Ritual site - pond

The National Monuments Service's description

Located in the floodplain on the N bank of the River Boyne at Brú na Bóinne, with the river c. 125m to the S at the nearest point. Ponds for the ritual deposition of material wealth are a feature of prehistoric religious practice, particularly at areas of enhanced ritual significance. A poem in the Dindshenchas, which is a collection of lore about places dating from the ninth to the twelfth centuries AD, describes (Gwyn 1906, 13) a feature on the S slope of the Newgrange ridge as ‘Barc brainech’ – the beaked boat – and it has been correlated with this feature (Stout 2002, 66, Fig. 5). The two ponds are depicted only on the 1912 edition of the OS 6-inch map. They are remarkably similar (W pond: diam. c. 68m E-W; c. 62m N-S; E pond: dims c. 65m E-W; c. 50m N-S) and they are connected by a channel. Together they form a rough ENE-WSW line. (Condit and Keegan 2018, Fig. 90)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 08 October 2025

References

Condit, T. and Keegan, M. 2018 Aerial investigation and mapping of the Newgrange landscape, Brú na Bóinne, Co. Meath. Interim Report. Available online