What is recorded here

Dowth Tumulus is a great passage tomb in County Meath, Ireland, with two buried chambers and carved stones that still touch the living world through memory. It stands beside Newgrange and Knowth, yet less preserved because people took stone from it and cut a crater into its top in 1847. The mound is large enough to hold two dead houses, one cruciform and one round-chambered, both opening west as if directing the dead toward the setting sun. Its damaged shape does not diminish it; it records that Dowth has long attracted human hunger, curiosity and change.

The following description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 10 July 2007 This great mound, comparable in original size with those at Newgrange (ME019-045----) and (ME019-030----), is not as well preserved. Much of the material to W was removed at various times in the past and in 1847, when in the course of excavation a large crater was dug into the top of the mound. This monument comprises a kerbed mound, 85m in diam., and 15m in H, covering two passage-tombs opening onto its W side. The N tomb, 12.5m long, is of cruciform shape; an annex of two chambers opens off S recess. A reconstructed stone basin lies in centre of chamber. S tomb is 8.25m long and comprises a short passage leading to a sub-circular chamber with a single recess opening off its SE side. A number of kerb stones and structural stones in both tombs bear megalithic art. (Man-made underground passage (ME020-017001-) built into the mound. (PRIA 1983, 5-190)

Neolithic passage tomb, dating to approximately 3500–2500 BCE. Dowth is part of the Brú na Bóinne complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is significant for its astronomical alignments and elaborate internal chamber structure.

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