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Dowth
Dowth chambers
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Knowth
Art at Knowth
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Loughcrew
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Enchanted Caves
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Lough na Leibe
Knocknarea
Carrowmore
Carrowmore 4
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Carrowmore 27
Carrowmore 51
Cairns Hill
Doomore
Croghaun
Abbeyquarter
Tobernaveen

The Boyne Valley is the jewel in Ireland's megalithic crown. Though between three and five hundred chambered cairns exist in Ireland, the sites in the Boyne Valley are the climax of the cultural wave which extended across the island from Sligo in ancient times. The Boyne Valley sites, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth are the largest, finest and most decorated sites in Ireland and indeed have few rivals in Western Europe. The three great mounds are surrounded by the remains of up to forty smaller satellite monuments, half of which are found at Knowth.

As there are separate pages for the three great cairns, I will deal with the site as a whole in this section. As we find at the other great megalithic complexes, the monuments in the Boyne Valley are completely interlinked and interconnected. The monuments comprise an extensive sacred ritual and astronomicaly oriented complex.

The map above which measures 17 x 14 km shows the immediate landscape around the Boyne Valley. The small river, the Mattock, is not shown, but it runs alon to the north of the sites and enters the Boyne just east of Dowth, enclosing the monumental landscape by water on three sides. This layout is similar to the Coolrea penninsula in County Sligo.

The Boyne Valley is considered to be some of the finest farming land in Ireland; it is easy to see why a group of farmers would have been attracted to the area. The river would have provided abundant food and travel was easy, as the Boyne opens into the Irish sea a few kilometers to the east. Water was the main way of transport in Neolithic times, and it has been demonstrated that the Boyne Valley had links with many other sites in Europe. An example is the flint mace head which was found at Knowth - the flint came from Orkney. The Boyne is also nagivable for a long way upstream, and travellers could have reached near enough to the Loughcrew Mountains by boat.

On a more local scale, building materials for the mounds were transported by boat - the nearest source for the quartz so strikingly used to face Newgrange is the Wicklow Mountains, 50 km to the south. Granite cobbles were collected from beaches 30 km to the north of the Boyne's mouth.

Local woodcarver Cliadbh Gibney builds river curraghs - boats constructed from cow hides and hazel rods. He has built a 4 meter curragh which can be taken out to sea and along the coast, and this beautiful vessel can be seen at his workshop 1 km to the east before the entrance to the Boyne Valley interpretive center.

Construction in the Valley began perhaps around 3,800 B.C. It is difficult to pinpoint starting dates for monuments which have proven astronomical alignments, as a considerable length of time must have been spent surveying the sites before anything was built. It is likely that such massive monuments were developed gradually in stages, and there is some evidence that each of the three huge mounds are built on smaller pre-existing sites: the bent passage at Knowth, the annex at Dowth and the bulge at the back of Newgrange all hint at earlier structures.

The large monuments were constructed around 3,200 BC, and must have taken several generations to complete, Each covers an acre of ground and contains upwards of 300,000 tons of material. A large labour force needed to be fed, housed and equipped: boats, baskets, bags, lots and lots of rope, timber scaffolds and log rollers, chisels - a massive undertaking. It all points to a prosperous and confident society. I am always fascinated by the thought: who had the idea, and then convinced the people to do it?

Dowth is thought to be the oldest monument, and the parallels in engraved symbols and technique between Dowth and Loughcrew would tend to support this.

Knowth, the largest of the three monuments, was probably constructed next, and it is likely that the great stone basin in the east chamber was one of the first stones set in place, and played an important part in the setting out of the other sites. Knowth is by far the most complex of the three sites, the main mound being surrounded by 18 smaller monuments. Knowth appears to dedicated to the study of the moon's movements, as several of the satellites appear to be oriented to standstill positions, and the moon's cycle takes 18.6 years to complete.

Newgrange, the most famous of the three mounds was probably last to be built and was the first to be re-discovered. A group of workmen quarrying for stone discovered the entrance in 1699.

Looking to Newgrange from a large standing stone near the Boyne.

No major habitation sites have been found yet, apart from some possible neolithic houses at Knowth under the main mound. Obviously the area supported a large number of people, and the most likely location for a village is to the east of Dowth, where the Mattock joins the Boyne, and an enormous henge monument is located.

The River Boyne is dedicated to the Goddess Boann who is associated with cattle. There are several mythological tales associated with the great mounds. The Dagda, a chieftain of the Tuatha De Dannan, lived in Newgrange. He had a child, Aongus Og, with Boann, and he caused the sun to stand still in the sky for nine months, so the child could be born on the day it was concieved, and her husband not find out. The Ulster hero, Cuchullain was concieved at Newgrange.

A goddess called Bui, a consort of Lugh is associated with Knowth, which was known as Cnogba, which comes from Cnoc Bui. Dowth has slightly sinister mythology - the druid Breasil rapes his sister there, and the place is cursed. The Boyne has always been a famous salmon river, and is where Fionn mac Cumhal ate of the Salmon of Knowledge in later mythology.

The sites continued to be used after the stone age: there are a number of Bronze age henges in the Boyne Valley. The one beside Newgrange is 100 meters in diameter. A smaller henge was built on the east side of Knowth, and it has been reconstructed, and is quite impressive. There is a massive circular enclosure at Townleyhall, east of Dowth. Roman coins were found on the mound at Newgrange, indicating that it was a popular tourist attraction 2000 years ago. Knowth was in continual use up to medieval times. The kings of Breaga had their residence there, and probably used Newgrange for their inauguration site. The Normans took the site over and fortified the top of the mound.