Travel

Knowth Megalithic Tomb

knowth panorama

Up in the Boyne Valley, about an hour North of where I live in Dublin, is a place that has been inhabited for thousands of years. It’s known as the Boyne Valley. It’s mostly small farming communities filled with sheep and horses, and encompasses parts of two counties – Meath and Louth. I’ve already posted about the Hill of Tara, which is located here, and also the Hill of Slane. Just up the road is the New Grange Passage tomb. Another of the historic places that are located in this valley are even older than those. They are a set of 3 ancient mounds that are collectively known as Passage tombs – New Grange, Knowth, and Dowth (pronounced know-th and dough-th). Dowth isn’t open to the public, and Knowth is only opened during the summer months, because of the delicate nature of the tombs.

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Knowth is the largest of all passage graves situated within the Brú na Bóinne (Boyne Valley Tomb) complex. The site itself consists of one large mound and 17 smaller satellite tombs, and I’ve only made it to visit here once (I’ve been to New Grange 4 times now). The largest mound at Knowth has been esitimated to date from between 2500 and 2000 BCE, about 5000 years ago (Again, older than the Egyptian Pyramid at Giza) with the satellite mounds ranging in age from the same time. The outside and inside of the largest mound is one of the largest repositories of Megalithic artwork carved on stone.

knowth megalithic art stone

Similar to the complex at New Grange, on the front half of the tomb used to be made up of sparkling white quartz which was brought in from about 80 km away in the Wicklow Mountains. However, unlike the New Grange complex, this has not been fully restored. The main hill has been partially excavated and reinforced, but the quartz outside of the building remains as rubble around the exterior. Additionally, only a portion of the 17 satellite mounds have been dug out and reinforced.

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Essentially, what happened was that over time, earth collected around the mounds and erosion caused the soil / turf on top of the mounds to gradually sluff off. The result was that until the 1700’s most people just thought that these were simply giant “hills”. In the 1600-1700’s, portions of the tombs were dug up for rock (to use for building) and other portions were plowed under for farming. As time went on, it was realized to be a historical site and archaeologists became interested in the area.

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Excavations and partial restoration have resulted in a safe site to visit, with many artifacts now housed in a museum and visitor center nearby. Some of the artifacts include a beautiful mace head, a carved basin stone (for housing remains), and tools from the various uses of the site. (After the ancients went away, the complex was used during the iron age for housing and also as a fortress.)

The Macehead (see next pic for info)

The Basin Stone

Eventually, Knowth and the other megalithic sites of the Boyne Valley were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. For more Pictures of this site, please see my flickr set.

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Slane Abbey Ruins

Looking up the hill at the ruins

The Hill of Slane towers 158 metres (521ft) above the surrounding landscape. On one side of the hill is a ring structure and mound, the other the remains of a monestary which was in use between 1100 – 1750’s. The cemetery remains in use today.

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In ancient mythology, the Fir Bolg king Sláine (Slane) was said to have been buried here. In Christian history the hill became established as the place where St. Patrick lit the first paschal fire in 443 AD in direct defiance of the High King Logaire who forbid any other fires while a festival fire was burning on the Hill of Tara.

St Patrick statue at Abbey ruins

According to legend, Logaire was so impressed by Patricks devotion that, he allowed St. Patrick to continue his missionary work in Ireland. It is somewhat more certain that Patrick appointed a bishop of Slane, Saint Erc on this location around 435 AD.

Hill of Slane Abbey Panorama

On a clear day, from Slane hill you can see the mounds of New Grange and Knowth, with the town of Drogheda and the Irish Sea beyond.

View out the window

To the North the view extends as far as Slieve Gullion (well into Northern Ireland), and to the South as far as the Sugarloaf Mountain in Wicklow.

Abbey and Castle ruins hill of slane

More photos from the full set are up on flickr.

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Victorian Leeds

The end of September I went on a short hop trip to Leeds, in the UK. It’s a part of England, and sits sort of in the middle of England. The weather couldn’t have been better – and the company of the Jovial Miss J and her family was brilliant. I’m in debited to them for sharing their home with me and showing me a little bit of their world. I had a great time going to Synagogue, enjoyed Schul immensely, and having the chance to participate in Yom Kippur from the Orthodox perspective was grand.

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After the holiday celebrations, J and I took some time out to head into Leeds proper and have some girly time shopping. One of the things that she kept telling me about were the beautiful Victorian buildings that the center of Leeds has. She wasn’t lying. There are a series of Arcades (Victorian indoor shopping malls used to protect shoppers from the elements) which are basically city streets connected by stained glass awnings over them. They are amazing and a feast for the eyes. The most famous of all of these is the Victoria Arcade.

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The Victoria Arcade itself has two “long streets” connected by a middle “street” and plaza area. The shops are mostly 2 stories with a promenade style balcony along the top windows.

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Nearby is the local Kirkgate Market building, which is carved yellow sandstone from the outside.

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Inside, it’s about 3 stories high, with steel and lots of small kiosks. Here, they used to sell all the market wares (meat, fish, fruit, veg, etc. ). Today, it’s a variety of shops selling everything from hair accessories, to underwear, to arts and crafts goodies, and live flowers. There’s also plenty of fruits, veg, and meats available too.

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Finally, there’s the lovely Corn Exchange. This was built in the 1860’s and today is a shopping mall. From the outside it looks perfectly round but in reality it’s an oval. The roof is an open plan structure and the inside has shops all the way around the outside of the oval.

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I like how the round arches on the doors and windows inside echo the shape of the building, and the detail on the stairs and railings.

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And the end cap? The tiny little medallian… that ties it all together like a sun out from which radiates the arches that make the roof.

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