Newgrainge - Bru na Boinne

After my Dun Laoghaire post, I decided to take things one topic at a time. I had a hard time getting all the pictures together into one post. So here is some information about one of the more popular attractions people go to see when they're in or around Dublin. That attraction is the burial mound at Newgrainge.

Newgrainge is about an hour drive north of Dublin (just west of Drogheda). When you get to to Newgrainge, you enter the Bru na Boinne Visitor Center. You buy your tickets to the burial mound and commence waiting. When I went there was a wait of over an hour to get on the bus. However, the Visitor Center is well put together, so you have plenty to do while you're waiting. It has a short film about the site, a recreation of the inside of the site, information about the people who built the mound, information about the archaeologist who reconstructed the sit, and information on the iconic art that decorates the kerbstones and tomb.

Here's the short of it. The tomb was built over 5000 years ago. It dates back to about 3000 B.C. It wasreconstructed (circa 1962-1975) to what an archaeologist believed was its ancient splendor. They called it a tomb because the found charred human remains inside though no actual charring of the stones. Thus it is believed that the cremation occurred outside of the mound before they were laid to rest inside.

The real glory of the tomb is that it is perfectly aligned to the winter solstice. On the morning of the winter solstice, the sunlight shines in for a whopping seventeen minutes - if the sun happens to be shining in Ireland that day. While your there you get a recreation of that effect, but it's hard to see the beam of light on the floor because the tomb is packed with 24 tourists. It's kind of anticlimactic. If you plan on going during the winter solstice, think again. There's a lottery to get into the tomb on those days.

However, the price is good at 6 Euros for the whole experience. I recommend it if you're in the area. Here are a couple more pictures: