The Boyne Valley Guided Tours Home Page The Great Mound Satellites at Knowth The East Passage The West Passage Engravings Astronomy Satellites 3 - 5 Satellites 6 - 8 Satellites 9 - 12 Satellites 13 - 15 Satellites 16 - 18 Newgrange Winter solstice Mythology Art at Newgrange Macalister's guide Cursus at Newgrange Tom Ray's paper Dowth Dowth chambers Dowth's art Fourknocks Tara Loughcrew Cairn T Cairn L Cairn D Lough Arrow Carrowkeel Summer solstice Cairn K Cairn F Doonaveeragh Treanmacmurtagh Lough na Leibe Treanmor Cairnanweeleen Kesh cairn Caves of Kesh Enchanted Caves Kesh mythology Moytura Shee Lugh The Labby Rock Heapstown cairn Carrowmore   Section of the main mound during excavation, showing the different layers of material used in the composition of the mound. Given that the stone age people went to such trouble to do this, it is sad that modern man has replaced it with styrofoam.

Knowth Knowth is both the largest and most remarkable ancient monument in Ireland. Though Newgrange is more famous and Dowth is possibly older, Knowth has turned out to be a very interesting and important site with a collection of more than 400 engraved stones and some finely carved artifcts from the neolithic builders. The main mound is surrounded by at least eighteen smaller structures, many of which have or had engraved slabs. Some of the satellites are as large as twenty meters in diameter. Knowth is located on a ridge 1 km north-west of Newgrange, and is the closest of the three mounds to the River Boyne. It is the largest chambered cairn in Ireland with a diameter of 95 by 85 m, and covers more than an acre of ground. The mound has two passages and chambers which were re-opened by the chief excavator, George Eogan in the late 60's. Both have turned out to be the longest megalithic passages in Europe, with many engravings on the orthostats. The Great cairn of Knowth. Mound reflected with kerbstone night-sky added. Knowth has the largest collection of megalithic art in from neolithic western Europe, and accounts for some 50% of the total engraved megalithic stones in Ireland. Knowth was probably the equivelant of a huge library in the stone age world, perhaps part of the neolithic university of the ancient Boyne Valley. Almost all of the kerbstones encircling the large mound are engraved, many with what seem to be obvious solar and lunar symbols. The main mound at Knowth during the excavations. Professor George Eogan leading a tour through the excavation. The mound has been under excavation for nearly 40 years, and has only been open to the public in recent years. The excavations, carried out by professor George Eogan and his team, found that the site had remained in continous use from the stone age to the middle ages. The satellites pre-date the large mound, and the foundations of several neolithic houses were also found under the mound. The main mound was completely removed, which is a pity, as the mound builders had gone to great trouble to build the mound in layers (left). Something like five acres of fine grass lands were stripped to provide the base for the mound. The structural stones, several hundreds of them, all of a hard type of stone called greywackie, were dragged at least 6 km from their quarry. Likewise, round granite cobbles were collected from the shore around around the Cooley peninsula, some 40 km to the north, and the chunks of quartz found spread around the entrances came from Wicklow, 60 km to the south.