Impressive Walls of the Newgrange Stone Age Passage Tomb
Outside the Newgrange stone age passage tomb, it is immediately obvious how massive this monument is. I have been to the Grianan of Aileach and it was not as big as this monument. There are parallels between the two structures, most obvious of which is the round shape they both had, however the Grianan was more of a fort rather than a tomb. Considering how the Grianan was also a place to live in, it was remarkably small compared to Newgrange. It seems the the Newgrange stone age passage tomb is around at least five times wider than the already large Grianan. Both sites seem to have been selected for their elevation. For a fort, it is understandable that they would put it in a high location. A tomb might also be put in a high location, I would assume that this was because the people buried in this place were important people.
Main Entrance to the Newgrange Stone Age Passage Tomb
From the outside, what is striking about the Newgrange passage tomb is the outside wall. For about half of its circumference, Newgrange is lined with with stones which is starkly different from the large dark stones which were used for the other areas. The white stones were also highlighted with small dark stones spaced apart from each other. The design is very nice for a stone age tomb, which led me to believe that this couldn’t have been the original design. True enough, upon its restoration, there were a lot of things which were changed in the area. One needs to keep in mind that the original untouched stated was far more dangerous which led the excavator to move stuff around. While I totally understand why they did it, and I also like how it turned out to be, I still have reservations on whether moving them was the right thing to do from the point of view of conservation.
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