Newgrange, county Meath
This photograph gives some idea of the atmosphere of Newgrange before it was excavated.
It is hard to appreciate the fine circle surrounding the famous tourist-attraction, because of the razmatazz of the pseudo-authentic entrance to the tomb, the visitor centre, the guides, the buses, the ticket-booth and all those things that cheapen the place for the brief bemusement of gawpers who mostly know little about Ireland and less about prehistoric Europe - and go away knowing very little more.
The circle was erected (probably by the same 'ethnocultural group'
who erected the circle at
Ballynoe
)
after the tomb was built, perhaps to incorporate it into a new form of sanctity,
as old churches in Ireland were taken over from the Celtic rite first by the Roman orthodoxy,
then later by the Anglicans.
O 007 727 - Sheet 43
Nearest town: Drogheda
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