ANNOUNCEMENT: Newgrange Farm Archaeological Park and Newgrange monument tour

Mythical Ireland in conjunction with Newgrange Farm is pleased to announce a brand new tour initiative that has never been done before.

Anthony Murphy of Mythical Ireland – author, photographer, tour guide and archaeological discoverer – will lead a new tour of the monuments and mythology of Newgrange Farm at Brú na Bóinne. The tours will include a visit to the Newgrange Monument, where participants will also visit the interior chamber of the famous monument with OPW guides.

Anthony Murphy of Mythical Ireland will lead the new tours of Newgrange Farm.

The tours will take place on various dates throughout the summer, beginning Tuesday 20th June, and will visit the archaeological landscape of Newgrange Farm, which covers a huge area of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage site around Newgrange, incorporating a significant cluster of monuments dating from the Neolithic into the medieval period, covering several thousand years of human activity.

Anthony, the discoverer in 2018 of ‘Dronehenge’, a gigantic Late Neolithic henge monument situated in one of the fields of Newgrange Farm, will lead tours of the significant monuments and ancient myths and legends associated with this world-class heritage park which contains the greatest concentration of Late Neolithic henge monuments anywhere in the world.

Dronehenge, discovered at Newgrange Farm by Anthony in 2018, will be part of the new tour.

The tours will take place on a tractor-hauled specially modified trailer, where tour participants will get a close-up glimpse of ancient passage-tombs, henges, standing stones and other remarkable features of the ancient past.

“Newgrange Farm contains many of the monuments that make up the Brú na Bóinne archaeological complex, including a host of structures which were originally made of timber and which were unknown until they were revealed in drone imagery during the drought of July 2018,” Anthony said.

There are many monuments on Newgrange Farm, part of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage site.

“The tour offers a glimpse into a remarkable ancient past, looking at both the monumental archaeological landscape and indeed the mythological landscape because there are many myths associated with the Brú na Bóinne monuments. Some of these ancient stories appear to contain information about the monuments that could not have been known when they were written down in the Middle Ages.”

The tour also includes a visit to Newgrange and its inner chamber.

“What we’re seeing at Newgrange Farm is one of the most important archaeological monument complexes anywhere in Europe, and indeed the world,” he added.

A giant Late Neolithic henge, one of a cluster of these huge monuments at Newgrange Farm.

“This tour is an opportunity to see that landscape up close, and to get an insight into the size and nature of the monuments, the materials from which they were constructed, and the people who built them. Along with that, we have many myths and legends, and some of these refer to an Oenach (assembly) site at Brú na Bóinne, the remnants of which I think were discovered during the drought in 2018, when Newgrange Farm shot to international fame.”

Newgrange Farm owner David Redhouse said: “We are delighted to be able to offer this new and fascinating tour of the Newgrange Farm Archaeological Park for the first time. Some of the monuments on our lands are among the oldest and biggest in Ireland and tour participants will hear from a knowledgeable expert and author who specialises in the study of this landscape.”

Newgrange Farm occupies much of the land around Newgrange and contains a wealth of important archaeology.

Newgrange Farm has been hosting visitors for many years to its open farm in the heart of the Boyne Valley, where children and adults alike have been able to discover all the fun life on the farm has to offer. The new tour will add another dimension to Newgrange Farm, taking in what is an immense and important part of the Brú na Bóinne landscape in the fields around and in front of Newgrange.

Tour participants will also get to visit the chamber of Newgrange.

“I’m very excited as a tour guide who has been showing off our rich archaeological and mythological heritage to visitors from around the world for years now, to be giving them a close-up tour of the ‘jewel in the crown’ that is the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site and Newgrange Farm,” said Anthony.

“The fact that our tour participants will ALSO get a tour of the Newgrange monument and its wonderful chamber makes this a unique offering,” he said.
For tour dates and booking information, see the www.yourdaysout.com website.