Newgrange,
one of the world's most famous ancient monuments, was built around 3150BC.
It is surrounded by giant standing stones and has a kerb of 97 stones.
At Winter Solstice, the sun shines into the passage and chamber through
the roofbox.
Knowth
was built around 3300BC and has two passages facing towards the east and
west. The carved stones contain a quarter of Western European neolithic
art. An extensive excavation has revealed a wealth of information about
the site.
There
are two passages at Dowth, which is about the same age as Newgrange and
Knowth. One passage is aligned on Winter Solstice sunset. Dowth was excavated,
albeit very badly, in the 1840s.
The
Hill of Tara is the ancient seat of the High Kings of Ireland. There are
a multitude of remains on the hill, including a passage mound, the Mound
of the Hostages, which dates to between 2500-3000BC.
The
Loughcrew hills, Carnbane East and West, contain a scattering of Stone
Age cairns. Most famous is Cairn T, where sunlight at dawn on the equinoxes
illuminates the backstone of the chamber.
Fourknocks
is a small megalithic mound in County Dublin which sits in the direction
of Winter Solstice sunrise as viewed from Newgrange. Fourknocks is about
5,000 years old and has a large oval-shaped chamber with three recesses.
There
are a plethora of cairns and passage-tombs in County Sligo, including
Cairn G which has a roofbox similar to that at Newgrange, and the famous
Maeve's carin on Knocknarea.
ANCIENT SITES GUIDE
Newgrange
Knowth
Dowth
Hill
of Tara
Loughcrew
Fourknocks
Carrowmore
/ Carrowkeel
More
ancient sites
Aerial Photographs
