Prehistoric Ireland

We start the day with a visit to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. This excellent large museum exhibits finds from the Stone Age up to the Early Modern period. Highlights include an impressive range of Bronze Age gold and metalwork, the 4,500 year old Lurgan logboat, carved from a giant oak trunk and measuring over 14 m and the perfectly preserved human remains found in Ireland’s boglands during the Iron Age. After lunch we travel south to view two Neolithic stone circles. Broadleas stands on a slightly elevated mound and measures over 30 meters in diameter. 27 stones remain but folklore has it that each time a person tries to count them they will come to a different number. Athgreaney circle is of a similar size with fourteen stones still remaining, and one outlier. The stones are of local granite, some rounded boulders, others more like pillars and it also has its own legend. One of the seven sites in Ireland known as the Pipers Stones, these granite boulders are said to be the remains of a piper and his dancers, petrified in stone in violation of the Sabbath. From here, we continue to our hotel in the Boyne Valley.

Journey to Newgrange this morning, a monumental burial mound from the Neolithic period, pre-dating Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Giza. A unique feature of the Newgrange passage is a stone box set in the roof which allows the rising sun to shine along the passage at the time of the winter solstice, and to hit the back of the rear chamber. This demonstrates not only the importance of astronomical events in the annual Neolithic calendar, but also the engineering skills of the builders. From here, we visit the UNESCO-listed site of Knowth. This large mound overlies earlier Neolithic occupation, and covers two passage graves, one with a simple undifferentiated passage, and the other with a cruciform terminal chamber. There are more than three hundred decorated stones in the main mound, the largest group of megalithic art in Europe. Common motifs are spirals and serpentine forms. Later, we visit the Hill of Tara, once the seat of the High Kings of Ireland. We wander the Iron Age hilltop enclosure and view the so-called Stone of Destiny.

We head for the passage grave cemetery at Loughcrew, also known as Slieve na Callighe (Hill of the Witch) where we see some of the oldest monuments in Ireland. Cairn T, one of the largest tombs in the complex is aligned to sunrise at the spring and autumn equinoxes and one of its kerbstones, known as the Hag’s Chair, has been shaped and decorated with a cross, probably as a place for celebrating the Catholic Mass during the penal times. We continue to the coastal town of Sligo. Located at the mouth of the Garavogue River, the name Sligo means "Shelly River" in Gaelic and this area’s natural harbour once saw trade from Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. After lunch, we encounter one of the best and largest examples of an Irish Court Tomb at Creevykeel. These structures have a courtyard area surrounded by walls and their size and shape suggests that they were constructed for some kind of social event involving large gatherings of people.

Today’s highlight is our visit to Carrowmore, considered as the largest and oldest prehistoric cemetery in Ireland and one of the biggest in Europe. Most of the monuments are clustered around the great chamber of Listoghil, the only tomb to contain inhumations rather than cremations. The tombs were re-used for burial by the Bronze and Iron Age long after their initial construction. After lunch, we stop to view Drumanone dolmen enroute to the Carrowkeel megalithic complex. Visiting this atmospheric site involves a walk of around a mile through beautiful countryside. Like Carrowmore, this is a megalithic hill top passage tomb cemetery known locally as ‘the Pinnacles’. It boasts fantastic views stretching over Sligo Bay and the cairn topped hill of Knocknarea.

We journey to Galway situated at the mouth of the River Corrib at the head of Galway Bay. Enroute, we stop at Rathcroghan – the former capital, Connachta, of the prehistoric and early historic rulers of the western territory. The unique archaeological landscape, often referenced in early Irish medieval manuscripts, includes burial mounds, ringforts and medieval field boundaries from Neolithic up to the early medieval period. Once in Galway, we visit the Galway City Museum to see its Prehistoric collection.  

On our last full day we catch a ferry across to Inis Mor, the largest of the three Arran islands. Here the island’s wild natural landscapes are accentuated by the thatched roofs of Irish stone cottages and dry stone walls which criss-cross the island. It’s also rich in archaeological sites, the most impressive of which is Dun Aengus. This spectacular fort stands on the edge of the cliff of Inishmore, its D-shaped plan comprising concentric semi-circular defensive walls and a sheer drop of more than 100 meters to the sea.

We say farewell to Galway and journey to Shannon Airport for our independent onward journeys.