Wanderung 24

Spring Fling

From March to May 2011

Monday May 2nd: Megalithic Tombs in Boyne Valley, Ireland

Bob:

The proprietor of our B&B had advised us to try to get to Bru Na Boinne (English: Valley of the Boyne) National Monument early as they had a limited daily capacity for tourists, so we charged off right after breakfast in that direction. We arrived at 10:15 and were one of the few cars in the parking lot, but we still were scheduled into the next available shuttle bus to the Knowth megalithic tomb at 10:45, followed by a bus out to take a tour of the Newgrange tomb at 12:15 p.m.

Thus scheduled, I slipped in to see a short film on the monuments, and exiting from that I walked down a re-creation of the major tunnel inside the Newgrange monument, which turned out to be quite different from the real thing I had to worm my way through later that day! Meeting Lois and Monika, we proceeded to the shuttle bus stop and were driven a couple of miles out to the Knowth megalithic tomb site.

I was surprised when we arrived at the sheer size of the mound when seen from close up. It was huge and surrounded by a set of smaller mounds that turned out to have smaller tombs in them. Our guide explained the layers of history of the mound from its initial construction by the Stone Age folks around 5,000 years back, its use by a Celtic chieftain up to its occupation by Christians around 800 A.D., and finally its use as a site for a Norman castle in the 12th Century. The only significant group missing were the Vikings! I must say I am not used to that many layers of history occurring over that many millennia, and I found it hard to assimilate the time spans involved. Still I did see the sou terrain (escape tunnel) of the Christian era with much curiosity before we curled around to one of the main entrances to the mound to go inside.

Monika:

We were situated in the middle of the Boyne valley, where there are historic sites from megalithic tombs of 3000 BC, to Kells where the book of Kells was written in the 7th century AD, to Trim castle of the 12th century, and finally the Battle of the Boyne in the 17th century. In addition we could see Athlumney Castle from our bedroom window. So there was indeed a lot to choose from. We decided that for the day, we would do the oldest and the newest of the historic sites in the area.

The Bru Na Boinne pre-historic site held several passage tombs from 4,000 to 3,000 BC. Two of the three largest, Newgrange and Knowth, were open to the public. But to preserve the sites, the visits were strictly controlled. So the Office of Public Works, the guardian of all historic sites, had set up a beautiful visitor center several kilometers from the sites and shuttle buses to take you to the sites. The buses leave only every thirty minutes, so it is really wise to come early to get tickets. We got there around 10:15 and got tickets to go to Knowth at 10:45 and Newgrange 12:15. That left little time to look at the exhibits, but we would do a more thorough examination of them later on in the day.

Our first stop was Knowth. Knowth not only has one very large passage tomb, but also several smaller ones. Archeology has shown that this place was occupied through several centuries. The top of the large tomb was actually used as a defense post for several centuries and smaller rectangular houses were built around it with sou terrain passages underneath.

Bob:

There are two main entrances to the Knowth mound, one due East and one due West. These entrance tunnels are both oriented to align with the sunrise and sunset on the Spring and Fall equinoxes. But the weight of the old Norman castle had compressed the ceilings in the tunnels, making them unsafe for tourists, so we just walked into a "black box" of a room beside the original opening for the final part of our orientation.

After our guide was finished we could take our time going out, so I got 1/6 second exposure pictures of the old tunnel branching off into the darkness, dimly lit by some electric lamps. Sure enough the ceiling was very low and I'm not sure I could have made it in.

Monika:

We could not go into the middle of the tomb, but were told that there were actually two passages , one that was reached from the east side, the entrance located were rising sun at spring equinox would illuminate the passage and the other in the west, were the setting sun of the vernal equinox was going to be. The two passages did not, however, connect. Each ended in a chamber with three side chambers where the ashes of the dead were placed.

The entrance at the east side had a layer of white quartz covering the ground in front that had come from the Wicklow mountains. Some granite stones were sprinkled among the quartz that must also have been brought from far away. In front of the entrance was a large kerbstone that was completely covered with stone carvings. It was beautiful!

We could not walk into the entrance but only into a chamber off to the side but we could look down the passage to the middle. The chamber held some explanatory panels and we read everything.

We could actually walk to the top of the tomb and get a great view of the green, rolling landscape, so different from the harsh and rocky landscape of the Aran Islands or the bogs of the Connemara mountains. No wonder the east coast looks much more prosperous than the west coast.

Bob:

Back outside we started taking pictures of the plethora of megalithic art engraved on the kerbstones, the huge base stones that ringed the circumference of the mound. The variety of squiggly snake-like lines, spirals, crescents, and other odd forms was simply astonishing, and I tried to get pictures of it all as we hustled back to the parking lot to catch the shuttle bus back to the Visitor's Center.

Monika:

The most surprising aspect of Knowth was, that most of the large kerbstones that were the foundation of the tomb were decorated with beautiful stone carvings. Circles and spirals dominated, but there were also snakes and other designs, but no humans or animals. But how stone age people could hammer these exact concentric circles without protractors is astounding!

Bob:

Those shuttle busses were perfectly timed because when we arrived back at the Visitor's center, we just had to wait a couple minutes and it was time to depart again for the Newgrange mound. The Newgrange mound is quite remarkable because the entire front face has been covered in a brilliant white quartz studded with the occasional black granite round stone. These brilliant white walls frame the opening to the entrance, which once again leads to a tunnel into the middle of the interior.

At the visitor center there we met another guide who gave us the orientation lecture about the history and significance of the mound. The wall of quartz above the kerbstones kind of attracted your attention away from them, and as it turned out far fewer kerbstones at Newgrange were decorated with pictograph engravings than at Knowth.

Monika:

Back to the visitor center for the next bus to Newgrange. This large tomb actually had somewhat fallen in and after the archeologist got through their scientific excavations, the front was reconstructed using the quartz and dark granite that had fallen in over the centuries.

We had also seen quartz at the entryway at Knowth; however, there they used it as a ground covering whereas at Newgrange it was used as a wall covering to highlight the entrance. The exact positions of the quartz stones is, of course, impossible to precisely reconstruct after the ravages of so many centuries.

Bob:

For the last part of our tour, our guide led us through the tunnel into the burial chamber in the center of Newgrange mound, and squiggling my way through the real passage was nothing like the sanitized, easy-walking reconstruction in the main visitor center and museum. The ceiling was quite low (I bumped my head once and came close several other times), the floor was uneven, the lighting was dim, and the width at one point was so narrow that I had to turn my shoulders crosswise before I could finally fit through the opening.

Once we were assembled inside, our guide showed us the remaining things in the burial chamber including a nicely corbelled roof, three branch chambers, and the bowls where cremated remains had been originally placed 5,000 or so years back. The Newgrange burial chamber is aligned to receive the winter solstice sunlight and our guide recreated a bit of how that would look using some artificial lights.

Monika:

Fewer of the kerbstones were decorated at Newgrange compared to Knowth, but one kerbstone directly in front of the entrance was still very highly decorated.

We could actually walk to the chamber in the middle and look at the different places were the ashes would have placed. One of the three chambers was highly decorated, whereas the other two were rather plain, indicating to me some type of status differential.

But the interesting part of Newgrange was that over the entrance it had a roof box, a small window. At the winter solstice the rising sun would come through the roof box and illuminate the passage and the burial chamber. We were shown a simulation and it was astounding. The OPW actually holds a lottery (after all this is Ireland where there are bookmakers in every town) every year, and some lucky people are allowed into the chamber on winter equinox. Of course, Bob and I entered our name into the lottery; wouldn't that be a hoot!!!

Bob:

Unfortunately, photographs were not allowed inside, so I had to wait until we were back outside to take pictures of the quartz front wall, the entrance, the inscribed stone at the entrance, and an odd kerbstone about 180 degrees around in back that had some nice pictographs incised on it. From that vantage point we could also clearly see back across the valley to the Knowth burial mound and people walking around on top of it.

Monika:

Curiously, I found one kerbstone all the way around in back that was also highly incised.

Bob:

Once back at the main visitor center, we paused for lunch in the attached tea room (very good although slow service in the buffet line) before touring the museum. I thought the museum was very well done. The explanations were short, clear, and informative, and the displays were first-rate dioramas of aspects of Stone Age life. Nice job!

Monika:

When we got back to the Visitor's Center, we decided it was lunch time! There was a tearoom, with a rather long line. But Bob and Lois waited patiently, while I organized a table for us. After lunch, it was time for the gift shop and the exhibitions. They had several interesting recreations of life during pre-historic times. But for me the most interesting part was a recreation of a little carved mask that had been found in Knowth. It was carved in flint stone and was so delicate, it was unbelievable.


 

Bob:

Afterwards we drove over to the nearby Battle of the Boyne battlefield site, were we serendipitously also encountered a country fair. The fair organizers had to cancel a hot air balloon ascension due to high winds, but the jousting demonstration went on exactly as scheduled. We also perused the arts and crafts for sale, but conscious of our limited luggage space we ended up not buying anything before going into the museum.

The Battle of the Boyne in 1690 was the decisive defeat of the Catholic forces under James II by the Protestant allied forces under William III of Orange. The basic fight was over who was going to be King of England (William), but the effects for Ireland were far-reaching as their defeat resulted in the Penal Laws that suppressed Roman Catholicism and Roman Catholics in Ireland for the next 200 or so years until the final successful war of independence. But as William had 36,000 troups and James had only 24,000, that Protestant victory, while certainly not foreordained, was by far the most likely. Internationally, however, the defeat of James led to constraints on the aggressive moves against the weaker nations in Europe being made by France's Louis XIV, so that was probably a positive thing.

Monika:

By now it was afternoon, and we decided, we had enough time to look at the battlefield of the Battle of the Boyne. It was here that William of Orange (Protestant) defeated James II (Catholic) and cemented the Protestant rule in England and Ireland. Finding a parking space proved remarkably difficult, and we found out that was because there was a county fair going on the grounds. We heard them talk about a hot air balloon while we walked to the manor house that held the exhibits.

The exhibit hall had a very interesting show about the different stages of the battle. What is really fascinating is that William of Orange was grazed by a cannonball early in the battle but personally kept leading his troops and finally winning. One can only speculate what would have happened to English and Irish history if the cannonball had seriously injured or actually killed William of Orange.


 

Bob:

Back outside, we found the fair was winding down for the day, but one of the last "acts" was a horseman demonstrating the type of equestrian training the knights of the middle ages underwent. He hit the quaintain "fair and square" but had a bit more trouble hacking a cabbage to pieces from horseback!

Our final stop for the night was on the outskirts of Drogheda for groceries and then back to our B&B for our evening snack and another wild evening of reading books and working on the computer.

Monika:

The area of the battle was used by the fair, which prevented us from traipsing all around the battlefield site. (Darn!) Instead we looked into a tent that held local crafts and watched a show about the training of a horse for thirteenth century jousting and battle. It was quite interesting, and the rider actually hit a quaintain quite accurately and he also carved up a head of cauliflower quite nicely.

The day had been sunny, but very windy. So we were quite ready to pack it in for the day. We found a grocery store for some food for evening snack and went back to the B&B.


 

Copyright 2011 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
Index
Prolog Map of Transatlantic Cruise Map of Drive in Ireland Epilog

March 2011
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1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31
April 2011
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1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
May 2011
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
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