Page 126 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

124  BRIT AIN AND IRELAND

Southeast Ireland opening above the entrance to
the tomb – a feature unique to
Enjoying the warmest climate in Ireland, the southeast has Newgrange. The light travels
always presented an attractive prospect for invaders and along the 19-m (62-ft) passage
settlers. Its highlights include the Neolithic tombs in the and hits the central recess in the
Valley of the Boyne, early Christian monastic sites, and towns burial chamber. It is thus the
world’s oldest solar observatory.
such as Waterford that grew from Viking settlements. It is also Between 1962 and 1975, the
the setting for many great 18th-century houses built by the grave and the mound, or cairn,
ruling English aristocracy. The wildest landscapes of the covering it were restored. The
region are to be found in the forested hills and desolate retaining wall at the front of
moorland of the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin. the cairn was rebuilt using
white quartz and granite
stones found scattered around
A portrait of Lady Louisa is the site. It is estimated that
incorporated in the superb the original tomb, created by
Rococo stuccowork by the people who had neither the
Francini brothers in the staircase wheel nor metal tools, may
hall. Another personal reminder have taken up to 70 years to
of Lady Louisa is the print room, build. About 200,000 tons of
the last surviving, intact loose stones were transported
example of its kind. In the to build the cairn. Larger slabs
18th century, ladies pasted were used to make the circle
prints directly on to the wall around the cairn and the
and framed them with retaining kerb. Many of the
elaborate festoons. kerbstones and the slabs lining
the passage and chamber are
3 Newgrange decorated with zigzags, spirals,
and other geometric motifs.
8 km (5 miles) E of Slane, Co. Meath. Each of the three recesses in
£ to Drogheda. @ to visitor center the central chamber contained
via Drogheda. Brú na Bóinne a chiseled “basin stone” that
Interpretive Centre: Tel 041-988 held funerary offerings and
0300. Open daily. Closed Dec 24–27. the bones of the dead. The
Elegant stuccoed hall and staircase at & 8 obligatory. ^ in tomb. chamber’s corbeled ceiling
Castletown House - = ∑ newgrange.com has proved completely
2 Castletown The origins of Newgrange, one waterproof for 5,000 years.
Newgrange is very popular,
House of the most important passage especially in summer, so queues
graves in Europe, are steeped in are likely and you have to wait
Celbridge, Co. Kildare. Tel 01-628 8252.
@ 67, 67A from Dublin. Open mid- mystery. Built around 3200 BC, it your turn at the Brú na Bóinne
Mar–Oct: 10am–6pm daily; Nov–mid- was rediscovered in 1699. When Interpretive Centre. This has
Mar: grounds only. & 8 obligatory. it was excavated in the 1960s, displays on the area’s Stone Age
^ - 7 limited. ∑ castletown.ie archaeologists realized that at heritage. The tour includes the
dawn on the winter solstice nearby tomb at Knowth. The last
Built in 1722–32 for William (December 21), a beam of one starts at 3:15pm in winter
Conolly, Speaker of the Irish sunlight shines through the and at 5:15pm in midsummer.
Parliament, Castletown was
Ireland’s first grand Palladian-
style country house. Most of the
interiors were commissioned by
Lady Louisa Lennox, wife of
Conolly’s great-nephew, Tom,
who lived here in the late 18th
century. It was she who added
the magnificent long gallery at
the top of the house, with its
Pompeiian-style friezes, cobalt-
blue walls, and niches framing
Classical statuary. From the long
gallery, visitors can admire the
curious obelisk-topped
memorial to Speaker Conolly,
erected by his widow in 1740. Aerial view of Newgrange, showing the cairn and circle of standing stones
For hotels and restaurants see p138 and p139

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