Royal Site To Belfast (120km from Drogheda) Monastery Megalithic Tomb Church Ardee Battle Site Dunleer Castle Tower Period House Slane DROGHEDA KELLS Brú na Bóinne Newgrange NAVAN Athboy TRIM Belfast To Dublin (50km from Drogheda) The Boyne Area Dublin 1 FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/EASTCOAST Every care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the completion of this brochure. Fáilte Ireland cannot however, accept responsibility for errors or omissions but where such are brought to our attention, future publications will be amended accordingly. It is recommended that you pre-check the details of events/attractions listed before travelling. © Copyright Fáilte Ireland PRINTED IN IRELAND So memorable in ancient history, and so rich in monuments of the past is it … that the history of Ireland might be written in tracing its banks. William Wilde, The Beauties of the Boyne (1849) The Boyne Valley The Boyne Valley is located in the north by the detail of the Celtic Crosses at Kells. of continuous human settlement along The River Boyne, which derives its name east of Ireland and flows through counties You can stand in awe at the gates of Trim the banks of the Boyne – stretching back from the legendary Celtic goddess Bóann Louth and Meath. The Valley is at once Castle, the largest Anglo-Norman castle in over five millennia. So why did prehistoric (see Myths & Legends, p. 38), has long Ireland’s ancient capital and it’s most Europe, or pay your respects at the shrine people settle and thrive along the banks of been recognised as one of Ireland’s most sacred and mythical landscape. In 1849 of St. Oliver Plunkett. this river? The answer lies in the landscape important waterways. William Wilde, father of Oscar, wrote of and climate of the region. the Boyne that the history of Ireland may Boyne: River & Valley In the 2nd century AD the Greek be traced through its monuments. This The River Boyne is the principal waterway The richness of the soil in the lands geographer, Claudius Ptolemy recorded remains true today. Moreover, its sites in Leinster, the most easterly of the Irish bordering and drained by the Boyne the outline of the island of Ireland in the and monuments are amongst the best provinces. The river rises at Trinity Well, was ideal for Neolithic farmers (who form of a set of coordinates showing examples of their kind in Europe and are near Cadbury, Co. Kildare and meanders began to arrive in Ireland around 4,000 different geographical features such as all within a short distance of each other. In slowly north-eastwards through the gentle BC). Moreover, the east coast of Ireland, headlands and rivers. He included on this one day you can visit the great prehistoric and fertile plains of Co. Meath before between Dublin and Drogheda, is the map, in his own language, the names tombs at Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) entering the Irish Sea at Drogheda, Co. driest part of the country and ideally of several Irish tribes, cities and rivers, and the site of the infamous Battle of the Louth. The valley through which it flows suited to growing crops. The river was including ‘Bouvinda’ - the Boyne. Boyne. You can look out from the Hill of is a landscape of large farms, celebrated valuable as a source of food and, long Tara, sharing the view with the ancient for their fine pastures, picturesque villages before roads, its waters were vital for travel High Kings of Ireland, or be mesmerised and thriving towns. There is a long history and trade. 3 FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/EASTCOAST BOYNE V ALLEY Archaeological & Historical Timeline Mesolithic Period Neolithic Period Bronze Age Iron Age Early Christian Period 7000 – 4000 BC 4000 – 2200 BC 2200 – 600 BC 600 BC – 400 AD 400 – 790 AD Our journey begins c. 7000 BC c. 4000 BC Early activity at Tara 227 - 266 AD 433 AD First Mesolithic First wave of Neolithic Legendary King of Ireland St. Patrick returns to 9,000 years ago after hunter gatherers farmers arrive in Ireland Cormac Mac Airt reigns Ireland & lights Paschal the great ice sheets that arrive in Ireland from Tara fire at Hill of Slane covered Ireland during c. 3200 BC the last Ice Age had Newgrange, 521 AD retreated. The island Dowth & Knowth St. Buite, founder of Monasterboice, dies was wild, uninhabited c. 3000 BC and heavily wooded. Loughcrew The first people – Stone Age hunters – were drawn to Irish shores in search of food. Viking Age Medieval Period Post-Medieval Period Industrial Age Modern Age 790 – 1169 AD 1169 – 1550 AD 1550 – 1800 AD 1800 – 1900 AD 1900 – present 804 AD 1169 AD 1641 AD 1808 AD 1953 AD Kells monastery founded by Anglo-Normans arrive in Rebellion Millmount Mortello Tower is Pierce Brosnan, former James monks from St. Columba’s Ireland constructed Bond, & honorary OBE, is foundation, Iona 1649 AD born in Navan 1172 AD Cromwell’s Siege of Drogheda 1843 AD 980 AD Henry II grants Meath to One million people attend 1986 AD Battle of Tara 1681 AD Hugh de Lacy Daniel O’Connell’s ‘monster Freddy Mercury & Queen St. Oliver Plunkett martyred meeting’ at Tara play Slane Castle 1007 AD 1173 AD Book of Kells stolen 1690 AD Trim Castle built by Hugh 1847 AD Battle of the Boyne 1993 AD de Lacy Worst year of the Great 1022 AD Newgrange, Knowth & 1699 AD Famine, known as ‘Black ‘47’ Dowth become UNESCO Tara abandoned as 1194 AD Newgrange is ‘discovered’ World Heritage sites seat of the High Kings Drogheda-in-Meath of Ireland 1855 AD granted charter and 1785 AD Boyne Viaduct railway bridge ‘officially’ founded Slane Castle is reconstructed completed 1142 AD May 2008 Mellifont Abbey is Visitor Centre at the 1494 AD 1798 AD founded by St. Malachy 1887 AD Battle of the Boyne Poyning’s Law passed in Rising of Armagh Francis Ledwidge, poet, born site officially opened Drogheda outside Slane, Co. Meath by Taoiseach Bertie 1152 AD Ahern and First 1512 AD Synod of Kells Minister of Northern Slane Abbey is Ireland, Dr. Ian Paisley constructed 5 FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/EASTCOAST Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) Brú na Bóinne is one of the largest and most important prehistoric megalithic sites in Europe Brú na Bóinne is the name given to an extensive and hugely important archaeological landscape situated on the north bank of the river Boyne, 8 kilometres west of Drogheda. The site is dominated by three large passage tombs - Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth – which were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993. Passage tombs consist of a burial chamber At dawn on the morning of the winter reached by a long straight passage lined solstice, and for a number of days with stones, and set within a large mound before and after, the main chamber at known as a cairn. They are usually sited Newgrange is illuminated by a beam of on hilltops and grouped in cemeteries. sunlight for 17 minutes. This alignment is Although primarily burial sites, they also too precise to have occurred by chance. It served as status symbols, focal points for is thought that Newgrange is the oldest the community, places to honour dead surviving deliberately aligned structure in ancestors and as territorial markers. the world. Did you know … Constructed around Admission: It is estimated that there are 700 Although Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth 3200 BC, Newgrange is 500 years older Visitor Centre Only (1 Hour) decorated stones at Brú na Bóinne making were constructed around 3000 BC activity than the pyramids of Egypt and 1,000 Adult: €3.00 Senior/Group: €2.00 Student/Child: €2.00: Family: €8.00 it Europe’s largest and most important at the sites continued for many millennia. years older than Stonehenge in England. concentration of prehistoric megalithic Knowth for example, served as a burial Visitor Centre & Newgrange (2 Hours) Adult: €6.00 Senior/Group: €5.00 art. The most famous of these stones is the site in the Iron Age, as the royal seat of Contact Details: Student/Child: €3.00 Family: €15.00 one marking the entrance to Newgrange the King of Northern Brega in the Early Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, Donore, Co. Meath where the triple spiral, unique to this site, Christian period, and as an Anglo-Norman T: +353 (0) 41 988 0300 Visitor Centre & Knowth (2 Hours) can be seen. Motte in the Early Medieval Period. F: +353 (0) 41 982 3071 Adult: €5.00 Senior/Group: €3.00 E: [email protected] Student/Child: €3.00 Family: €13.00 W: www.heritageireland.ie Constructed during the New Stone Age There is no direct access to Newgrange Visitor Centre, Newgrange & Knowth (3 Hours) Adult: €11.00 Senior/Group: €8.00 (or Neolithic Period, from Greek “neo” and Knowth; all admission is through Opening Hours: Student/Child: €6.00 Family: €28.00 meaning new and “lithos” meaning stone) the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre which is February – April (daily): 09:30 – 17:30 May (daily): 09:00 – 18:30 the tombs at Brú na Bóinne are around located near the village of Donore. The Notes: 5,000 years old. Although the people excellent exhibitions at the Visitor Centre June – mid-September (daily): 09:00 – 19:00 Newgrange is open all year round (excl. 24-27 mid – end September (daily): 09:00 – 18:30 who built these tombs were primarily include a full scale replica of the chamber December). Knowth is open from Easter to 31 October (daily): 09:30 – 17:30 October.