave it a separate entrance.

Entering the passage tomb is a remarkable experience: the corbelled roof extends to 19ft and the central chamber has three recesses which contain massive stone basins that are thought to have been receptacles for cremated remains, but they may also have had other ceremonial functions.
Many of the orthostats or standing stones lining the passage-way are decorated. The eastern recess shows the most decoration and once again this points to sunworshipping as the sun rises in the east.
The pre-Celtic inhabitants had no written language. This has lead to the thinking that the artwork at Newgrange, comprising mainly of three-dimensional geometric designs, must have described the world in which they lived. Their complex patterns of loops, spirals, diamonds, zig zags and lozenges reveals a concern for harmony and balance of pattern, rather than with anthropological / representational art, and in this sense, it seems quite spiritual in nature.
Some interpretations of the symbols give substance to the argument that its builders were probably sunworshippers. The suggestion that Aonghus was a sun deity lends further support to this interpretation.