Guided Tours
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The Boyne Valley

Sites A and B
Site C
Sites K and L

Newgrange
The stone circle
The Kerbstones
Excavation
The Passage
The Chamber
Winter solstice
Mythology
Energy lines
Art - The Entrance Stone
Kerbstone 52
Kerbstone 67
The Newgrange henge
The Newgrange Cursus
Site Z

Article by Tom Ray
Macalister's Guidebook

The Great Mound 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

Dowth
The chambers at Dowth
Art at Dowth
Dowth henge

Kerbstones at Newgrange

There are 97 kerbstones encircling the base of the mound at Newgrange. The kerbs are of a type of rock called greywacke and they are thought to have been dragged some 8 km, from Clogher Head to the north of the mouth of the Boyne. The kerbs are arranged end to end in a huge ring that circles the base of the mound. Kerbs delimit the boundry of the mound and help to contain the cairn of stones. Many of the kerbstones bear bits and pieces of megalithic art, and three, kerbs 1, 52 and 67 are completely engraved. All the art on the kerbs is recorded in O'Kelly's book on Newgrange. During the excavations it was discovered that a number of kerbs were also engraved on their inner faces, and would not have been visible once the mound was completed. Several of the kerbs fell outwards when the mound collapsed.

Kerbstone 88 with cup marks and tiny solar engravings, and a row of faint trinagles on the top left of the stone.

Collecting and dragging the kerbs to the site was surely a mammoth task. The stones were probably dragged on rollers or on a rough sled, and would have required large, well organised work gangs, well equipped with ropes and logs.