Fourknocks - Megalithic Passage Tomb

Fourknocks Passage Tomb dating back 5,000 years

• Passage tomb like Newgrange which is 15km (10 miles) to the north west of Fourknocks.


• Similar time period to Newgrange about 3000 BC (5000 years old).


• 5 metre passage compared to 19 metre passage at Newgrange.


• Fourknocks from the Irish Fuar Chnuic meaning Cold Hills.


• Excavated in 1950 by Patrick Hartnett and reconstructed by the OPW with a covering concrete dome.


• North East entrance - no solar alignment.


• During the stone age the passage was aligned with the rising of the constellation of Cassiopeia.


• Timber post hole found during excavation, could have supported a timber roof.


• During excavation evidence of a collapsed stone roof found in the chamber.


• Cremation deposits from 60 individuals found in the side chambers, both cremated and unburnt (mainly skulls and longbones). Also Pendants, Beads, Chalk Marbles and Bone pins.


• Angular style Megalithic Art on large Sandstones.


• One stone is decorated with what is generally interpreted as a representation of a face and torso, similar to anthropomorphic representations in Brittany and Iberia.


• Other sites in this prehistoric landscape include the Henge and Mound at Michnanstown to the north of Fourknocks.


• The Wicklow Mountains to the south, the Cooley and Mourne Mountains to the north are visible from the top of the Fourknocks mound.


• The Fourknocks tomb served as a burial site during the Bronze Age. Excavations revealed the presence of five cists, each containing the remains of unburnt infants.