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Brú Na Bóinne

Following detailed sites inspections and discussions with ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites); Brú na Bóinne (Archaeological complex of the Bend of the Boyne) was inscribed onto the World Heritage List in 1993. Newgrange, Co Meath

The Brú Na Bóinne site and passage tomb is considered to be of outstanding cultural, artistic, social, artistic and scientific merit. The area covers some 3,300 hectares and contains many outstanding archaeological features, notably its megalithic art, a large and varied grouping of monuments and evidence of continous settlement and activity in the area for some 7000 years. In 1993 Brú na Bóinne was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

‘Brú na Bóinne’, the name given to this area in early Irish historical sources and in the sixteenth-century Annals of the Four Masters, means ‘the mansion’ or ‘palace of the Boyne’. The sacredness and importance of the area are evident from these sources. It was the burial place of the high kings of Ireland and an important site in some of the great legends of Ireland as the dwelling-place of the Tuatha Dé Danann (supernatural beings) and a resting-place for Diarmuid and Gráinne in their flight from Fionn McCumhaill.

This website will be updated with further information on Brú na Bóinne shortly.

History

Edward Lhwyd, the Welsh antiquary and scholar, first wrote about the discovery of the entrance to the tomb at Newgrange during his tour of Ireland in 1699. His letters give an account of the entrance passage, the finds in the chamber, and the presence of a standing stone on the top of the mound. He also produced the first detailed drawings of the passage and chamber. His discoveries initiated investigations of the area by a succession of well-known antiquaries and travellers (Thomas Molyneux, 1726;Thomas Wright, 1748;Thomas Pownall, 1773; Gabriel Beranger, 1775).Passage Tomb, Newgrange, Co Meath

In September 1885 the tumulus of Dowth was vested in the State under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act (1882). Negotiations to vest Newgrange began in 1882 and it was finally taken into State care in 1898 following a successful prosecution for the defacement of a stone in the chamber. Knowth was taken into State ownership in 1939. In 1967 the State acquired an area of 1.6ha surrounding it and further lands were purchased in 1980. In 1997 the tumulus at Dowth and associated lands were acquired



 

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