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Equinox alignment on the East coast

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  • 27-12-2019 9:11am
    #1
    oriel36
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭


    https://imgur.com/8wx48U4

    Local legend has a passage at the back of the natural cave that runs a considerable distance towards the village of Clogherhead, Co Louth but presently blocked by a large stone or so they say.

    It is a lovely spectacle as the green and red algae on the walls of the cave put on a light show as the rising Sun lights up the interior. I came to understand why Newgrange was built on an elevated site as the Sun's light is gentle once it rises above the Irish sea so it's strength only becomes discernible about half an hour above the horizon.

    To my knowledge, that is the first time a picture was taken on the equinox so although it doesn't really mean that much, it does tie in with the architectural complex at Newgrange and Knowth.


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    #2
    carolmon
    Registered Users Posts: 613 ✭✭✭carolmon


    Beautiful...where's that exactly?


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    #3
    oriel36
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭oriel36


    https://earth.google.com/web/@53.79261995,-6.21991298,2.87345871a,433.58692057d,35y,0.00039778h,0t,0r/data=MgYKBAoCCgA

    It is on the headland of Clogherhead, Co Louth


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    #4
    Say my name
    Registered Users Posts: 11,048 ✭✭✭✭Say my name


    Wasn't there a supposition put out there sometime that the spirals of Newgrange could have been copies of Ammonite fossils also found at Clogherhead.??

    The spiral carvings of the time are universal in being all over Ireland and western Europe and even Minoans had the spiral.
    But I thought it was interesting a link that someone put to fossils in stone.


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    #5
    oriel36
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭oriel36


    Say my name wrote: »
    Wasn't there a supposition put out there sometime that the spirals of Newgrange could have been copies of Ammonite fossils also found at Clogherhead.??

    The spiral carvings of the time are universal in being all over Ireland and western Europe and even Minoans had the spiral.
    But I thought it was interesting a link that someone put to fossils in stone.

    The Greywacke rocks which were mined at Clogherhead for the kerbstones of Newgrange and Knowth contain minimal fossil evidence due to their advanced age. Sadly the work of one of the researchers stopped with her passing but their inspections of the area can still be enjoyed online -

    http://oldsitehc.info/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Archaeology/bru_na_boinne/theorginofthegreywackoort.pdf

    There is something so poignant about that report from a purely human perspective.

    If you revisit the original image, the sea at high tide comes right up to the elevated entrance of the cave and creates spirals and eddies but this, like so many things, is a personal view from someone who looks out at the horizon free of any modern structure.

    One concern. The headland comes under a recent EU directive for grazing so although fragile as the soil depth is minimal, there is one feature on the headland that may be lost without archaeological inspection. Beneath the gorse above the cave are small clumps of stones scattered willy nilly so remain unseen until periodic gorse burnings happen every few decades or so. Not until issues about the facade of Newgrange came up did I consider these small clumps but then again, this is a personal thing.


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