Knowth

Great passage tomb ringed by 17 smaller mounds, with more than a third of Western Europe's megalithic art

Knowth is the largest of the Brú na Bóinne tombs: a mound about 67 metres across, built around 3200 BC, with two separate passages running in from east and west and 17 smaller tombs clustered around it. It holds more than a third of all the megalithic art in Western Europe, mostly spirals, lozenges and wavy lines cut into the 127 kerbstones. Later it became a hill fort and the seat of the kings of Northern Brega, and the Normans used the top as a motte.

Access is by guided tour from the visitor centre only. You cannot enter the chambers, but you can look down the eastern passage, walk around the kerbstones and climb onto the mound for views across the Boyne valley. For many visitors the carved kerb at Knowth is more memorable than the queue at Newgrange.

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A story
Among the carvings at Knowth is what is thought to be the oldest known illustration of the moon. Many of the decorated stones were carved on their hidden backs too, and nobody knows whether the art was meant to be unseen or the stones were simply reused.

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