| Knowth - Rock Art - Rock Art |
Like Newgrange, Knowth is only accessible via the visitor center (O 027 727). The site is currently undergoing excavation and renovation to turn it into even more of a tourist haven. You are not allowed to enter either of the two passage tombs in the main mound or the smaller orbital mounds. Knowth is a veritable necropolis having some 17 orbital mounds dotted about the huge 85m diameter mound.
The state of the smaller mounds varies from rebuilt to piles of rubble. The ones in a worse state are being worked on at the moment. Unfortunately, these were all around the entrance to the main passage when we visited and so stopping us from seeing the passage or single standing stone that marks the location of the entrance stone.
As with Newgrange the main passage is aligned with the sun rise on winter solstice. The carving on the kerb stones is dramatic, nearly every stone has something upon it. Apparently the carvings of Knowth account for up to 50% of the Neolithic carvings in Ireland. I personally think that this figure is old and consequently high. Never the less, there is a vast amount of it.
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_I will be honest and say that I was not really looking forward to coming to Knowth again, but my fears were dispelled. It is now possible to walk around the whole of the main mound and see much more of what is an amazing site.
The entrance to the east tunnel has a very nice and very curious phallic stone standing in front of it and the entrance to the west tunnel is now host to a small room that shows you a cross section of the mound and its structure. It is possible to see up the west tunnel. Entrance into the passages here is now gone forever.
They have now started to reconstruct the medieval track that led to the top of the mound and soon you will be able to walk onto the top where views should be stunning.
I still get the feeling of enormous over engineering for the commercial at Knowth but I can't deny that it is a fabulous site.
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_I wasn't intending to post an entry for every trip I make to Knowth, Newgrange (County Meath) and Dowth (County Meath), but there have been some significant changes since I was last there.
Firstly, the prices have risen! But the main differences are actually structural ones. You can now gain access to the top of the mound via some steps. This gives you amazing views of the Boyne Valley and, what's more, it now gives you the opportunity to see the Boyne itself. Now you can finally place Knowth in the landscape and in relation to the river, something which is very important to the site.
The other 'advance' is not such a good one for the visitor. Outisde both passage entrances they have now relaid the quartz and granite scatters that are the remains of the fallen facades. This looks lovely, but you can now not get near to the entrance of the west passage and look down it. Very disappointing!
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| Susan Reilly from Illinois |  |
| Tina from Vienna | |
| Marianne from Clare | |
| Braulio from Louisiana | |
The only way to reach this place is via the visitors center at O 026 727. Follow the N2 north from Dublin towards Slane. Approximately 2.5 km south of Slane turn right towards Dunroe. The visitors center is about 6 km along this road on the left.
Upon the rediscovery of the east passage one of the first people to enter it was a workman called John Rock. I like that!
On its rediscovery one of the first people to enter the east passage was a workman called John Rock. Superb!
For a very good (and definitive) read on Knowth, the book by George Eogan, the chief excavator, is a must. It is beautifully written and full of information and excellent drawings of the art-work at knowth.
Title : Knowth and the passage tombs of Ireland (New Aspects of Antiquity)
ISBN : 0500275939
Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Author: George Eogan
Status .... sadly out of print
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
 Ballymaice (Co. Dublin) |  The Fairy Ring (Co. Wicklow) |  Cairn S (Co. Meath) |
 Calliagh Berra's House (Co. Armagh) |  Harristown (Co. Waterford) |  Townley Hall (Co. Louth) |
