New Grange

This was one of Josh's obscure finds on the "things to see" list and was pretty interesting. New Grange is a prehistorice monument located in County Meath, on the eastern side of Ireland. It was built around 3200 BC in the Neolithic period, making it older than the Giza pyramids and Stonehenge. No one can agree why New Grange was built, but it is believed to have been built for religious purposes since it is in direct alingment with the rising sun of the winter solstice, which floods the inner chamber with light. For the rest of the year, the chamber is in complete darkness. When I say complete, I mean complete! They turned off the lights and it was not possible to see you hand inches from your face.
The Newgrange monument primarily consists of one large mound, built of alternating layers of stone and dirt and has grass growing on top. It has a reconstructed facade of white quartz interspaced with roundish cobbles. The mound is 250 feet across, 40 feet high and covers about 1 acre of land. Inside the mound is a very narrow passage that angles uphill for about 60 feet and ends in a main chamber with three smaller chambers on the sides and a corbelled roof. It is thought each of the smaller chambers were for the remains of deceased, though no remains have been documented.
Even though no one had figured out the exact purpose of the New Grange monument, it has played a part in Irish Legend. It was long believed (during medieval times) to be the home to the Tuatha De Danan - the supernatural Fae Folk of the island. It was also considered the burial place to the ancient kings of Tara. I have long been interested in Fairy Mythology so it was exciting to visit such an enigma. It did have a magical feel to it and I like to think that it may have been an entrance to a mythical land. To be very honest, the kids weren't that impressed with this visit, but Josh and I thought that it was cool to see.

I did poach the pictures here from the internet (knoweth.com) and my historical information came from Wikipedia because my memory isn't always the best. Thanks for bearing with me as I do love to share what we see on our travels.