The Mounds at Knowth and New Grange

Took a trip to Northerrn Ireland, and on the way up we stopped at Bru Na Boine to see the ancient mounds.  These are in New Grange and Knowth in the Republic of Ireland.  The mounds are 5000 years old!!  

There is a lovely visitor center and buses take you on the quick trips to each area.  Because you  have to go by bus, you may  have a wait for your time to venture out, but it is worth the wait, and once your group gets to the mounds, there is a lot of space to move and see and look around.

Lots of what the tour guides can tell  us they qualify as speculation, as there is no way to know exactly the way of life, beliefs, etc of the people who lived there. Interestingly, there were several different groups of people over time who used the Knowth mounds as home.  

The homes were actually settlements on top of the mound and they believe the underground paths were possibly for storage, protection, and/or burial.  The large stones had to come from very far off, and they have designs on them, possibly religious or maybe they tell a story.  

At the big mound in New Grange, there is a window above the doorway which would let in the light at the winter solstice.  You can walk in to the middle of the mound, on a path with walls that have held for  thousands of years, and see where the light would have come through and lit up the inner cavern.  It is amazing to think that they would have constructed this without the use of modern technology and modern studies of the movement of the sun and such.  They have a special festival on the winter solstice and you can put your name in a lottery to be able to attend the event and be in the mound at the right time on Dec 21st!  Hope I get picked!

The day we toured,  Thursday August 1st, the weather was great.  got to upper 60's,  clouded up periodically,  a bit windy, but generally a lovely day.  Lots of walking and it was neat to see the surrounding countryside as well. Fabulous thing to see and well worth the euros!