Newgrange Videos

Selection of Newgrange related videos.

Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the Winter Solstice sun. The site is open to the public with controlled access to the passage and chamber. Tours of Newgrange start at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre located near the village of Donore, Co. Meath.

Kerbstone 52 is one of the most impressive decorated stones at Newgrange. It stands on the north-west side of the monument, directly opposite Kerbstone 1, the famous entrance stone. The slab is carved with a complex arrangement of spirals, arcs and geometric motifs, making it one of the finest examples of megalithic art at the site. A prominent vertical line runs down the centre of the stone and appears to have been deliberately carved, possibly echoing the vertical groove on Kerbstone 1 across the mound.

Newgrange is famous for the remarkable alignment of its passage with the rising sun at the winter solstice. Around the shortest days of the year, a beam of sunlight enters through the roof-box above the entrance and travels slowly along the passage, eventually lighting the chamber deep inside the monument. The effect lasts only 17 minutes, but it reveals that the builders carefully designed the structure to capture this moment in the solar year. Constructed more than 5,000 years ago, the monument shows a sophisticated understanding of the movement of the sun and the seasonal cycle.

Newgrange, an iconic prehistoric monument in the Boyne Valley, Ireland

Newgrange is a passage tomb over 5,000 years old and forms part of the Brú na Bóinne archaeological landscape in County Meath, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monument is open to the public, although access to the passage and chamber is carefully managed in order to protect the structure. Visitors can experience the site through guided tours that explain the monument’s construction, its remarkable megalithic art, and its place within one of Europe’s most important prehistoric landscapes.

Tours of Newgrange begin at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre near the village of Donore. The centre provides exhibitions and displays that introduce the archaeology, history and significance of the Boyne Valley monuments. From there, visitors travel to the site itself, where the scale of the great mound and the craftsmanship of its Neolithic builders can be fully appreciated.

Loughcrew | Spring Equinox 2005

The passage tomb known as Cairn T at Loughcrew is closely associated with the spring and autumn equinoxes. Around these dates, the rising sun shines along the passage and illuminates the chamber inside the cairn, briefly lighting the decorated backstone with its geometric designs. This alignment demonstrates that the builders of the tomb, over 5,000 years ago, carefully positioned the monument to mark important moments in the solar year. The hilltop setting of Loughcrew, overlooking the surrounding landscape of County Meath, adds to the dramatic effect of this ancient astronomical event.