Wow. I met Mrs. Hickey. I visited Newgrange for the first time in about 1956 with my father. It must have been from her we got the keys to the padlock and were able to go into the chamber.
😁Funny, but true anecdote from 1969/70 when Prof Michael O'Kelly (UCC Archaeology Dept) was preeminent at New Grange. I was not directly involved in this innocent fun. Archaeology Students from UCC were volunteering at the site during Summer Tourist Season, acting as tour guides, when it was getting very late but visitors were disinclined to remove themselves. One student feigned alarm saying to the other student 'was that crack in the ceiling there this morning'? (it had been there millennia) which instantly got the attention of the tardy visitors. 'No', said the other student, at which the visitors swiftly evacuated the monument and the volunteers were able to lock up and leave. 🤣
The old footage is incredible, especially of the old lady talking about fairies and the social taboo of visiting the site. I'd love to read an oral history of Newgrange as told by the people who live nearby. Or lived nearby.
What saved this, and most other ancient Irish monuments, was just such taboo and fairytales! The invaders into Ireland had no respect for tradition and willfully destroyed many sites to exploit the stones for their buildings and walls! Pearls Before Swine!
It is a little known fact, but the staff of the OPW at Newgrange not only provide access to Newgrange all year round, but to Knowth for the greater part of the year, to Loughcrew for the summer months and they also provide 'special access' on specific occasions, for the Equinox alignment of Spring and Autumn Equinox at Cairn 'T' on Sliabh na Caillaigh (in Loughcrew, near Oldcastle, county Meath), on the aligned Equinox and one day each side, on two occasions each and every year. This means a very early rise for Clare Tuffy and her crew and a long drive to facilitate people on mornings which can be frosty, rainy, cold, or gloriously sunny. They also facilitate the Winter Solstice sunset access in Dowth, so 21st December is a very long day for the staff of Bru na Boinne, so might I speak on behalf of those who do make full use of the access provided by Clare, in person, and her extended staff, and tender the gracious thanks of so many faces, which would be known to, and named by, Clare and her staff and the various groups of nameless, but warmly welcomed, tourists and visitors who also are graciously facilitated by the crew of the OPW at Bru na Boinne -- go raibh mile maith agaibh go leir.
"..they really messed up rebuilding.."? The Englishman who 'owned' the land in late-eighteenth century 'robbed' much of the stone for improvements on his property!
Last Christmas I planned to see Newgrange, but the gates were closed on the day after Christmas. So i hope to see it another time again with more luck.....
The OPW have the hedgerows cut so tightly there is no colour, no shelter for the wildlife "The All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015/20" must not be known to them, who is the Biodiversity officer? a "cut" the hedgerows one!.
Says who? Were you around there in late-eighteenth century when the Englishman who acquired the land robbed a lot of stonework for improvements to his property?🤔
