Bru na Boinne

Ireland Map
The Gael SaoireBrú na Bóinne
Brú na Bóinne, the dwelling place of the River Boyne, is an area in County Meath between Slane and Drogheda and just a gentle lowland journey from Rath Cairn and Baile Ghib. Here the royal and stately River Boyne (famous long, long before its battles) meanders quietly towards the sea at Drogheda. Brú na Bóinne is one of the world’s most important archaeological landscapes, dominated by the spectacular prehistoric passage tombs of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. In 1993, the international significance of Brú na Bóinne was recognised when it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Built over 5,000 years ago by Neolithic (New Stone Age) farmers, these passage tombs are truly remarkable remnants of a highly evolved society which by the fourth millennium BC. had settled widely across much of Western Europe. Both ritual and settlement were centred around these tombs, throughout the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and early Christian times through the Norman invasion and beyond.

« Return to listing