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If you really like your history, there’s nothing quite like a pre-Celtic journey to the Boyne Valley just 20 miles northwest from Dublin, on the east coast of Ireland. There you’ll discover the pre-Celtic tombs of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, the Hill of Tara, and Mellifont Abbey and a vast number of other historic sites.
Built around 5000 years ago, Newgrange (also known as Brú na Bóinne) is the most important pre-Celtic funerary monument. Stretching over 4000 square metres, the tomb comprises of a man-made stone and turf mound within a circle of 97 large kerbstones.
Facing the perimeter of the tomb, the walls are shining white quartz. Styled as a ‘passage grave’, the ancient tomb contains a 19 metre long tunnel that leads into a cross-shaped chamber inside the barrow or tumulus.
Light only ever enters during the winter solstice for about 17 minutes, illuminating the carvings within the chamber. A triple spiral motif only to be found at Newgrange decorates a stone at the entrance. This is then repeated along the passage and inside the chamber. Newgrange is open all year round and has an admission fee.
On the shores of the Boyne you’ll find Trim Castle, the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland and also the largest remaining Norman castle in Europe.
Its construction started at around 1174, on the foundations of an earlier wooden fortress that had been burned down. The Irish Parliament sat at Trim Castle on a number of occasions such as in 1465 when a law authorising the beheading of all robbers was passed. Trim Castle is also notable for the part it played in the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart.
The ruins of Mellifont Abbey, founded in 1142, are located on the banks of the river Mattock. Its European formal style of architecture can be witnessed in its most significant remains, namely the chapter house, the gateway and the lavabo – where the monks washed before meals.
Any tour of the Boyne should also include a visit to the Hill of Tara, the most sacred place of ancient Ireland, and the site where the high kings would have been crowned in the pre-Christian era.
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