The Boyne Valley and Newgrange, Eire
The Boyne passes in a loop around Newgrange which is the modern name for
the ancient site of Brugh na Boinne, the House of the Boyne. It is one of
the most remarkable megalithic monuments in the whole of Europe, being nothing
less than a measuring instrument of time itself. Because of its proximity
to Tara, Newgrange along with its sister sites Knowth and Dowth, were presumed
to be a kind of 'Valley of the Kings' for the Irish dynasties. This idea
is now overthrown because, although the mounds were used for burial purposes,
this was a later use of what was once a series of time-mounds administered
by the Irish druids and their forebears.
Newgrange, although known extensively in ancient Irish texts, was not rediscovered
until 1699, 9 years after the downfall of the Stuart cause at the disastrous
Battle of the Boyne when William of Orange was triumphant. This is perhaps
mythically significant, since Brugh na Boinne changed hands at the beginning
of its mythology from Elcmar to Oengus mac ind Dha og (Angus mac Og), just
as the Stuart King, James II ceded place to the new dynasty of Orange.
Another name for Newgrange indicates its true nature - Grian Uaigh or 'Cave
of the Sun.' Martin Brennan has decoded the hieroglyphs which cover Newgrange;
he has unlocked the saying of Amairgen, the chief poet of the Milesians:
Who but I knows the secret of the unhewn dolmen? Who is he who announceth
the ages of the Moon? And who, the place where falleth the Sunset? -Arnairgen
Leabhar Gabala
Working intuitively from the symbols insribed on the stones, Brennan has
discovered that the symbols are not, as ignorant archaeologists have assumed,
'megalithic doodles', but meaningful and very accurate records of lunations,
movements of the sun and the planets, and that they constitute a calendar
which the Irish would have used on a daily basis. They are so accurate that
seconds can be calculated from the stones.
Newgrange is aligned to the mid-winter sunrise so that the beam of the rising
sun falls directly into the chamber. Its sister sites, Knowth and Dowth
were also used as alignment monuments and calendars: Knowth is aligned to
the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes while Dowth is aligned to the mid-summer
sunrise - thus giving an accurate reckoning of the four sun-markers of the
year. The Celtic festivals would have been determined from the lunation
cycle which is visible to careful observers of the moon, each festival being
kept upon the full-moon. The twelve stones surrounding Newgrange point to
the solsticial and equinoctial sunrises and sunsets, and also align to Knowth
and Dowth. These other two sites each have myths attached to them which
are sigItificant. Knowth is associated with Englec, the daughter of Elcmar
- the original owner of the Brugh. She was the mistress of Oengus. Dowth
is also called Sidhe Breasil after the druid of that name who attempted
to build a tower to heaven. He contracted men to work for a mere day to
help him and his sister druid. They made a spell so that the sun should
not set until the mound was built. Breasil committed incest with her, thus
causing the sun to set. The sister remarked,' Dubud (Darkness) shall be
the name of that place forever.' Dowth, being aligned to the midsummer-sunrise
is thus significantly associated with darkness, for midsummer marks the
failing of the light towards winter. The mid-winter sunset illuminates one
of the chambers also, thus making it also a monument to the return of the
light.
Sacred Sites
The Druid Grove
The Druid Path